RECURVE MATTERS

With Crystal Gauvin

Each New Year brings the chance for us to start fresh and re-evaluate what worked or didn’t work the previous year. It’s time to take stock and set yourself up to be successful later in the year. The same applies to archery. Many people map out their goals, set their tournament schedule, but few prepare for the year going through an inventory “checklist.”

Where to start?

The first step in this process is to actually take inventory of what you have. Much like a company, it can be useful to make a list of every piece of equipment you have, as well as how many extras. For example, do you have two finger tabs? How about extra pieces of leather or spacers? Think about each piece of equipment you need to shoot in a tournament, including any pieces or parts of each item. What about nocks? Do you have different colors, different styles? Do you have three extra packs or ten extra packs? The more specific you are the easier it is to spot holes, especially when talking about backups in case something would break.

As you go through your equipment to inventory it, you should also be checking everything for worn or broken pieces (think button on end of your plunger, broken strands in your string, etc). You don’t necessarily need to replace these things right now, but you should make note of them.

I also think this is a great time to take measurements and write down your entire equipment setup, so you know where your ending point was for the year. This should include things like; nock height, tiller, brace height, draw weight on fingers (arrows and limbs), stabilizer lengths and weights, etc. Again, the more detailed you can be the better for setting up any new equipment or making changes down the road.

Once you have taken stock of all your equipment, it is time to see what is missing and what you may need more of throughout the year. For example, if you typically re-fletch your dozen arrows nine times throughout the season, you would need 96 vanes, at the bare minimum, on hand. However, it’s always good practice to add a buffer to this number, as things happen. For example, maybe 120 vanes are a much safer bet for the year. You may not need this many, but it is much easier to plan ahead for the year and order everything you think you will need in advance. There is nothing worse than realizing the night before a tournament that you only have five nocks left or your fletching glue has dried up. (You will also save a little on shipping charges for the year).

Time to experiment

In addition, think of any new pieces of equipment you may want to experiment with (e.g. new leather for your finger tab, heavier limbs, or different indoor vanes). Many large archery supplies, like Lancaster Archery in the US, do free shipping and special deals at times if you spend a certain amount, or if you attend a trade fair at one of the big tournaments. If you have your list ready to go, it makes it easy to take advantage of these sales. When making your list, don’t forget items outside of your tradition “equipment list.” For example, do you have enough pairs of dress-code compliant shorts? What about sunscreen, an umbrella, or sun sleeves for those hot days in the sun? Do you have waterproof shoes? Think outside the box, and really expand your thinking about what you will need for the upcoming season.

The next step is to replace anything worn or broken, as well as cleaning your setup. Most modern archery equipment needs little more than a wipe with a cloth, but many times, especially if you enjoy shooting field archery, your bow will have sand or mud in some of the cracks. In addition, after shooting indoors for a while, many will find “target dust” collecting on and around their rest. Take your bow completely apart, checking the limbs, thoroughly cleaning the riser, and make sure everything is in good working order. Now is also a great time to put on a new string if you haven’t already during the indoor season.

If you were unhappy with any of your equipment or you’d like to try something new,

This is a god time to think of any new pieces of equipment yo u may want to experiment with

you can go ahead and make the swap at this point. From here you can begin setting up your bow to make sure the tune is still good with any changes you’ve made. Now is also a great time to verify your limb alignment and check your measurements still match what they were previously.

An area often forgotten, especially among newer archers, is to “shoot in” their backup equipment. Take your string for example. It is important that you have two identical strings. This means same material, same method of serving, same tension, etc. Ideally, you will want your strings to be the same color as well, as the color determines the wax content and can affect – just a very little – how the string shoots. The important thing is to shoot both strings and make sure you can swap them out without changing any part of your tune.

Another example is your tab. Many archers think if they buy two identical tabs that they will shoot the same, but this is simply not the case and could cost you valuable points in a tournament. Not only is it important to break in your backup tab, so the leather is worn evenly with your primary tab, but you should shoot them side by side. By doing this, you can learn the sight setting differences between the two, so in an emergency if you must grab your backup, you know exactly how many clicks to give your sight to hit the middle on your first arrow. I’ve seen top level archers, using identical tabs, hit in the white (1 or 2 ring) when switching between tabs.

Once you’ve gone through all these steps, you can feel good about your equipment and any supplies you may need. It is not time to turn your focus to yourself. If you haven’t already set your goals for the year, that should definitely be done at this point. It’s also a great time to look back through your archery journals or notebooks to see areas you struggled or did well with the previous year.

Using your goals as a guide, you can now start to address your areas of weakness from the previous season. Was there a particular aspect of your shot you struggled with? If so, then this can become a focus of your training or something you make sure to discuss with your coach. Did you make a note to increase your draw weight by a specific date this year? Then now is the time to map out your path to getting there. Will you increase half of a pound every other week, will you do more reversals or other SPT work etc?

So this winter use your time wisely, and in between trips to the gym, give your archery kit the improvement it so desperately needs. You never know, it may be one resolution that lasts all year long.

If 'a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind', what does yo ur bow case say about yo u?