How to make the Olympics: part 1
Andrew Smith says: you can do it. No, really.
TThe more I practice the luckier I get.” -
If like me you have been missing the competition scene and you are finding training hard with no events to work towards, you clearly need a fresh challenge. Whether we will see the reintroduction of competitive archery in Europe soon is still in question, although as I write, the US Nationals has just finished, so for now all we can do is hope and make sure we are ready, but how best can we focus and make ourselves ready?
Current circumstances mean that many archers have found that they have had more time to shoot and noticed that as they have become fitter and more in control of their bows their scores have gone up.
So at Bow we asked ourselves could competitive club archers who have been shooting for a few years averaging around 500-550 for a WA70 round, focus a bit harder and smarter and achieve the Olympic qualifying scores (640 & 605 for men and women respectively), without having to give up work and time with the family.
We believe – without belittling the challenge – the answer for many is yes, and for some they are not too far away, but still put off going that bit extra because they have been told the effort and archery/life imbalance required is just too great.
Of course, just achieving these scores will not guarantee you one of the coveted 128 places (64 men and 64 women) at the next (or any) Olympic Games, but the satisfaction that you are shooting scores that would qualify and will make you one of the best archers in your country should spur you on. However, it is also not unknown for an archer to be born in a country with no real international archery structure to still make it to the Olympics. Gavin Sutherland (Woking Archers) is a Zimbabwean archer who did just that, winning the necessary qualification rounds in Africa to represent Zimbabwe in Rio. Of course, athletes changing nationalities to compete for another nation is relatively common, and several other archers in competitive nations have exploited birth links to other countries to shoot for another nation at the Games.
Over the next three issues we will explore how you can get yourself into a position of shooting scores that define archery as a sport and
not just a hobby. This month, we will look at what it will take and the planning required, ensuring you give yourself the best chance to achieve this goal. The second part will look at your equipment, using it correctly and ensuring it is fit for purpose and the third instalment will look at how you can train smart to keep that archery/life balance working perfectly.
So, given that you have read this far it would suggest that you are on board with the concept. If you are hoping for a magic bullet or quick fix to improve your scores then, needless to say, you will be disappointed. To achieve this goal will still involve shooting a lot of arrows, but more importantly, just plonking arrows down the range will not be enough. Shooting lots of arrows will help to get you fit, but the arrows you shoot will still have to be good shots otherwise you will just be relentlessly reinforcing bad habits, which will take far longer to fix at a later date.
For some this will be more arrows than you are currently shooting a week. How many arrows will depend on you, but setting a specific figure (as some coaches do, citing what others are doing, claim that a thousand arrows a week is common) will not help, the number is archer-specific and based on the time you have available, needless to say you will progress quicker by putting the work in.
Not all of these will be arrows shot at 70m and will include shots replicated in physical and mental training.
Do you really want to do this?
Rather like learning a new language, you are probably not going to be motivated by the tag line “it only requires 30 minutes a day to speak like a native”. After a week or so this will be forgotten and each day’s exercises become a chore. There has to be a more substantial motivation, such as impressing your friends when on holiday or perhaps something more radical like a career change to drive you on.
It is the same with archery; this is your goal, so you will have to decide why you really want to do it and what it means to you. I know from experience that just chasing a score is not enough, even if it is as prestigious as an “Olympic Qualifying Score”. So what additional achievement will keep you going when the going gets tough?
It could be as simple as I love shooting, the more the better, just proving somebody wrong (a powerful motivation and used by Eddie the Eagle Edwards to become an Olympian), giving you the chance to win a national championship or even the building blocks to representing your region or country.
But what I am not advocating is 24/7 archery, where practice takes precedence over everything else in your life. The Korean teams got to where they are by astonishing training volumes; because that’s all they do, every day. It’s unlikely that this will be all you do. This series is all about an archery/life balance and improving your enjoyment of your sport, so compared to a full time archer the end result may take a bit longer to achieve depending on your current ability.
You will need a plan
Without some idea as to how you are going to achieve this goal, the enthusiasm will soon be lost as you will have no idea if what you are doing is working. Putting a plan together can be quite daunting especially when you do not have all details from the start, but it does give you a focus to be refined along the way. A plan on its own will not achieve your goal for you, that will be down to hard work, but it will help you to understand what you need to do and incorporates timely reality checks to confirm whether you are on the right track.
One of the most useful tools I have in my archery case is an exercise book where I record important details every time I shoot or train, it is a great resource to look back on and learn from. Shooting details include location, time, date, the round shot, score (distances and overall), weather conditions during the day including the direction and strength of the wind, sight marks and adjustments made during the day and why, along with all the good and bad points of the day, even your mood at the start and end of the shoot. Training includes the usual Location date and time, the exercise, why I am doing it (what am I working on) and finally the things you have learnt and need to remember for the next time you shoot or train so you don’t make the same mistakes.
JUST CHASING A SCORE IS NOT ENOUGH, EVEN IF IT IS AS PRESTIGIOUS AS AN “OLYMPIC QUALIFYING SCORE”
Planning the plan
If somebody writes your plan for you it will be meaningless, as it is your weekly schedule for shooting, training, fitness and occasional checks on bow set up. So below is a check list to help you. A training plan can be as simple or as complicated as you wish to make it, it could be just a few lines from - I am going to shoot and train when I can,
to a multi-tab Excel spreadsheet, with detailed shooting and training schedules, but in the end to be useful it will likely be somewhere between the two. Shooting is as important as writing the plan. Whatever you do, don’t use it as an excuse not to shoot because your plan is not finished.
Include checks along the way
This is a score-based goal, so reaching the following intermediate neat and tidy scores of 500/550/600 and 620 on a 70m round are relevant to understanding how you are progressing. However you do not want these scores to become a mental barrier, so I would set all of the checks randomly higher, such as 509/557/607 and 629, so you do not fall short. How often have you missed claiming a badge or PB by one or two points? To achieve each score milestone you will have to analyse what it will take to achieve it, so in effect it becomes a mini plan within the overall plan.
How long will it take?
Timescales are hard to predict as these need to be realistic, based on the time you can devote to your ambition so don’t be too impatient. I suggest for the plan you allow an average of 2 hours a day, 3 days a week for training and progress per 50 points which could take 3-6 months or more and then 3-6 months per 20 points over 600. This should make it easy as pie to make the team in Tokyo.
Fitness schedule
Archery fitness will be the key to your success, if you cannot control your bow and shoot the last arrow like the first, you will be throwing away points. Just shooting a round with your bow is one of the best ways of getting archery fit, it combines the equivalent of gym work and walking. Shooting a WA1440 round you will walk four miles, just lifting your bow will be the equivalent of 144 3kg dumb bell reps and the combined draw weight over the round is around three metric tonnes. Your training per week should also include shooting at long and short distances and at home, reversals and bow repetitions. Don’t
forget to allow time to warm up properly before any session. Other fitness routines can be impromptu and incorporated into your day such as walking or cycling part of your journey to work or the shops and the old (but effective) cliché of taking the stairs not the lift. Ideas for training smart will be covered in detail in part three.
Diet & Sleep
As the usual analogy goes, cars and engines need good petrol to run well, likewise your body needs quality food and water to function, normally a good balanced diet is sufficient. (It should be noted that the archery elite peloton are notorious junk food hogs). Sleep is important and getting at least eight hours a night will help your body recover and allows the brain time to assimilate what it is learning from your training.
Coaching
The form that has got you where you are today will need refinements to improve your consistency, so the help of a trusted coach will be useful, although I have seen archers intelligently apply self-help, via videos and books and just talking with like-minded archers to help them make the necessary adjustments.
Training the brain
It is important to the success of this goal that your brain is also on board; in particular your subconscious brain which, I have said many times is great at shooting good shots. Regularly watching top archers shoot 10’s and visualise yourself doing the same will raise your comfort zone, so when you start shooting higher scores your brain will not freak out and do all it can to bring you back to where it feels comfortable. Top archers think about archery and executing good shoots every day.
Finally, Good luck writing the outline of your plan, but don’t delay in getting started by waiting for parts 2 & 3, for the time being get as much proper shooting in as you can and some additional fitness work.
If you want to add a bit of additional pressure let us know how you are getting on by emailing in. And we’ll see what we can do to help!