 Just a few lines to say what a great weekend myself (Ian Robinson) and Chris Hill had at Lilleshall on the Personal Performance Coaching weekend.
We arrived about 5.00pm on the Friday, after a very hot 2.5 hrs drive. We booked in to our small but functional rooms complete with on suite facilities and had a walk around the beautiful grounds. Went for our meal at 6.30 and met with the other archers on the course. After the meal we went to a seminar room and had a very enjoyable talk on making long bows and arrows from one of the countries top makers Alan Pritchard who is a member of the Bowyers Guild and who is one of only two members to hold the prestigious gold medal in bow making. After this we had a couple of pints in the bar.
Next morning we had breakfast at 7.45am and got down to the indoor shooting facility by 8.30am. Here we were asked to strip off and were video'd from three different angles whilst shooting. As this was happening two of the coaches (their were 6 altogether) made notes on our form or lack of it. There were 21 people on the course of varying abilities and different bow styles so the video'ing took about three hours. Whilst this was going on we were shooting at blank bosses and were given some instruction from the other coaches. After lunch the most important session of the weekend took place. This was the replay in slow motion of all the video's that had taken place, this was very educational and quite a surprise to a lot of people. The coaches then pointed out the problems we were having and to concentrate on these points in the afternoon session. This we had to do in front of blank bosses with our eyes shut in order that we could concentrate on our style and not on a target.
In the evening we went to the seminar room and this time we were instructed on how to set up our bows correctly. This included limb alignment, setting the tiller, adjusting arrow rest and pressure button, setting the nocking point, setting clicker, setting arrow alignment and how to adjust stabilisers and bow balance. We checked our own equipment the following morning. We also talked at length on arrows and how to get them all to match in weight by weighing the points, shafts flights and nocks separately. They also said that aluminium carbon arrows needed fine adjustment because the carbon wraps were not even in thickness and this caused them not to group precisely. They suggested that once points, nocks and shafts had been weighed an put together that the bare hafts were then to be shot and those that that did not group were to have their nocks turned by a very amount until they did. We were also told of a way to ensure you get the correct bracing height.
Next morning we checked our bows were set up correctly. The only thing wrong with mine was the stabiliser needed a little more weight and the side stabilisers needed to account more accurately for the weight of the sight. When every one had done this we did a walk back test to ensure arrows fell in a straight line. Those that didn't, needed to adjust their pressure buttons. There was not enough time on this weekend course to do fine pressure button adjustments but this would be no use unless the arrows were made as perfect as possible. In the afternoon we again tried to improve our form and Chris and myself watched each other and told each other honestly if there was still a fault in his style. The biggest problem Chris seemed to have was that his clicker was set incorrectly and so he was straining all the while to pull the arrow through. This was altered, and you could physically see the tension disappear from his face and he became far more relaxed and fluid.
We both agreed that this was a very worthwhile course to come on. What we had learnt here would help us greatly to get us up another rung of the archery ladder. Lessons we had learnt would also benefit others members in the club. We would both recommend the course to any one who wanted to move up another level in archery. However a complete novice may find it a bit daunting. I have attached some photos of the weekend both of the course and the beautiful grounds.
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