Beginnes course - a personal experience

Corax67

Well-known member
I know everyone on this forum has been through a beginners course but I really wanted to share my own experiences and see how they match up with other people's.


At the end of last October I enjoyed a half-day archery taster session hosted by Sutton Bowmen in conjunction with our church men's group. I was so bowled over by this that I found a club, Ferryfield Bowmen, 5 minutes away from my house and put my name down (with my brother-in-law) for the next seniors course.


Four months later and an email duly arrived inviting me to their beginners course commencing 21st February. I turned up on a bitterly cold Saturday morning together with five other eager would-be toxophilists with a wide spread of ages - a father & daughter, me & my brother-in-law, a lad & a lass - ages from 19 to 47. The course lasts 6 weeks and is listed as running from 10:00 to 12:00 but in reality we tend to turn up around 9:30 to help set up & shoot through until 12:30-1:00pm.


Week 1 - introductions & comprehensive safety briefing, measured up for bow & arrows, first ends at 10 yards. We all moved through 10yds, 15yds and on to 20yds smoothly and gained a sight by the end of the session.


Week 2 - archery in the rain! A safety briefing and 20yd targets, when we were all comfortable at that distance we had a change of bow (up to around 20/22lb draw) before moving up to 30yds trying out platform tabs.


Week 3 - review on understanding of shooting safety, lesson on bow stringing, 30yd shooting. With an extra coach this week we were getting a lot more 1:1 training and at this point the group now split as 3 of us moved up to 40yd targets whilst 3 choose to remain shooting at 30yds. Towards the end of the session another bow upgrade for us 40yd lads saw me with 32lb draw limbs on an alloy riser with a better sight & magnetic arrow rest and my two fellow archers similarly kitted out.


Week 4 - last Saturday, a much needed warm up (4 degrees and a biting breeze) at 40yds and we were introduced to the scoring system for GNAS rounds. Our friendly banter had obviously been masking the full extent of our competitive spirit as we analysed every arrow we were now shooting. The introduction of a finger sling opened our grouping up for a while until we mastered the "not gripping grip" and the addition of a long rod shortly after proved no major obstacle with our coaches constantly on hand providing advice.


The three of us were shooting consistently at 50yds by the end of the day - when I say consistently I mean all 6 arrows were actually somewhere in the target face ;) Next week the plan is to begin to score our rounds on paper rather than in our heads


This course continues to be a joy for all 6 of us, the members are very pleasant, welcoming, knowledgeable and show a genuine desire to see all of us enjoy learning this great sport with the hope we will continue.


With a high number of coaches & a low student number on this course we have all progressed at a pace which is pleasantly testing but where no one feels the need to move on until they are happy with their own performance, a reassuring feeling. You can tell people are settled as shiny bits of personal equipment are now beginning to appear - quivers, tabs, arm guards & floppy hats!


I am happy to say I will certainly be continuing with the club after this course has finished as my only regret is that I waited so long before actually taking the plunge and having a go at archery, a sport I really love.
 

Breva750

New member
Very pleased that you have enjoyed that Corax and plan to go on with it! My "beginners course" was about a year ago and was drastically shortened as I had done a lot of stump shooting back in Australia in the 80s - so I wasn't a complete beginner. Week 1 I started off at 5m blank boss, then target face at 5 metres and then next week was shooting at 20 yards with the rest of them at the club and then after that I was signed off. All the safety stuff was of course imparted, as this was and is the most "formal" shooting I had ever done. No sights or long rods for me as I finger shoot an old compound bow without either sights or stabilisor(s). For me target shooting is a means to an end, training and learning to be a better field and 3D archer.

all the best,

Scott
 

Corax67

Well-known member
Wow - that was quick Scott.

seen a lot of stuff on fields& 3 D but target is definitely the one for me.

i spent many years shooting target rifle & clays, both of which are now far too expensive to get back into & clubs are thin on the ground too, but archery offers the same test of "me v me" at a comparatively low cost.

Karl
 
D

Deleted member 7654

Guest
I've never done a beginners course!
I was a beginner aged about 10 making bows and shooting them, so by the time I actually joined a field club about 40 years later it was rather unnecessary.
Before turning up, I made sure I was familiar with the rules, format and etiquette of field shooting. I turned up with a 70# self Yew longbow that I'd made, went round with some of the guys and was signed off after a couple of weeks.
I learned about bow safety aged about 14 by being deservedly punched on the jaw... probably not a recommended coaching method but extremely effective :).
Del
 

Dr. B

New member
Surprising that you are shooting 50y by week 4!
Our club beginner's bows probably couldn't reach that, and we never go beyond 20y even by the 6th week.
Sounds like good progress - most of our beginners (me included) would be getting a few misses at 30y by the end of the course.
 

chuffalump

Well-known member
Same here. We normally stick to 10 yards until a few sessions in. Might change to 20 if everyone is grouping well enough but never go longer on the course. We also stick to barebow for first session, sight and fingersling on session two, then moving onto scoring etc. Safety etc is emphasized from day one and bow stringing etc from session one or two. On the last session we have a little competition and shoot at some fun targets and fruit.
 

Breva750

New member
Forgot to say Karl that this was 2 weeks or so but 2 sessions per week - maybe 5 all up? at about 90 minutes a session. I think our "normal" beginners course takes probably the same amount of time as yours did, but with 2 sessions a week.
 

Corax67

Well-known member
The club has an excellent range of kit for beginners - basic kit is wooden handles & bolt on limbs but as we have progressed so has the equipment. I am currently shooting a Win&Win 25" riser matched to KAP Evolution II limbs (32lb draw), magnetic rest, button & clicker (not using that yet), Soma carbon long rod & not sure what make of sight. My arrows are Easton Jazz purples.

It's a setup more than capable of putting a set of 6 comfortably into the target at 50yds.
 

Corax67

Well-known member
Same here. We normally stick to 10 yards until a few sessions in. Might change to 20 if everyone is grouping well enough but never go longer on the course. We also stick to barebow for first session, sight and fingersling on session two, then moving onto scoring etc. Safety etc is emphasized from day one and bow stringing etc from session one or two. On the last session we have a little competition and shoot at some fun targets and fruit.
Week 1 & 2 did involve balloons on the targets which rapidly decreased in size but we soon shot our way through the clubs supply of those :)
 

Breva750

New member
A few weeks I tried out shooting a deer target at 55 yards....yeah thats a long way away for me..... :) The bow is a 40lbs compound bow from the 80s so it was well capable of getting to the target but I had to recalibrate a bit in the old grey matter.
 

Corax67

Well-known member
That target face does get very small very quickly as the distance increases - I had a look down range at an 80yd & 100yd target on Saturday and just managed to make out a coloured blur inside my sight ring :)

Now I understand why longbow archers score for just hitting the target.
 

oswaldthegreat

New member
Our club shoots indoors up to 20ft, and over the last 6 weeks we have been steadily moving up to that distance, and we've spent the last 3 weeks at 20ft.
 
D

Deleted member 7654

Guest
Our club shoots indoors up to 20ft, and over the last 6 weeks we have been steadily moving up to that distance, and we've spent the last 3 weeks at 20ft.
Errr, I hope you mean 20 yards. I can get 20 feet in my garage!
Del
 

bolerus

Member
thats very quick progress on a beginners course.
Our winter beginner course are indoors , so limited to 20 yards anyway.

similar with ours

week 1 ( coaches have already set up the bows )
introduction to safety,
measure up for bow size and arrows
explain all the gear etc
demo of shooting (freestyle, sometimes do barebow first week, but lots on this current course had done have a gos)
warm up exercises
then 1 to 1 at 10 yards - at a 122 face, moving back if everybody looks comfortable
warm down

week 2 -
recap over the safety
(at some stage a 'FAST' is often called to check the understanding of it)
students set up their own bows ( usually with lots of coaches asssiting the confused faces)
warm up
shooting at 10 or 15 yards at an 80cm face dependant on progress with 1 or 2 up with a coach at a time
warm down etc

week 3, recap safety
introduction to different bows and different target faces
introduction to scoring
warm up
shoot at 15 or 20 yards at an 80cm face
students score their own arrows
warm down

week 4
pretty much the same as week 3, at 20 yards

week 5
in house 252 competition with club members and coaches shooting with the students ( usually a good laugh and helps potential new club members feel part of the group)

I have probably forgotten loads of stuff.

the lessons are once a week for 2 hours ( a little over in reality)
 

Corax67

Well-known member
Our club shoots indoors up to 20ft, and over the last 6 weeks we have been steadily moving up to that distance, and we've spent the last 3 weeks at 20ft.

Ha ha - I love the idea of shooting at 20 feet, I think we would all qualify as Grand Master Bowmen ��
 

Discof

New member
Hi Corax67, It was really great, to hear that you experienced a really enjoyable and well organised and run beginners course, after all the negative things we have got used to hearing about our coaches over the last few years. Congratulations to all concerned and keep up the good work. Sometimes it is very easy that forget how important the whole grass roots thing is. Our first impressions of Archery, the same as almost everything else connected to our lives today, are vital. Coaches never know when they have a budding champion standing right in front of them but if the courses are similar to the one attended by Corax67 they may with just a bit of luck find out.
 
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