# Type of Target Panic?



## aread (Dec 25, 2009)

IMHO this is not an entirely bad thing.

I've worked for years to have a subconscious execution and haven't achieved what he apparently has naturally. He probably just needs to get more control of his shot and develop a shot sequence without losing what he has.

Does he have the discipline to shoot a blank bale long enough to develop control? Does he understand what a shot sequence is and how to build one? How far does he want to go in archery? 

It's nearly impossible to diagnose an archer without seeing him shoot and talking to him. If his scores are good, he may just need to learn a little more about form, execution & how to practice. Is there a good coach available locally?

Reo Wilde is currently the best tournament archer in the world. He had the same problem when he was about 12 years old, except that it was much worse. As soon as he hit full draw, the arrow was gone. Fortunately, Reo had a great coach available in his dad. So if this youngster can get good coaching, there is no telling what he can accomplish.

Allen


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## Archer74 (Mar 22, 2008)

Thanks Allen. As the shooter's Dad I probably needed to hear this as much as him. He is in a JOAD program and has a really good coach. She has been tremendous. This was all noticed last night. We will be with the coach on Thursday and will discuss it with her.

He dreams of being able to shoot with with Reo Wilde, Dave Cousins and the others at that level, so he is motivated to improve. He would shoot every day if it was possible. The challenge has been teaching him to keep the pratice focused instead of starting to fling arrows and get into bad habits. Shorter more disciplined practice sessions may be needed. I have been trying to get him to think about a shot sequence to stay focused on what he has been working on. I don't think it has become a habit yet. 

He will shoot blank bale, but as you can imagine with most 14 year olds, would rather shoot the target for a score.

I appreciate the post and will share it with him. He was very frustrated last night and this will certainly help him regain confidence and motivation.

Tony


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## SpotShy (Mar 14, 2005)

I am curious to know where his shots fall. In shooting in this method is his lack of accuracy what resulted in questioning his technique. Is he not getting on target before the shot breaks?

Personally, just from the info you provided, it seems to me that the youngster needs to practice the aiming part of the game. Blank bale is great training, that is if he has issues with shot execution. What I hear is that he is not settling in and aiming. I believe, that 90 % of target panic comes from not learning the aiming process and being able to relax and trust one's ability to aim. Normally the punchers become punchers due to the fact that when the pin hits the spot they do not trust their ability to let it float there and relax. They worry that if they wait the pin is going to fall out. Your son, just from what I assume from the little I read, is not a puncher but rather an automatic shooter. I would have him practice aiming with a non firing release. I would place an orange dot in the center of a bale and have him go through the steps of his shot sequence to the point of aim. Then I would have him hold the aim for as long as possible. Then let down and try again. He needs to have a lot of positive verbal re-enforcement from himself and the coach. He needs to think relax, let it float, this is a nice place to be. Once he can draw and aim comfortably after several weeks of this repetitive practice (good luck a teenager, lol) without the response to fire in 2 seconds, then have him on the blank bale for a few weeks without aiming and working on shot execution. Then take another few weeks and put the orange dot back on the bale. But this time, let him live fire. The key is this, if he goes back to auto fire, he will have to go back to the aiming drill. Bad habits are hard to break. The key to fixing any element of a discipline such as archery is get to the root, then break the process down to the individual parts and then re-learn them individually. I may have a different view after you answer my initial questions but right now, I think he has a poorly learned aiming process.


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## [email protected] (Aug 3, 2010)

I agree he has a faulty sequence and needs some bail time on his release.I would suggest a rotational aiming drill. This for snapshooting which is what he is doing.Take a large target and place many dots randomly like the face of a clock.Have him stand at five yards and draw,preload the trigger(dont no what kind of release he has)aim at one of the dots,hold for 4 to 6 seconds and let down.Draw and let down 30 to 60x a day aiming at a different dot in no order each time.This will reprogram him so he is not afraid to hold on target and kill his urge to snapshoot as soon as he gets on a target.Try this drill first,then the bale,then a bridge.Coach bernie explains this well.Good luck


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## Archer74 (Mar 22, 2008)

Thanks everyone. I was away from the computer all afternoon and just got the responses. Definitely some drills we will try.

Spotshy - When he misses, most of the time high, he describes it as the release going off before he was ready. Overall he believes he has trouble holding steady and I have (unsuccessfully to this point) tried to explain how to, so I think you may be right. These drills should help and is similar to what a good shooter recommended last night. When we were trying to get him to hold without releasing with a no shot release, he would say that as soon as the circle hit the gold he involuntarily tried to shoot. This concerned me since this habit is obviously deeply rooted. 

He can get away with it as his scores are pretty good, but he wants to move to the next level and 2 or 3 shots a tournament are killing him. 

Definitely time to reprogram. Too bad there isn't a Ctrl-Alt-Del on us.

Thanks again to all. 

Tony


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## mike 66 (Jan 21, 2010)

well i have seen some real heavy punchers. and it sounds to me like hes got T-P .... probaly got it from shooting hair triggers. ive seen this a lot. i use a bernie no punch release for those guys, it works fast it will not allow the mind to take over . and mess up the shot.it :cool2:


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## SpotShy (Mar 14, 2005)

Archer74,

I joke with friends all the time that I can fix any target panic with the use of a Tritronic Shock collar dog trainer. For some reason I get no takers (LOL)! I figure it will work or the guy will take up table tenis.

Does your son have a written shot sequence? If not have him write one down. That way he can have a path to follow. He can even make a large version and post it on the target butt for reference. I know it sounds a bit hokey but sometimes visuals are good. Some important things that he will need to include in his sequence are; Pre-Aim, Acquire, Aim, and relax. The pre-aim is simply preparing for the shot prior to the draw. This is when we focus on the exact spot we want to hit and bring our total focus to the spot. Of course the next step is to draw but at the time of our draw motion our eyes and attention needs to remain focused on the spot. Acquire is simply aquiring the target in our sight. Many folks bypass this period in the sequence and go straight to aim. Doing this cause a short in our wiring. When Acquiring, we take the time to bring the spot into view and calibrate the sight or further more the aperature on the target we have in focus. Failure to trust our ability during acquire period often leads to the various malfunctions that lead to target panic. Such as quick firing, low locking, drive by shooting, etc. The aquire period to me is like pointing a gun in the direction of a deer and getting on them in a rifle scope, then retaining that position. The aiming step comes when I pick out the exact crease or hair on the deer's body. Then if I do not relax and execute the shot fluidly without tention I could pull off. So it's like rough calibration then fine calibration. Going directly from draw to aim to fire results in the absence of critical rough calculation and the steadiness of a relaxed execution. 
The largest issue I see with archers is that they want to walk way to fast. In other words, not enough time is spent on the individual parts of the discipine, learning them and then putting them together as a complete game. 

I think your son can get past this, he just needs to back up and find the short in the wiring. If it were me I would search between draw and shot manipulation. Sounds like he has no problem doing anything before or after those steps in the shot sequence.

Keep us posted!


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## Archer74 (Mar 22, 2008)

Spotshy - the shock collar will work, coming from the guy who just walked out of the yard holding my dog's invisible fence collar. 

We shot last night. He used a thumb release to draw and hold on an orange dot on the bale. It only took a little while for him to be able to hold longer than his typical shot without trying to execute a shot. After a while he finally admitted that he was able to hold on target after letting things "settle in". He has been fighting me on this the past couple months saying the longer he holds the more he moves. After an hour of drawing and holding I let him shoot. First with the Zenith back tension. He was able to hold for the first couple shots then started getting a little quick. I know you said to do it for a couple weeks, but he is in the middle of indoor JOAD so he will have to shoot. Anyway, we went back to holding without shooting. Towards the end he asked if he could try the thumb release. He shot remarkably well with it and I noticed him holding and aiming longer. 

I would prefer him to stay with the back tension, but if he shoots the thumb better ... Your thoughts? 

If he stays with the thumb release I need to make certain he doesn't start punching the trigger. Regardless he will continue the hold and draw drill as it will continue to help him. 

Also, we took off a 10 inch offset bar he was using just to see if the added weight was doing anything. He was surprised how much easier it was to hold with just a front stabilizer. This was big coming from him because he loves all the gadgets.

I will have him write down the shot sequence. I may even tape a small one inside his limb for reference when someone isn't there to remind him verbally.


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## [email protected] (Aug 3, 2010)

I know its your son and he's in a program but letting him go back to shooting the same night after a few drills is not a wise choice.He will i guarrantee go back to snapshooting.For his benefit shut him down and start working on his sequence and some aiming drills.He needs to learn the discipline of a strict bridge program.Im surprised his instructor let him to continue to shoot,it was a mistake.Listen to spotshy you need to establish a shot sequence and ingrain it till he totally trusts his form from committ to conclusion.Good luck but there is no quick fix!


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## SpotShy (Mar 14, 2005)

Tony,
I agree that it would be in his best interest to stay with the Zenith. Not as much to keep him from punching but due to the fact that the non-firing practice cam will be a benefit in training. Any release can be punched. Some of the worst punchers I have seen shoot hinge releases. They are simply shooting them with hand manipulation. 

I will have to agree with come2takeit, your son's monster will continue to raise his ugly head if he continues to shoot, especially in competition. Retraining will require total commitment. A drill here and there is like putting a dirty bandaid on an artery wound. It won't stop the bleeding and there is a good chance of infection. I realize at 14 years old a few months is like an eternity. However, a good coach would encourage a bit of soul searching. If he really wants to toe the line with the likes of Wilde and Cousins, there will be times of great sacrifice. This obstacle is just one of the first. It takes the average person 3500 or more times of doing something before it becomes habit. His auto fire technique is a habit that has been learned and then reinforced over time. Realize retraining may take as much time. It may be aggrivating to stop the fun of shooting for score but it is in his best future interest. You and the coach can sell it to him, you just have to educate him of the benefit. A house built on stone can last a lifetime but one built on sand will have to be rebuilt each time it rains


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## mike 66 (Jan 21, 2010)

you cant PUNCH a bernie no punch release... to wont happen...


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## lukenessmonster (Oct 10, 2010)

i had this exact problem for years. i broke it about a year ago, i did so by shooting fingers for about a month. for some reason it worked. im back on the release now and shooting better than ever.


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## fatboyshooter (Feb 9, 2010)

The Bernie's can't punch helped me TREMENDOUSLY to overcome TP and to realize that the shot has to happen by the subconscious!


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## [email protected] (Aug 3, 2010)

No matter what releases anyone uses a new release cannot fix a faulty shot sequence.Only tearing it down(shot sequence)and building it back up through the bail will this problem be solved.A switch of releases is at best a 2-3 day fix.There are NO SHORTCUTS WITH TARGET PANIC.BAIL BAIL BAIL AND BAIL SOMEMORE!!!!!


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## mike 66 (Jan 21, 2010)

thanks for the kind comment...


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