# Anxiety prior to release



## Danielle Burke (Sep 8, 2014)

Hi everybody. I'm still pretty new to archery, going on 2 months or so. I've been going pretty well on club nights as well as at the makeshift range I and my partner made in his parents' field. My scoring and shooting has been fairly consistent and I've been fixing little bits and pieces in my shooting. 
Essentially I'm working on form and making sure I'm paying some attentio to it. However the past two weeks since making a new PB I've been shooting crazy badly. Worse than when I started. I've generally always been a little anxious before releasing but now it's getting to the point where it's all I'm feeling before releasing. There isn't anything on my mind, my shots look like they'll do well then as soon as I release or before I feel a rush of anxiety and then I look up and see I've missed the target. Not always by a lot but the fact that I miss once makes me feel like I'll do it again and so it happens again. 

Now, without right away pinpointing it could be a consistent technical error which I believe it part of it. Have been torquing upwards lately and I'm not sure how to fix that. Some releases are nice and calm and most others are panicked. I can't seem to relax and calm down and it't affecting my confidence.

Anyone else have similar issues. Any ideas how to get through it?


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## montigre (Oct 13, 2008)

Sounds like you're thinking too much about score and improving and not enough about just shooting good form. I'd suggest that you shoot no further than 10 yards or so for the next couple/few weeks and concentrate not so much on where your arrow goes on the target, but whether or not you made a good, solid shot using your best form. If, at first, the target is still too distracting at 10 yards, remove it for a week and just shoot a blank bale, then put it back up.

Your groups will likely open at first, but if you stick with it, you'll see them close down again and you'll be in a better position to take this newly established form to the club shoots with you and do well. 

Remember, unless your relying on archery to pay your mortgage each month, it is just a game and is supposed to be fun.


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## XForce Girl (Feb 14, 2008)

Montigre is correct.
Do not think about scores. Concentrate on making a perfect repeatable shot every time. 
Blank bailing is not fun but it is necessary. Take the target down and shoot up close. 
Hey, its less steps to get your arrows. As Larry wise told us, were practicing shooting not walking.


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