Day 11-12-13: Online Archery Carnival: Less is More

Welcome to Day 11, 12, and 13 of the Online Archery Carnival! This is a 3-Day Challenge.  Dig in!

Read the May 24 post for more information on the Online Archery Carnival and how to participate.  Each challenge is scalable (adjustable to fit your skill/motivation/equipment).

Title

Less is More

Description of Challenge & Performance

• Quotes for your Training Today
  • Success is not a goal you reach or a finish line to cross.  It is a system to improve, an endless process to refine – James Clear, Atomic Habits
  • You do not rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems (habits) – James Clear, Atomic Habits
  • You should be far more concerned with your current trajectory than your current results – James Clear, Atomic Habits
• WARM UP
  • 60 seconds Up and Overs
  • 60 seconds Sit Ups or Crunches
  • 60 seconds Burpees
  • 60 seconds Jumping Jacks
  • 60 seconds of Side Planks, 30 seconds on each side
  • 60 seconds Squats
  • 60 Bridge Hold with Gluteal squeeze
• GAME
  • The Less is More Game involves reducing the number of arrows (or ends) shot while trying to maintain or improve upon the score you generally achieve when shooting 30 arrows.  This is not a game you “win” right away.  It will take time.  So, while the GOAL is is to be able to shoot the same or higher score with fewer arrows, the goal itself will not get you there.  Rather, the HABIT of 1) attending to each step of the shot cycle so that the shot feels “like a 10” and then 2) reflecting/writing about what worked will lead you to successful goal acquisition.  Less is More is a process of developing habits of mind with the outcome being you can shoot the same or higher score with fewer arrows.
  • 1) Use the scoring sheet below, or create your own.  The number of ends you shoot or the number of arrows your shoot is your choice and is dependent on the level of challenge you want. All of your scores in this game are relative to what you usually shoot in competition/pin shoot with 30 arrows, so have that value in mind.
    • Example Challenge Levels to Choose from:
      • A) Shoot 27 arrows (9 ends of 3 arrows) and compare it to what you usually shoot with 30 arrows
      • B) Shoot 24 arrows (8 ends of 3 arrows) and compare it to what you usually shoot with 30 arrows
      • C) Shoot 21 arrows (7 ends of 3 arrows) and compare it to what you usually shoot with 30 arrows
  • 2) Relentless Reflection through Journaling: Less is More involves a reflective component.  Yup, you’re going to have to have some deep inner awareness about your movements.  Specifically, you have to think about which movements ARE efficient and HELPING your arrows get to the “10 ring”.  After every end of 3 arrows, write key words down that describe what the best shots felt like.  You want to IMPRINT/remember what a 10 feels like.  If a shot does not “feel” like what you have identified a “10” feels like, then LET DOWN and start over.
    • Note: the space in the Score Sheet below has a very small amount of room for reflection.  Feel free to use another sheet of paper to expand.  These notes only need to make sense to you – no one else.
  • 3) Repeat the challenge with the same number of arrows (27 for example) until you can regularly achieve or exceed your normal 30 arrow score.  Make sure you are writing down, not just “thinking without writing”, what you are learning about what a “10” feels like at the end of every End.
    • Just imagine how much higher your score will be once you go back to 30 arrows!  It will be like having 3 EXTRA arrows….but don’t treat them that way!  Don’t treat them like extra cookies, though!
  • TIMELINE: This is a 3-Day Challenge.  I challenge you to repeat this Game (at least) 3 times, each day, for 3 days – meaning you would go through 9 Score Sheets.  The more you do this over the next three days the better.  Of course, if you need or want to scale it – totally fine.  Adjust as needed.

Knowledge Outcome

• Goals are great!  But 1o people can have the same goal while only 2 people achieve that goal.  What is different about those two people?  Hint, fill in the blank: These two people have different H—– that lead them successfully to their goals.
• What Habits are you using when you perform well?
• What parts of the shot cycle do you need to be most conscious of in order for you to get 10s?
• Describe the process you go through when you arrows are landing in the 10 ring.

Skill Outcome

• Greater conscious awareness of steps of the shot cycle and what pieces of those steps feel like when the arrows go in the center of the target.
• Refined performance-oriented habits geared towards providing attention to each step of the shot cycle.

Materials Needed

• Bow, arrows, target
• Paper and Pen/Pencil

Criteria for Assessment & Feedback

• Did I take time to reflect and write down, after every end, what the good shots feel like?  Without this conscious, deliberate, mindful step of the game, the value of participation will be undermined tremendously.  Hucking arrows down range and hoping (I call this Hucking & Hoping) they land where you want them to is fun, for sure, but it is not the type of participation which leads to increases in performance. 
• Am I developing a clearer understanding for what the shot process of a “10” feels like?
• After repeating this activity X # of times, has my average score / arrow increased?

Scaled Options

• Levels A, B, or C involve 3, 6, or 9 fewer arrows than usual.  Choose your challenge.
• Already shooting perfect scores? Alter your target to make a smaller inner ring, award that new ring with a point value of 11 and recalculate what your highest possible score can be with that alteration.  Now determine your new “normal” score with 30 arrows and then engage in the activity as prescribed.
• Don’t have 18m at home?  No problem.  Shoot a few rounds of 30 arrows at whatever distance you have to establish your current “norm” at that distance.  Then begin Less is More.

Video or Photo Submission Criteria for this Challenge

• Photo or video: 1) Get a photo of your first Less is More score sheet and 2) a photo of your last Less is More score sheet with reflections and well as 3) a photo/video of you shooting.
• Post to Instagram and use #archerycarnival2020 and @sattva_archery (underscore). or to your Facebook page (make it public) and mention/tag @SattvaArchery (no underscore) ….or just e-mail or text Coach Kyle photos/videos.

• Your Facebook and Instagram accounts have to be public, not private, and you need to tag Instagram as @sattva_archery and #archerycarnival2020.  Facebook needs to get tagged as @sattvaarchery. If you want to submit via Facebook, post on your own page.

BACKGROUND

• Goals are not what determine if an athlete is successful or not.  Many people have the goal of becoming better or even the best at something; do they all make it?  If goals were the only factor, then the answer would be “yes, they all made it”.  You might want to shoot a 250/300, a 290/300 or,  a perfect score; perhaps you want to win your age group and division in a State championship this year; maybe you set a goal to achieve Holding in 95% of your shots by the end of the month.  That is a great start, and we all need short, medium and long term goals for sure!  However, all other factors being equal (money, health, access to healthy food, access to a master coach, support from family, inner ignition, etc), – habits – habits are what determine if we actually achieve our goals. The habit today’s drill focuses on is the HABIT OF MIND to treat each shot as a new shot and give it the utmost attention, respect and dedication – almost as if it was going to be the only arrow we would shoot all day.  If you’re not feeling 100% committed to a shot, let down and start over.  Make that a habit.
• Less is More: When we have a surplus or standard amount of “something”, we can sometimes develop the habit of thinking that some of those items are expendable, could go to waste, or not be used as effectively as the others.  Conversely, when we have limited resources at our fingertips, we tend to be frugal, careful, more exacting, and make each resource has the largest possible impact.  Example: Imagine you are a family of 3 and you have 30 warm cookies that just came out of the oven.  Some people might savor each cookie, for sure.  Others might start inhaling cookies, barely tasting them as they go down, simply because they want to get to the next cookie!  After all, each person gets 10 cookies!  Now imagine only 6 cookies came out of the oven; 2 cookies per person.  Some people might still inhale the cookies, but I am willing to bet that many people would chew with greater appreciation, savoring every flavor and texture as it came to life on the tongue.
  • So what do 3o warm cookies that have to do with archery?  Some archers shoot their arrows really fast and while thinking about the next arrow.  That is similar to inhaling your cookies without really taking the time to FOCUS on each cookie and attend to the process of eating each cooking with respect and appreciation for the ART of eating cookies.
  • If I had a dollar for every time that I heard an athlete say, “If we ignore those few arrows . . .“, they then point to a few outlier arrows on their target, “. . . then I achieved a really nice cluster“, now pointing to a tighter mass of arrows near the center of e target.   Well, it’s time you literally ignore those few arrows – yup – by not using them at all.  The Less is More drill involves shooting FEWER arrows in an attempt to achieve a HIGHER or EQUAL score to what you usually achieve.