Prospective Archers
Foundation of Success
1. Desire - As in all sports, and even in life in general, the key ingredient to becoming successful is the desire and determination to achieve a higher level of skill. To become a successful archer, you must be willing to put in the time, hard work and self discipline necessary to excel and reach your goals. There will be a few failures on the road to success, but failure is part of the process. If you analyze your failures with a positive attitude and learn from them so you do not repeat the same mistakes, then even failures become building blocks on the path to success.
2. Technique - The quickest way to advance from an average archer to an accomplished archer is by learning proper technique from a qualified coach. The time and money you spend on good coaching is well worth the investment. Archers who try to do it alone could spend years being frustrated with the sport due to a lack of improvement in their scores or shot execution. However, after a year or so, with professional help from a coach, those same athletes could develop into accomplished archers. Many archers will not seek out a coach who could help teach them proper shooting technique either because they do not know one, or they do not want to spend the money. Yet, that same person will think nothing of spending money on equipment, buying the latest bow or arrows or different release aids, all in search of "buying" a better score. They would be money ahead to take 50% of their equipment budget and spend it learning how to shoot the bow properly. Learning proper shot execution technique will provide much better results in the long run.
3. Work Ethic - Finally, being a successful archer takes hard work. No archer has ever made it to the top easily. All highly ranked archers have a strong work ethic that is based on a love of the sport. These archers fundamentally love shooting and the work required to excel is overshadowed by what I would call a "romance with the bow and arrow." They thrive on the process of shooting. It becomes such an addiction that they have to shoot most every day or the day feels incomplete.