Hi

Is it a particular instruction she wont listen to or does she not listen full stop? How does she react to your instructions? Does she just ignore, argue or take it personally etc?

James

Hi cliveanne

This is a really interesting one. Communication is fascinating. Here are a couple of thoughts that may help.

* Do you know what her motivation for attending archery is? Is she there to improve? be the best? have fun? Key into this and work with her to achieve her goal. Sometimes the coaches goal clashes with the students.

* Some people like external feedback/praise, others are more internal and like to do things themselves - these people can appear to be not listening as they want to solve things themselves. Try asking "What do you think you need to do to improve your archery?" - you can even give some options. Leave it with her for awhile, she will then 'solve it herself'!

* Have you asked her what you can do to help her to learn more easily? We all have different styles of learning, and once you are aware of someones then you can accelerate their learning, and enjoy your teaching more!

Hope these help.

Regards

Steve

It seems as though she is not capable to understand a simple instruction. The basic we are trying to get across is "The follow through". She has developed the habit of letting the string pull her fingers forward before letting go, resulting in a shortfall arrow, she then tries to make up for this by aiming higher. Needless to say, there are arrows all over the place. If my wife or I stand over her, giving inch by inch instruction, she manages to get it right. As soon as we leave her to her own devices, she is back again. There is no animosity from either side, in fact we tend to treat it almost as a fun thing, at least make light of it. The kind of class we run is very informal, light hearted banter & flack from both sides. We have been told that it is worth coming just for the laughs.

Steve,
I think that she has taken up the sport as a pastime to be with her friend more than anythig else. She has a "Positivly Negative" attitude ."I can't do this, I can't do that", etc.etc. We have all been there (& no doubt, will be there again), We manage to find a positive for every arrow shot, no matter how badly done, but it is hard work. We shall be seeing her again Monday evening & try another way to get the message in there.
Thanks for the input.
C.

All sports have that problems, and those sorts of athletics will never make anywhere or improve. It is easy to get a kid to change his attitude but a fully growen athlete would be much harder.

Are you is a position to disipline her or cut her from your squad? it may the wake-up call she needs.

I don't think that really fits with the culture described.
It sounds like she just doesn't believe that she can do it. Perhaps she would benefit from seeing herself executing the skill correctly - if you video her doing it under close intruction. It may then be useful to encourage her to imagine herself executing the skill, using the video as a based. Encourage her to use all senses, especially feel, and to experience images from an internal perspective (unlike the video, which is external).
If she is benefitting from close instructions, perhaps the development of some simple cues for her to remember would also help.

There is not a lot to gain from disipline. She is a beginner in the sport, & as such, she need all the encouragement we can give her. Last night, we met again, & my wife was able to give her more attention as the new starters were learning "bare-bow" techneque, & she was put in with them. Her shooting improved a great deal, but still with a lot of misses. I am beginning to think that she is a slow learner.

I agree with the video idea. The trouble is, we are running lessons at a school where we cannot alwas have access to a moniter. I could always try & use the Digital camera which has a very limited video capability. This will not be for two weeks now (half-term) but I will get back on that one.

Communication is essential and whilst you are working closely with her, she seems to tap into what is required.

However without one-to-one coaching, she perhaps not focusing on the message you have put across.

Archery is reasonably technical, with lots of little things to remember. Perhaps when she is "by herself" her self-talk convinves her that something else is the problem.

The idea of the video may resolve this though. When she can actually see what is going wrong, she may change her internal dialogue.

p

I'm new to the forum and was reading over this discussion and had a different thought. You've identified that this archer appears to have a lot of negative self-talk, and you've said that with intense step-by-step instruction she can perform the skill correctly. I know when I do a skilled movement, many times I am running a script in my head - "cock the wrist-sweep back--hips first--through the ball--finish" for a golf shot for example.
Can you develop a script for her to use when shooting - including things like "hold--hold-just the fingers" etc. Even if it sounds silly - even if she has to do it aloud sotto voce at first - just to drown out the negative speech in her head? I know if I think "don't go in the water, don't go in the water" --- guess where my shot goes vs. "on the green, on the green" .

just my 2 cents (American)

Lisa

Lisa,
Thanks for the input, What you have come up with sounds good to me, when I started archery, it is somethig I used to do myself. Such a long time ago, I'd forgotten about it. We shall certainly give it a try on Monday evening. I'll get back on that after a week or so. Give it a chance to settle in :)
Just my Pennysworth (English :wink: )