From: melin@hlrz24.hlrz.kfa-juelich.de (Stephan Melin)
Subject: Re: Target Panic
Organization: Forschungszentrum Juelich GmbH (KFA), Germany
Followup-To: alt.archery
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1992 10:48:12 GMT
X-Posted-From: hlrz24.hlrz.kfa-juelich.de
NNTP-Posting-Host: sol.ctr.columbia.edu

In article <edwin.717899084@lindblat.cc.monash.edu.au> 
edwin@lindblat.cc.monash.edu.au (Edwin Chung) writes:
[stuff deleted]
>I must say that I am not an expert archer, but this is what I know
>about "Target Panic" after having gone through it a few months ago.
>Dr. Bridges, what you have is target panic.  [Note that, I am trying
>not to describe target panic again 'cos I only started to suffer from
>it after being told what it is!!]
>
>The first thing I did was to shoot at a blank (no target) butt at close
>range (2-3m).  After getting some confidence in my shooting (this may
>take minutes, hours may be days!), I will shoot at a large target face
>(122cm) again at very close range (5-10m) until I am confidence that I
>can hit the gold.  I will slowly move backwards 5-10m at a time until I
>have shake it off.

This is sound advice. I had target panic quite a while ago, it was so
bad that I released just when looking at my sight pin. It always started
when I started very well (acording to my personal standards) in a
tournament and got a bit tired after a while ---> 
and I started thinking this:
"The pin is steady in the gold, why bother and try to draw trough the 
klicker (thats the correct term I hope), just release..." Unfortunately
this worked for a while and my scores were still OK, but after a while
something went "klick" in my mind and I released just in the moment when
I looked at the pin. (So my score on the 90m was significantly higher 
than on the 30m...).
It was because I lost confidence that I will hit the target even if
it might take a little more effort to draw through the klicker and that
I _WANTED_ _TO_ _SCORE_ _WELL_ _AT_ _ALL_ _COSTS_ (even shooting through 
  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
the klicker...). 

So how did I overcome this problem:
First I did nearly the same as Edwin did: I shot several arrows at a
very short distance, but with my _EYES_ _CLOSED_. This helped me to
remember the whole process of drawing, anchoring, "klick" - release.
The next step was that shot several arrows still at very short distance
but with a large target face until my impulse to release just in the 
moment I looked at the pin was gone.
But so far this is only half way, shooting relaxed while in practise
does not insure that you shoot that way in a tournament...
The next step was that I changed my attitude to make a distinction
between practise and a tournament (this is the most common problem
among archers - no kidding). There should be no difference in your
attitude towards shooting at a tournament or in practise.
So the next tournament, I shot, suddenly I felt that the impulse to
release prematurely was back, but still weak. So I said goodbye to my
ambitions to score well at this day and refocussed it at drawing all 
arrows through the klicker and then releasing. (After two FITAs shot
in that way, and practising in the way described above, the problem 
was gone and has never occured again (so far it is 5 years)).

>
>Another method that I have tried is, to bring my sight pin from
>different directions.  Now, if I find that I am having difficulties
>moving the pin from the bottom (6 o'clock), I will move it from 12
>o'clock.  This will usually work immediately, but if it does not or I am
>starting to have difficulties coming in from 12 o'clock; I will try
>coming in first from 12 o'clock, then from 3 o'clock, then 6 o'clock,
>9 o'clock and back to 12 o'clock and so on.  At any stage, if I have
>difficulties with any one of them, I will skip it and proceed to the
>next.  [BTW some will come in from 1:30, 4:30, 7:30 and 10:30].  Thus
>far, I have found that this method works very well for me, and is very
>useful when you can't go away to shoot at a blank butt!
>
Here I have to disagree completely, I think that not being on target
with the sight right from the start of drawing is the real cause for the
problem. 
More general:
The process of aiming is the root of many target panic related problems.
If your aim is not right on target while you are drawing, you have to
"search" thus naturally leading to a halt in your draw. When your sight
is on target then you have to restart your draw (changing from a static
to a dynamic state is very difficult for the muscles) this can either
result in that you are not able to restart the motion (forward loose,
not being able to draw through the klicker...) or that if you are able
to restart the motion, that the whole body starts being unstable 
(especially your bowarm will start moving in an uncontrolled way).
So if your are right on target form the beginning of the draw, you don't
have to spent so much effort on aiming, so you can concentrate on your
style of shooting (a good style improves your consistency).

However there is a third point:
The type of sight you are using may cause some aining problems.
With a pin sight there are basically two ways of aiming:
(sorry I don't know the correct english terms for them, so
I will supply a crude sketch)
a)                   b)
       ___                ___
      /   \              /   \
      | *-|---           |   |
      \___/              \___/
                           *----- 
a)
Some people find it difficult to aim when the pin obscures the target
so they will eventually move the bow just before release to see the 
target.  
b)
This style of aiming overcomes the problem in a) but changes your focus
somewhat away from your target.
But there is another type of sight, which does not have these problems:
the "hole or ring sight" (I hope that is the correct term). 
With this sight you can focus on the target, you just have to get the
target inside the ring. But if you use this kind of sight be sure to
be able to change the aperture of the ring, because the optimum may
vary for different target sizes/distances...
Sketch:
         **
        *  *           Note that the object within the ring is just the gold,
       * /\ *_______   not the whole target face...
       * \/ *
        *  * 
         ** 


I hope that all of this might give a few clues how to overcome target panic.



Good shooting and no more target panic

-- 
Stephan Melin

melin@hlrserv.hlrz.kfa-juelich.de   ||    hkf418@djukfa11.bitnet



-- 
Stephan Melin

melin@hlrsun.hlrz.kfa-juelich.de   ||    hkf418@djukfa11.bitnet
Newsgroups: alt.archery