Summer Olympics: What does it take to be an archer?

Summer Olympics: What does it take to be 
an archer?

LANSING - With the Summer Olympics in Rio approaching, new world champions could be crowned in every sport.

Some of those are sports that aren't always talked about in the media, for example, archery.

Michigan State University archery coach Glen Bennett said that being an archer, especially one competing at an Olympic level, requires hard work and good mental management.

"Basically, when we're teaching kids, we teach them the National Training System, which is the same system that they use at the Olympic Training Center. So actually when our kids start archery, a lot of these kids don't know any different than the National Training System, so there's 13 steps we teach the kids and we find that a lot of kids who are better process-oriented, do really well at this sport, other than being goal-oriented."

Archers are also asked to keep a journal of all of their physical activities and eating habits.

Bennett said that there is much more to being an archer than just practicing at a range.

"Well we like to make sure that the kids are, number one, healthy, leading a healthy lifestyle. You know, a little bit of weight training involved, working with stretch bands, and you know, staying physically fit, walking, running, anything they can do to keep fit," he said.

The type of archery done in the Olympics is done with the recurve bow, and it is shot at a 70-meter distance - about 77 yards,

Shot outside, there are many aspects that archers must take into account before aiming and shooting, such as the wind.

Bennett broke down the archery techniques in processes, separating each part of the body and work on the positioning separately and one-by-one.

"We're going to be at the shooting line. There's always a shooting line in archery. So we want to shoot basically with an open stance, so what that means is the ball of my foot is going towards the target here. I want the ball of my foot and an imaginary line going towards the shooting target," Bennett said.

The front foot, Bennett said, will be in front of the back foot, but angled towards the target and about one inch off of the shooting line - that goes from the ball of the back foot to the target.

"Then you'll take the grip, the hook, we call this the hook, and the 'baby chicken,' and this is he hook. We'll put our hand in the bow, and if you noticed when I raise the bow up, my elbow turns sideways," Bennett said.

The hook is formed by using the left hand, for a right-handed person, and grabbing the front of the bow with the thumb and index finger.

The other three fingers will be tucked into the hand.

The "baby chicken" is taking the right hand, for a right-handed person, placing the thumb on one side of the bow and the index finger on the other, on top of the bow, and the other three fingers below the index finger and below the bow.

Bennett said sometimes people turn their elbow sideways, which causes them to whack themselves on the allow joint.

"That's what turns people off from the game of archery," he said.

After having the right grips and the arrow in place, then one comes to the set position.

"We come to the set position, which is basically a little tension in the string. You raise the bow up, okay, so when you raise the bow up you're gonna start drawing. So if you've ever started a lawnmower before, you wanna basically use your back," Bennett said.

Pulling back with the back muscles, instead of with the shoulders, the archer will then anchor with their right hand.

Anchoring is bringing the right hand back, while the back muscles are pulling back, and placing the thumb underneath the chin.

"Another thing you wanna look for is the elbow line," he said. "So the elbow wants to be aligned with the arrow."

After anchoring, the archer will expand, pulling back with the back muscles more, and hold while he or she aims.

Then they have to relax the fingers and let the arrow go, and instead of moving forward with the bow, the archer's right hand should move back after releasing the bow.

With the basics of archery explained by Bennett, it will become easier to understand what goes into being an archer when watching the Olympics.

The Olympics start in August, with the Opening Ceremony on August 5.

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