Nerves or Lack of Focus?

About a week ago, our archery club held a grocery shoot as a fund raiser.
The last round of the night was for a very nice bow stabilizer. We had a shoot-off and soon it was down to two shooters….a friend of mine from the club and a shooter from another club.

My friend and I were shooting on the same lane all night and he had put his last five arrows in the bullseye. His opponent shot first and was well outside the bullseye ring….all my friend had to do was come close. But then
he did something he hadn’t done all night…he came to full draw, aimed…..and let down. He did this twice. His nerves were getting to him.

Instead of letting his body do what it knew how to do, his mind took over.
Instead of focusing on the tiny little “X” in the middle of the bullseye,
he was worried about other things.

Have you ever watched a little child carry a plate of food across the living room or out in the yard during a picnic? If the child does not focus
on that plate the entire trip, the plate begins to dip until it is at an alarming angle.

Have you ever been driving and so lost in thought that when you snapped out of it, you don’t remember driving the last few miles?

Have you even been watching CNN and tried listening to what the reporters were saying while trying to read the scrolling news stories at the bottom of the screen….at the same time. I can’t do it!

Have you ever had a tall 8-point come in to your shooting lane at 7:15 AM, come to full draw, and sail the arrow over his back…only to realize later
that you honestly didn’t remember where your kisser button was when you were at full draw?

My point is…we can’t truly focus 100% of our attention on more than one thing at a time.

When its crunch time and your nerves are screaming at you, there’s only one thing you can do….relax, find that aiming point, focus all of your
attention on it, and let your body release the arrow like you’ve trained it to do.

As for my friend…he still has his old stabilizer on his bow