Training Aids

I must have mentioned along the way in this blog that I have set a goal for myself, one commensurate with my ego: I want to create a professional literature for archery coaches. There are a zillion “how to shoot” books, more being produced every day. I have close to 250 archery books in my library and the vast majority of them are “how to shoot” books.

What I want are “how to coach books” and “how to teach books.” We have enough “how to shoot books.” It is as if we had all of the anatomy, physiology,  surgery, diseases of the human body books to train doctors with, but left out “how to treat patients.”

I want to address the situations archery coaches find themselves in and provide them with options and supports to deal with them successfully. So, . . .

Do You Want to Help?
One of the ways to train coaches (doctors, lawyers, etc.) is “case studies.” Doctors are provided with a “case,” a patient with a certain set of symptoms. They are then asked to figure out what to do. Later, the lesson goes on with an explanation of what was done and what the disease really was, etc. (This is portrayed in TV dramas set in teaching hospitals when groups of interns/doctors make “rounds.”) Law schools similarly have hundreds of legal cases they use to train lawyers.

I would like to have a set of cases for archery coaches. We could post them on the web, use them in training programs, etc. Sound like fun?

I have written up a few cases that have come up in my lessons but I want to get cases from all over the spectrum of archery, so I would like you to participate. Either you could write the case up (Part 1 “I had an archer who had come to me with (symptom, symptom, etc.) what would you recommend she do? Part 2 “What I did was and we found out was that . . . etc.) or you can work with me in real time (send me a question, I will suggest a course of action, you can try it . . . or not) and write up a “what happened” segment afterward. It can even be a question about your own shooting that we can make into a useful “case study” for archery coaches.

So, do you want to help?

PS I am working on the final touches on a new book: “Coaching Archery How To’s” which should be out in a month or two. This book is for beginning-to-intermediate coaches and those coaching outside the area of their specialty (what they shoot).