In response to watching the Lanny Bassham video I touted yesterday (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXnmDMKbdYCek84XHWbx04w), one of you wrote to ask: “If I have to be a guy marking the scorecard and keeping a running total how do I not focus on my score and ignore it? I don’t want to know my score until I am done shooting!”
I am a bit stumped here (although, of course, I have some recommendations) so do you have any suggestions?
Steve
A Blog for Archery Coaches 
Hello Steve,
the first what I read in this sentence: “…..how do I NOT focus……” and ….I DON’T want to know….!” Here the problem is based. Our brain CANNOT work with the word “NOT” (or any other negations). Best example: “Please, try NOT to think now about a pink elephant!”…. Well, well, We know what’s now in your mind, don’t we? 😉
You should try to teach/conditioning your trainee on different sentences. Those sentences might sound the same but the difference how they work in our brain is huge. Try to think about the following sentence and “feel” your own inner reaction:
1. “I don’t care about my own score!”
and
2. “I am careless about my own score!”
The one who is responsible for a scorecard should see himself just as 1 of 4 (if they are 4 shooters on the target ;)…)
This way we can (and need to) sensitize our brain and get rid of negations.
I hope it will help.
Cheers from Germany
Markus
LikeLike
Once I mark my arrows I pull them and immediately start thinking about my shot routine and how the last few felt. As a matter of routine I never keep a running total of the ends, I leave that to the end of the match. Deliberately put your attention on something else other than the score even the lovely pulling arrows beside you.
LikeLike
I’m sorry but it’s the same for all. I appreciate how the archer feels but the only answer is to see if you can swap shooting positions with someone else on your target, ask one of the other archers if they would mind scoring, or just suck it up, get on with scoring, knowing that you probably won’t have to score in the next tournament! It’s something we have to do when we enter tournaments.
LikeLike
Does a proof reader actually read the book or news paper when they are looking for mistakes and typos? Does a teller think about the value of the bank notes they are counting? It is a state of mind where focus is on getting the job done which, for us, is on how the score (abstract numbers) is achieved – focusing instead on form and execution of the next shot.
You have to be prepared to play your part in competition rather than expect the same archers to do the same work every time unless they are comfortable with that or if the designated scorer is number blind
LikeLike
Ah, I like this!
On Fri, Jul 15, 2016 at 6:06 AM, A Blog for Archery Coaches wrote:
>
LikeLike