2007 FITA World Coaches Conference MINUTES

There should be no hip movement upon release.Bow shoulderIt should not jump up upon release.Test without sling: If the archer moves back and the bow arm shoulder jumps up, there is anunbalanced extension due to a vertical lever effect of the body.Through this test we also can observe if the bow moves forwards or not. If the bow shouldermoves backwards a little, there is a sort a collapsing upon release.Bow arm direction upon releaseIf moving inside (Right for R/H) it is due to a horizontal lever effect of the body.BreathingBreathe in until pre-draw, breathe out for the end of the draw then retain while extending.String on the chest guardThe string should not move = well balanced extension. If the string moves backwards it isbecause the archer only pulls back (not enough front extension).2. Olympic qualification and Olympic Games preparation by LEE Eun Kyung1st Day-22nd October from 14:00 to 17:30Note: Mrs. Lee did this lecture while she was 8 months pregnant.She provided recommendations viewed from an elite archer’s point of view.Archery was not chosen by herself. Her Physical Education Teacher was an archery coach, andintroduced her to archery.First Mrs. Lee highlighted the importance of a goal for short term and long term.Her ambition was to become a National Team Archer, then once on the National team, her wishwas to win a medal at an international tournament, then her goal progressed step by step.She had goals in terms of wining medals, and also of technical form. Sometimes she set a scoreas a goal, after achieving the results, she set another goal.Goals can be set by the coach or the archer. Goals can be based on score, but also can bebased on quality of shooting form.An archer’s attitude and mentality is also important, as well as the cultural background.In Korea her parents required self controlled attitude and discipline. When she was young herparents and elder sister managed/controlled/disciplined her; she had to respect the “rules” setby them. Hence self control is a part of her mentality and philosophy.After retirement, and analyzing her career she thinks that some discipline was good for her. Butshe also thinks that she missed some youth components such as boy friends for instance. Whenshe was a young archer, she thought that she was not so pretty; hence she could reallyconcentrate on archery. Only when she retired could she start to do some things that she didnot do when she was an archer; like having a boyfriend…Korean coaches controlled the private life of each archer; nevertheless they are progressivelychanging.Because she has a tendency to negative thinking, she strives to think positively. For instance,when she thought that her form was not good enough, she tried to overcome this thinking.Through this constant effort to think positively, she improved her way of thinking.

Physiologically she recommends only practising activities such as strengthening that could helpyou to become a better archer.The archer’s willingness is important for improving / changing the form; hence the coach has tobe constructive and supportive.Repeated exercises improve the form efficiency. Better results do not happen immediately aftera form improvement.She relied on her coach every time. Nevertheless she sometimes was unable to follow him ordisagreed with him. In such a case her mind was thinking of this issue/disagreement whileshooting, which was not productive, since our mind and body should work together for beingeffective.Before an event (tournament, championship):She concentrated on the shooting points to be improved, for instance shoulder position whileanchoring. Also on her check points are of 2 types:Preparation for the GameBecause we have a tendency not to be as serious during training as we are during competition,we must strive to practice with seriousness. And during the competition she tried to be asrelaxed as during training.She strove to increase her confidence in her ability and to shoot simply. For that sheconcentrated on the good feeling she experienced when her body/form was correct.Preparation at the competition Field.She looked around to become more familiar with the site. She focused only on the competitionahead.During competitionFor the first arrow she was tense and nervous. The Coach should not draw the archer’sattention to results or medals. She did not think of her opponents score, but stayed focusedonly on her shooting. Event simulations were useful in preparing her for this.Evaluation & Analysis after competitionShe made an evaluation at the hotel, on good or bad results. The Coach should identify thisevaluation and make it positive.The above was her process when she was an archer, and now as a coach, she still uses it.How the coach should be from the archer’s point of view? / Relationship betweenCoach and Player”Mutual trust and understanding is required.She became a National Team Member when she was at the second grade of high school. Hernew coach did not comment on her shooting during practice. At her fist internationaltournament she was very nervous and didn’t behave normally and her performance was lowerthan usually. After the tournament the coach told her that she didn’t behave/shoot as shenormally does during practice. Hence she realized that this coach had observed her (duringpractice and the tournament), and started to trust in him and his instructions.Sometime there is an issue because the archer feels/thinks that one thing is his/her problem,but the coach thinks that it is something else. In this case the archer’s point of view should be

considered first (since the archer has probably not acquired enough willingness to give a fairtrial to the coach’s suggestion). This mutual understanding should be introduced during practicethen extended to competition situations; it could prevent and/or speed up the solving of someproblems in competition.QUESTIONS:During competition: Did you concentrate on aiming or on your shooting form?If we focus on aiming we are loosing concentration on the other parts of performance.Before the competition (4 weeks) did you practice more or less?No strict rule, it depends on the condition of the archer. It has to be discussed with the coach.In the case of lost confidence, more exercise could be set by the coach.How many arrows did you shoot per day?Archers are not gladiators.Archers who shoot more arrows have more chance to become top archers. No strict number.Did you get some technical assistance in equipment tuning and equipment?Equipment is delivered pre-tuned. The coach fine tune, but sometimes the archer does it.Has the Korean team a psychologist? Yes.Does the psychologist intervene with the archer or the coach?Usually, he/she consults the coaches, but sometimes the archers.How does one introduce some harmony between archers and Coach? How long does it take?The coach should not give too many instructions, but should observe and evaluate, not talk toomuch.In the case of a poor release, just telling the archer that the release is incorrect does not help.But if the coach can propose how to improve it, he/she will have a positive effect.In this case visual feedback would be helpful. But the coach should point out the exact reason(for instance unbalanced extending), and present a solution for improving it.Question from Mrs. LEE: How do you proceed for fixing a problem?Two alternatives: By improving bad points (weaknesses) or improving/reinforcing good points(strengths). The coach must not confuse the archer; the coach should prioritize the currentproblems and propose something for the most important one. They must always reinforce thearcher’s strengths then work on the weaknesses. Since each archer has a feeling associatedwith good performance, proceeding like this, will strengthen the archer’s confidence.How to prevent/solve injuries due to practice?Coaches use different solutions; a medical specialist is required.Mr. KIM H.T. said that an iced massage is required after practice as a prevention to injury.From which archer’s performance level should the coach take in consideration the archer’s pointof view?Each archer has a unique level of sensibility; hence it should be discussed between the archerand the coach.

Continuation by KIM at 20:00He related different experiences from his coaching. Explaining:• why he beat some archers with a bat,• why he gave a placebo medicine (vitamin C)• how he made the archers get used to public applause• relation between a stressful test and archery resultThe Coach should not only observe the arrow flight. If the coach uses binoculars, he should firstobserve the archer then watch the impact.First analyse the impacts/grouping of the arrows, then of the equipment and finally of thearcher’s form.Before a coaching session, the coach must make a plan for every archer.The Coach should record the work done.The Coach should adapt the shooting situation, distance, to the exercise required whether touse a target face or not for each archer.He used some punishment (hit with small bat) explaining that he did this because he likes theArcher. The coach has to be an example in order to be appreciated by his archers. Coach shouldbe on time, even in advance, do not drink too much the day before a session with archers…He gave an example of his experience with a foreign National Team: he did set rules andwarned the archers that he will beat them if they break them. The first time the rule wasbroken, he warned them of a punishment next time. There was a second time! He proposedthe archers to choose between no punishment and no further training, or to be punished andcontinue to work together; the archers chose the second alternative.Question to KIM: How long it takes to change a technical point?A slight score reduction could happen, but not a strong one and not for very long (2, 3 weeksmaximum) if it is longer than this it is because the new skill is wrong.What to do if the form looks right, but the results are poor due to mental problem?The coach should not only teach the outside form. They should also analyze the archer’sevolution, issues…Coaching is not only delivered on the Field, it is an on-going service.KIM Hyung-Tak explains that the coach should finish the current coaching before having dinner.Several elementary school students shoot until 21:00 o’clock then the coach drives the studentsback to their respective homes.The coach for the National team is selected on his/her dedication; he/she should have a goodpersonality.KIM H-T. “When practicing, the work should be split on either body or aiming.”Due to the high level of the Korean archers, it is difficult to select only few archers for apermanent archery team, if the selection system is based on selection events, because so manyarchers can qualify.KIM H.T. reduces the archers scoring approximately two weeks before a competition to twice aweek; and only once during the final week.

Weight training stops one week before the competition (2 weeks before the Olympic Games),and restarts right after the competition.Preparation for the team event: it is important to set the shooting order beforehand andpractice this order.Note: At the opening of the evening session of the 2nd Day-23 rd OctKIM Hyung-Tak presented the intermediate results of the first leg of the qualification processfor the Olympic Games. 1 st lady: 690 after long distances. 2 nd 689... 64 th : 665 pts…3. Physical preparation by Mr. Kyung Tack CHOI2nd Day-23 rd Oct from 14:00 to 16:00Mr. CHOI designed weight training programs for different sports in Korea. Last year he made alecture for the KAA coaches (about 250 coaches).3 parts: Exercises with weight – Training for archery – Demonstrations.Exercising with weightOne can start strengthening around 14-15 years old.In case of unbalanced strengthening hypertrophy on an archer, the rotator cuff exercises aregood. But if there is pain, the exercises should cease and medical help sought.Then Mr. CHOI introduced some well classical exercises with barbell and dumbbells, as well asusing just the bars without any weights.Continuation by KIM at 20:00 on 2nd Day-23 rd OctHe gave examples of some weight exercises for high school, including: Bench Press, Sit ups,squat, lat pull down, back hyperextension and leg curl.Start with 8 repetitions - No more than 12 repetitions to be around 65-75% of the maximalstrength with a tough repetition rate. Do as many sit ups as possible.In case of injury, the weight training should restart with lower weight and 6 repetitions only.For elementary school children he gave few examples with no weight, like push-ups with a timedown – Laterally on one hand on the floor – Back push-ups with hands on a bench…For specific strength:He reminded the bow weight test. 7 seconds at full draw + 2 seconds rest. This should berepeated this at least 8 times.To be sure that the archer is extending while at full draw during the 7 seconds he suggests toattach a cord between riser and string and keep it stretched. Then do the same exercise withelastic tube instead of the cord.After practice he recommends an iced massage.In case of injury, no ice, but warmth!!!Shooting practice volumeSunday no practice, shoot on Monday, more on Tuesday, more on Wednesday, rest onThursday. On Friday, do less than Wednesday but more than Tuesday, finally more volume onSaturday which is the most intense day.Shoot +/-15 arrows per end.Jogging can be used in winter time.

4. FITA Information by Tom DIELEN2nd Day-23 rd Oct from 16:120 to 17:30Tom enthused about the world Championships in Leipzig 2007.Record of public attendance: about 4000 spectators. There was excellent media coverage.Increased performances of the participants - see the slides. There is less and less differenceamong the best competitors, in all categories.By multiplying by 6 the match scores shown of the slides makes the score achieved over a 70mFITA round of the major events; hence the archers do not shoot better during a match thanduring a complete round.Due to the 2010 Youth Olympic Games, the next World Junior Championship will be held in2009, and some other adjustment will be made in the FITA Championship calendar.Mr. DIELEN reported the results of a questionnaire about training and statistics related tointernational performances.A time for questions and answers followed this presentation.5. Psychology Skills by Mr. Kil Dong HONG3 rd Day-24 th Oct from 9:00 to 12:30 – Mental preparation.This lecture reported a highly professional experience for preparing the Korean team for the2004 Olympic Games. Unfortunately we were unable to get a copy of the Power PointPresentation as it was protected by copyright.Through this report, the participants were able to evaluate the difference of the Korean archeryas compared to the other archery nations, even as the Korean archery association started quitelate to investigate the mental field, compared to the USA and Europe.Goal: increase abilities of archers and coaches.Question: How can an individual psychologist work together with the team psychologist?Answer: as yet there are no individual psychologists.There was a full trust between the archers and Mr. HONG, who considers that the peakperformance comes from harmony between the archer, the archery coach, the Fitness coachand the Psychologist consultant.According to Mr. DONG, questions coming from the coaches and the archers contain thepsychological profile and background of these persons.He had one assistant for the men and one for the female team. Each assistant had 2collaborators; hence the psychological staff of the Korean is a team of seven persons!He applied some tools & techniques called “MBTI” during one year at the University level beforeapplying them on the National team pre-selected for the 2004 Olympic Games. He trained 3 outof the 8 pre-selected athletes in each gender, since the 3 men and 3 women qualified, hisprogram was approved.The plan of his program had 5 steps.He gave an 8 hour lecture for coach and archers split in 4 groups, he conducted collective andindividual interviews, from these interviews he built the archer’s profile. Then he went toMalaysia with 2 collaborators with the Korean team for a training camp. He worked everyday

with the archers after training, from 7 to 12 in the evening. They measured several things,heart rate, brain waves, shooting timing… They developed some routines, and key sentencesfor self-talk (cues)… They applied a specific relaxation program for each archer.According to the level of emotion the shooting timing can be different.For the Korean archers the semi-final was the most stressful step of the competition, becausethis step decides the access to the final.For optimal shooting timing is it recommended that 1.2 to 2 seconds from the final position ofthe string elbow to the start of the release. They calculated the number of frames. Knowingthat 30 frames = 1 second. Routine exercises are necessary.He projected a simulation on the screen. We could hear the sound of the imaginary public,some comments from the announcer, the audio shooting signal and shooting noise. Visuallythere were just synthetic pictures on the screen.The key point is to analyze exactly the status of the athlete and to discuss with the coach whatshould be done.What is the most important skill for the archer? It depends of the level of the archer. But atraining program should be implemented in a real situation, in order to control several factorssuch as anxiety.KIM H.T.: He uses the elevator technique: a visualization technique through which we feelourselves going down 20 floors in a dark cabin, with decreasing heart beats on the way down.6. Dartfish3 rd Day-24 th Oct from 12:30 – PresentationRequirements - a computer, a camera and the program. It allows a detailed analysis of theshooting form, with zoom, pause, slow speed, reference lines etc…There are different levels of software; it is like for a car: there are different options.The second level allows the data to be saved. The level Pro Suite is excellent for archery but alot of analysis can be achieved with the basic version.Basic version: US$ 980Second Level: US$ 1380Pro Suite: US$29807. Recurve Equipment – by Mr. Kyung-Rae PARK3 rd Day-24 th Oct from 14:00 -17:30StabilizationThe stabilization of a bow reduces shock and vibration. The long rod has a slight wave once thearrow leaves the string and accelerates gets away from the riser. The direction of the shock isnot backwards and forwards, but because the shock is generated vertically along the string, it isdispatched from the limb tips towards the riser and grip. This is why the riser flexes inside onthe shock and why the stabilizer shakes vertically. Hence the stabilizer should be made of rigidmaterial. Stiff material helps to reduce the shock. The stabilizer shaft should also be light andstiff with a heavy end. This setup will help to maintain the bows movement straight towards the

target during the propulsion (reduces the bow torque). Hence the stabilizer extension should bevery stiff.With a low fixation of the main stabilizer, the bow vibrates in an unbalanced manner, but iseffective to reduce the vibration. But the shock is not so important.How much weight on it? Very heavy could injure the archer’s shoulder.The frontal one (long rod) is for reducing the vibrations.With a high centre of gravity (achieved by high v-bar or additional frontal weight at the top ofthe riser), the bow will easily be pushed away at the release.With a low centre of gravity (achieved by low V-bar or additional frontal at the bottom of theriser), the bow will be more stable.Low or high, they both act on equivalent manner on the torque reduction.A damper at the end of the main stabiliser is effective for the vibration reduction, but not fortorque.Dampers are recommended on aluminium riser bows, to reduce the vibrations since such a risergenerates a lot of vibration.LimbsMaterialHoneycomb foam is effective and impervious to warmth/medium heat (case of Winnex).Kevlar foam contributes to make the limbs more resistant (less breakable), also contributes tostability.Carbon contributes to speed, stability and endurance.Wood is a natural substance; hence it makes the final product less consistent. It is also easilytwisted and more sensitive to humidity.ShapeThe extreme curve acts as a lever; which helps to produce a smooth draw.Generally speaking Longer bows are more accurate than shorter bows (such as many Asianones), but can only be used at short distance. Most of them have none or just a very minimalrecurve; while short bows can shoot a long away, but are not so accurate. All short bows havea Recurve shape.Recurve is for providing a lever effect in order to bend easily and keeping the bend close to theriser. The extremity of the Recurve (limb tip) is very stiff, especially in some traditional bows(Mongolian type). A stiff extreme curve is important for stability. Mr. Park disagree with theconcept of a thin extreme curve for increasing the speed,Speed:Most of the products such as arrows and limbs are developed for getting more speed. But howmuch speed is really gained?We can gain a lot of speed with (in decreasing order) string material, arrow material, then withbow length (but risk of stability decreases), draw length, bow weight, and finally with stringstrands and brace height.68” bow made with 25” riser and Medium limbs is best combination68” bow made with 23” riser and Long limbs increases the smoothness a little.68” bow made with 26” or 27”riser and short limbs improves the speed, but reduces thestability.Adaptation to any faster material has generated some problems for many archers.

At the windy ‘87 World Championship in Adelaide (AUS) the Carbon arrows made a hugedifference, soon after this the aluminium arrows disappeared from the international events.Smoothness:A smooth bow is easier to control and has more forgiveness.If a stiff bow is preferred, it is better to buy lighter limbs and tighten down the adjusting boltsattaching the limbs to the riser. The position of this limb bolt is not related to accuracy. Withthe bolt up, the draw length could be a little longer and help to give some increase in thesmoothness of the feeling.The draw/weight curves of the limbs made by many manufacturers are quite similar. Becausethe limbs have a similar shape and still follow the design originated by Earl Hoyt many yearsago.Stability.It is a key factor for accuracy.The bow should be straight and remain straight when the string is drawn back. For centre shotadjustment it is better to align the string on the lower part of the riser.Some tips for controlling the straightness of the bow:* Viewed from the bow end, the string should be seen right in the centre of the limb groove.* The extreme edge of the riser should be parallel, no more than 0.3 mm difference.* Have one arrow on each side of the riser with the limb between the 2 arrows; then measure ifthe limb tip is in the middle (KIM H.T.)* Place an arrow under the string at the groove level, each end and at right angles to the bow.Look from one end of the bow lining up the two arrows, they should be parallel (KIM H.T.)We can rectify a bow twist with a spacer under one side of the limb, which would compensatefor the limb tip twist and the centre shot. If the bow, particularly the limb tip, is twisted, thestring will follow a curved path during the propulsion of the arrow and the riser will start totorque. Furthermore in this case when the string hits the limb, the string slips laterally andtorques the bow.Archers ParadoxWhen the string leaves the finger and travels back towards its home position (the brace height)it normally follows an “S” path. Whilst testing his new limbs using a high speed camera Mr. Parknoticed these, the new limbs followed one single curve, not following an “S” path as oftenreported.SightIts location is similar from one maker to the other. The sight bar should be very stiff.Grip shape.The pressure point should be in the centre of the bow. No need to push in the grip, just keepthe hand stable. When the pressure point on the grip is not on the centre point, the arrowgrouping will be much larger.TuningKIM H.T.: “There is no best bow. They are all quite similar among the top models from thevarious makers. Only tuning is important.”

Brace HeightThe recommendations from the makers are only a starting point.One company recommends testing different heights from 21 to 23 cm and checking the noiseand vibration; then choose the brace height providing more silent and less vibration. But thearcher’s feeling is even more important.Nevertheless one should check the length of string contact in the extreme groove close to thelimb tips, and the vibration of the extreme curve after the arrow has left the string.Tiller1 to 9 mm recommended by the makers.Small tiller difference with short draw length and big tiller for long draw length is alsosuggested.Mr. Park suggests testing by increments of 1 mm then checking the sound, the vibrations andthe arrow group.Tiller should be natural, i.e. it should be a consistent and equal angle between limbs and riser(same number of number of turns of the limb adjusting bolts in the limb pockets).Bare shaft tuningWhy this test? Bare shafts have no trajectory stabilizer/guide. Hence they show when there is aproblem during the propulsion. Too stiff arrow will fly left and a weak arrow will fly to the rightfor a right handed archer and vice versa for left handed archers.Start at 18m to get the basic grouping then move to 30m distance were recommended for thistest, but the distance is not important since this test is to show if there is a problem while thearrow gets clear of the bow. One should only take care of the way the arrow leaves the bow.An unfletched arrow does not rotate.Sometimes this test may not work with aluminium arrows; this is due to the FOC of thesearrows. For these arrows, is better to use the paper tuning method.Fine tuning:He suggests to run a tuning session by successive trials with different nocking points by 0.3mm increment and plunger stiffness with 1/8 turn increments, until we get the best group.Then the bare shaft test may now show that the bare shafts do not group with the fletch ones.Arrow preparation:Mr PARK K.R. does not recommend cutting the rear part of the shaft. He said that even with thesame length cut out, the final spine will be different. But Mr KIM H.T. said not to cut the tail of abarrelled shaft more than 1 cm.The arrow point position versus centre-shot is not important.For determining the nock orientation, one should look for the most resistant peripheral spine.On aluminium-carbon arrows test the sound of each arrow, all shaft long, because the carboncould be separated from the aluminium.Run an arrow selection by recording their respective impact locations over several shots.Use the arrows selected for the competitions during the week before the competition and onthrough the competition (KIM H.T.).Continuation by KIM Hyung-Tak3 rd Day-24 th Oct from 20:15 -21:00Arrow speed: 60 m/s for Women - 70 m/s for Men.

Kim Hyung Tak Does not recommend using the front hole for the pressure button.He also does not recommend using a clicker that slopes too far forward as this will give somedownward pressure to the arrow.8. Coach KIM Hyung Tak Archery School4 th Day-25 th Oct from 9:00 -9:30Korea has no recreational archery, only competitive teams. In the future it is possible thatrecreational archery starts if the government decreases its support to the elite fraternity.Access to Kim’s Centre and coaching are free. Several national teams have already used thisopportunity. There are 8 rooms for one or two persons. They are of Korean style, i.e. no bed,but one sleeps on a thin mat laid on floor.The range is split in two fields: one for traditional Korean archery Kuk Gun with targets at 145metres, and the other one for competitive archery where one can shoot at up to 90 meters.The shooting line is covered and during winter it is transformed in a heated shooting hall.During a training camp, Coach KIM also provides some theory education, not only practicaltraining.9. Coach KIM Hyung Tak Archery School4 th Day-25 th Oct from 11:00 -12:00Observation of Traditional Korean ArcheryWe saw a string being made for a traditional Korean bow, bow preparation, arrow straighteningand shooting demonstration, among the shooters for this demonstration was Tom Dielen theFITA Secretary General.10. Coach KIM Hyung Tak Archery School4 th Day-25 th Oct from 12:00 -16:30Observation and exchange with:• one elementary school team and the coach• one intermediate school team• the Indonesia National Team11. Closing meeting4 th Day-25 th Oct from 9:00 -9:30Few words were pronounced by Ken BEARMAN, Tom DIELEN and KIM Hyung-Tak. Specialthanks were given to Eugene LEE for his coordination and translation, the wife of KIM Hyung-Tak for “her work in the shade” and Mr. KIM H.T. for his organization, financial support andlectures.Certificates of attendance were distributed.12. Win Win visitOn our way back to the airport we had a chance to visit this bow maker, where it’s PresidentMr. PARK Kyung-Rae and his staff reserved a warm welcomed to the participants.

There are 15 employees in Korea. KAP products are made in China, were there are 200employees.Win & Win has increased its sale of basic level bows last year by 20%; the same should applythis year. The sale of top level equipment is stable.Mr. Park explained his priorities in bow making, and how Win & Win progressed to the currentquality and choices of production. He also shared the results of his studies in comparing severalproducts.Then He invited us to visit some parts of the production: limbs shaping/cutting and finishing aswell as the riser forging. We also observed the bow testing, for instance a dry fire shootingmachine.Conclusion:The objective has been reached, since we gleaned more precise idea of why the Korean archeryis so powerful and how the archers are trained.It is believed the participants benefited from the Korean expertise, as many of them haddiscussions and exchanges of views during and outside of the lectures. It was definitively agood continuing education opportunity, which could help to reduce the performance gapbetween Korea and other countries.It was a chance for FITA, especially for the Secretary General and myself (as Development andCoaches Education Director) to communicate with many coaches.Respectfully submitted,Pascal COLMAIREFITA Development and Training Director