How often have you heard those words concerning a particular athlete? I think we have all heard it more than a few times. When I hear it spoken, it is almost as if there is an implied slight to the hard work an athlete has undertaken to achieve excellence. Anyone who believes outstanding performers are just ‘born to it’ needs to take a closer look.
A case in point. There is a local archer who has excelled in both compound and recurve archery. That shooter lives in a bit of a distant location and practices alone most of the time. But does that shooter ever practice!! There is no question that this shooter puts in long hours and thousands of arrows down range. This archer has had quality instruction and has a huge desire to be excellent. What casual observers see is someone who comes to tournaments and shoots ‘lights out’. The assumption is the shooter is ‘gifted’. Since the hard work is not readily seen, this shooter must be some sort of anomaly. Most assuredly this archer has earned the scores by working harder and smarter than other shooters.
Well, that was a long winded way of getting to the point of saying, there are no short cuts to becoming a proficient archer. Let’s take a typical JOAD program and look at the progression of awards. The first awards and pins are meant to inspire shooters to keep practicing and improving their skills. It then becomes harder to achieve the next level as young archers are required to increase yardages and scores. The realization comes at some point that the archer must exercise and practice more to handle the increased physical demands of shooting longer distances. As a coach, this is where I see many drift away from the sport. Nothing is given at the upper ends of any endeavor.
Every athlete has to come to grips with how to achieve their wants in any sport. What is it going to take? Depending upon an archers goals, a plan should be established concerning practice time, exercise regimen and instruction. Balancing work, school, home life and other activities, will not happen without some planning and structure.
Success does not occur by happenstance.
