Happy Fourth of July! It only seems appropriate that the topic of this post should be freedom. In an archery sense, freedom is the critical final piece of putting all your shot elements together.

In the beginning stages of shooting, we are putting pieces of the shooting puzzle together. Form elements are building blocks to successful archery. As we stack these blocks upon one another we carefully monitor that the building block underneath the block we are currently working at is rock solid. If there is erosion in a previous block we have built, the structure is weak and we have to go back and strengthen the foundation piece which has become weakened.

As you might imagine, archers have to continuously monitor their fundamentals. Archers from beginners to experts are always strengthening foundation pieces which have become weak. In fact the better you are and the more expertise you have makes a weakened form element harder to spot. The erosion is slight, the ego is large! Ergo, the problem is unnoticed until performance suffers.

Ok, ok, so what does all of this have to do with shot freedom? In order to be fluid and free, all of your shot elements have to be in order. Shot freedom is the binding agent which allows technically proficient archers to perform at their peak level.

There are many YouTube videos of really skilled shooters performing effortlessly. Elite athletes make their sport look easy. They just flow. The techniques they employ are so well ingrained that the performance happens in a subconscious way.

These elite athletes do have missteps and every once in a while they appear in a performance. Then the athlete becomes ‘tight’. We tend to call it choking. A poor shot creates doubt, which creates tension. The next thing you see is the athlete laboring to achieve what was once smooth and free. This mental part of the game is vexing and something all athletes continuously try to improve. It is the final building block; the binding agent for all the other building blocks.

Let me finish by saying shot freedom is more likely to occur when basic form elements are mastered. We’ve all worked hard to learn and implement our shot form. On this 4th of July, let freedom ring!