I was asked on an archery forum how an archer can gauge his improvement. The author specifically asked about how long it should take to achieve certain benchmarks. Here is my response:

It may be better to have more personal benchmarks. Look at improving group sizes and what your average poor arrow looks like. Most shooters score tens from time to time, but good shooters score 8s with a poor shot. When your stray shots improve from a particular ring to a ring closer to the middle, that is a great way to measure improvement.

While improving scores will reflect closer misses, in the beginning, focusing on improving group sizes and a shot which produces fewer wild results should be your goal.

If you focus on speed of improvement versus just improving, archery could become a discouraging sport. Everyone improves at a different rate. Most youths want things so quickly…….. It is a trap. Enjoy shooting. It will motivate you to shoot more. Setting goals is fine, but don’t get so caught up in how quickly you get to your final outcome goal.

Having thought about my response, I should have added that process goals, versus outcome goals, are extremely important for development. Saying things like ‘I will look to improve my shooting line’, is a process goal. Saying ‘I want to win Outdoor Nationals’, is an outcome goal. I will never win Outdoor Nationals if I have not improved my shooting line. See, the process goal is necessary to achieve the outcome goal. Have your coach identify which process goals are important to your archery. Then put some realistic outcome goals together. And remember, there are short, medium and long term goals! Putting some realistic time frames around your goals is as important as setting them. They can’t be too easy, or hard. This is a great topic to bring up with your coach.