5 Barriers to Archery Success 

Appreciate the shoutout. I remember those days, never have forgotten my roots. I was very lucky growing up on 15 acres and freedom to do anything I wanted when I was growing up... it so happened that I wanted to shoot and spent a lot of time outside wearing out the targets I had.

You've started a really important discussion NUSensei. I think it's very important to acknowledge these barriers, and I can personally relate to every single one of them! The only thing I disagree with, is that you even acknowledge the 'nay sayers'! You have built an amazing community and have helped thousands of archers through your content, and unfortunately, by virtue of putting yourself out there, there will always be people who will criticize, but they don't deserve your attention. Keep up the amazing work 💪🏹🎯🥇

Your skill as a teacher drastically improves your ability to explain and get your point across . Great motivator! Thanks for expressing it so well!

Ooh, you hit the nail on the head with this one! Not sure what I was thinking becoming our club's facilities director. My shooting has plummeted, but the club has never looked better.

Thank you for your honest and helpful video, I found it very motivating, just like Jake's one. I really appriciate both of your efforts, in fact, I'm going out now to practice, no matter the cold weather🙂

"Good job, well done, I'm proud of you", so important to say that to those around us.......in particular young kids and young adults. As a parent I need to lift my game.

Wow thanks so much for the video! You are just an awesome teacher. I started archery in Novembee and watching you has helped so much.

NUSensei, I think the people who are criticising your videos or your skill as an archer don't know shit from clay. I'm very new to archery and finish a beginners course this week. As such ive been checking out lots of archery videos and I must say i find yours the most motivating, inspirational and enjoyable. It seems to me you're very knowledgeable and you have the rare skill of being able to inform in a positive and enjoyable manner. Keep up the good work mate, you're doing a great job and you're a treasure to the online archery community.

By far your best contribution to understanding yet! I face all 5 of those, some in slightly different ways. The best technical advice I can access is from people like Jake & Ashe Morgan (Online Archery Academy) which is kewl, but it feels too geared towards 'young guns' with great potential AND great support. For every one of those potential Olympians there are a hundred, a thousand of us who have 'caught the bug' but will never get the chance to know how high we *could* have flown. Who will ever be content to simply BE archers. To know I am now sharing a journey with a kindred soul is just SO empowering.

Spot on NUSensei. I only just saw this one, despite being subscribed, hence the late comment. Your point on burnout particularly resonated with me. I joined my club at a time of a 'perfect storm' of illness affecting senior members of the club and low membership, so lack of anyone stepping up, so ended up volunteering to keep things going. Never quite got to the stage of not putting my kit in the van, although have had lots of times where I've not shot more than a single end. Then form drops due to lack of practice, motivation suffers, enjoyment goes and it's hard to carry on. Glad I carried on, but it was close! Well done for raising the issue.

Some people are great practitioners and awful teachers. I would always prefer a great teacher. I believe you are one. Thanks for all the effort you put into these videos, they helped me enormously with my archery.

Thank you for making these videos they do help and motivate a lot! Hope you keep em coming :)

I know that feel, my club has 64 members and only 4 of us are recurve archers. We don't have a coach and the skill difference between us four is just massive

Commitment. I actually have to travel by a train 3,5 hours to train. I do it 3 times a week because I can train with a 1996 Atlanta medalist. I find myself extremely lucky. I do it even-though I actually have a club and can train by myself every single day and with others twice a week. We also have a range to train outside but it is too cold now. I chose to improve myself and to propagate the knowledge to all the people attending my club. Funny part is that I'm 95% into traditional and not olimpic archery. I mean when at my club. I do not "need" recurve I want it.

I started archery about 5 months ago there's no clubs anywhere near me I don't know anyone else that does archery no one I know is in the least bit interested so for me it is truly individual. I still manage to loose 100 arrows a day on average I just enjoy archery so much I'm a trad guy but I don't understand why most trade people have stuff against Olympic recurve, it's like, is your bow made from Buffalo bone and senue? I promise there's someone out there more primitive than you are. I really do think I would have a much better time and enjoy it a lot more if I just had someone to shoot with or someone to give me pointers now and then my progression has been slower than it should be because I have no one to explain these concepts in person so I never know if I'm doing it right or if my form is good. You have helped me a lot with your videos, a lot of the ways you explain things are very helpful and easy to grasp. I'm down to about in eight or nine inch group at 20 m which isn't impressive at all but I'm getting there. Anyway thanks nu great video.

I think you got something with the relationship between events/scorings and training motivation. When I came to archery I just wanted to shoot by myself a few times a week...one club tournament later, daily SPT and a training routine became a solid motivator. With other tournaments on the horizon, it seems to invigorate training with purpose. Love all the videos, and love how you keep it in perspective relative to what the archer might be looking for. Thanks for doing this!

Thanks for sharing Sensei 🙏🏻

I've recently started archery, finally after many times wanting to do it since my youth, and yes the time allocation to training is my biggest hurdle currently for my development. After a long shift at work, I'm mentally drained so I'm having that internal battle on whether I should go to the range or just stay home doing nothing productive. I love archery and when I had my taster session, picked up the club bow, and shot my first arrow, everything felt right to me. My goal is to get to a level to take archery competitively, but I'm hindering my own progress and need to make archery part of my routine in my week. Or else, I've just wasted £750 on my own equipment. I'm even considering making my backyard safe and compliant for archery, though it'll only be about 10-15 yards.

This is sound advice; and it applies to many more sports/skills.

Thanks for the encouragement!!! 💯🏹🎯🙌👊

Your videos are direct and to the point...love it. You are simply the best, thank you. PS. and you're funny.

The coaching / volunteer conflict is my main trouble. I don’t want to ask my club gurus too often to leave them their time at the shooting line or with real beginner. On the other side I can’t really find a coach also able to bridge my language barrier I have living in a different country. I booked coaching time when I was on a business trip in New Jersey and it was great. But that coach is half around the world. That’s why I really appreciate your’s, Jake’s and others online resources effort to provide guidance and feedback.

What you say about volunteering is so true.

Just Like listening to my own thoughts . I just want to be better then I was a day before or a shoot before. Bad days make me work harder. It is all about the individual at the end of the day but definitely valid barriers. I really appreciate your honesty. Keep up a good work. Cheers.

Keep up the good work you’re doing! 👍

Love it! Thanks!

Quick background - Started barebow, didn't like Recurve with sights, did it for 2 years, started seeing no improvement, lost my sight picture, moved to compound. An extreme move I know but tried it and loved it. Since moving to compound seeing my scores go through the roof compared to barebow, my issue is even though its clear I am better with a compound the people that shoot compound are WELL established and going to competitions I find myself firmly near the bottom. There are things I am doing to help me, working on my grip, making sure the bow is balanced etc, just need to do some form of exercise to help strengthen my shoulder muscles. My aim when I am tired just goes to pot when I am tired. The good thing is I know that and will work on it. Just got to do it lol

How are you so humble.

Hear You mate. I share the same experiences.

I wish i could get out and shoot every day, i have the motivation but the cold and snow is a big no for me lol, cant wait for spring

Volunteer part was excellent!

Hear hear ...jakes vids are quality

These are all true and I have lived many of them I find I trained like crazy for hunting season and then took a break about a month before the vegas shoot I got back out when the shoot was on the horizon I now I shot more when I lived in Reno because the local range organized leagues year round, hosts weekly pin shoots for USA archery, hosted every possible indoor tournament they could, when I moved I didn't have that anymore and I stopped regularly shooting and what I do shot is 20yds in my backyard. Again living in Reno the shop provided casual coaching, if you were there to practice and something felt wrong the staff would come help help you, or if you just wanted to get better you could ask them to look at you and they would, they transitioned one of the pin shoots each months to a coaching night. After I moved that casual coaching for those of us that couldn't afford a coach vanished and I had to become my own coach and it really doesn't work.

Great to hear about the club side of things. I have to drive 45 minutes to get to the closest range so I thought I'd try and start a club. Though my problem is how to do so without someplace to shoot. Chicken or the egg. How did you revitalize your club and basically rebuild it when you took over? Thanks!

Good points ... guilty of 1 and 3 ... motivation is not really an issue for me and 4 and 5 don't influence me (not a club volunteer).

I have no problems with motivation. Time is my opponent, I could only practice once a week on my 2 day work off (I practice from sun up to sun down to maximize my time). But if I could just train without thinking that I have work the next day or where will I get my fare to visit the range (not to boast, I'm quite lucky to meet a friend in a different hobby who owns a 30m range and I get to use it for free, tho the place is quite far), I would train more days. I wanted to be an elite athlete, to step into the Olympics someday (as a promise I made for my grandpa and my first GF who both passed away way back years ago, but that time I was playing badminton, but a different story), but my time is just being eaten up by work. Hate to say, but there's a lot of talent hidden behind the veils of survival.

The biggest problem I"m coming across at my club is, the target archer tend to be a very individualistic bunch. The hunters tend to be a much more cohesive group and very territorial. While we have a very good indoor facility, we've only hosted one match in four years (which I and another archer pushed, the other archer quitting the club immediately after the match). Its hard to ice skating up hill all the time...

@NUSensei Hmm, I feel that archery and other endeavors that require commitment are seen as "activities done beside work/family/etc" which inherently make them things to be sacrificed and done as "extra". So, to solve the motivation and commitment issues I've been thinking about making them part of a *lifestyle* or a personal *culture* . For example think about what kind of life do you want to live, what kind of impact do you want it to have, what would make your life cool and exciting to you? In my case, it might be cool to go for that idealized view of a hermit master, dress in traditional silk archery clothes, drink tea and eat dunplings, and aim for the truth and purity of archery form... sounds ridiculously cheesy, I know, but might be cool. And that framework of life would integrally require the time for practice... it would be a part of who you are. To achieve it, you'd then know that you need to arrange for yourself a suitable living environment, learn to make clothes and the food you want to eat too... you'd have goals and aims for your life... and the thing that is missing too often... a direction. But yeah, just some food for thought. :)

Do not listen to them, there are people who is ignorant about Archery and they have different mentality, Same as other Sports all those great coach were just average player but they have made legendary players only few remarkable people can do both being a legendary player and a legendary coach. Cheers mate when I started Archery you are my go to info.

I was at my first training after nearly a month just today. I clearly got worse over time but after 30 arrows or so it felt quite good actually. I started hitting scores similar to those I’m used to. But perhaps I’m just so bad, that at my level it’s not such a big deal. 😅

Hi NU Sensei. Can you do a video on archery games that can be played in the club? We have some younger kids and we struggle to keep thinking of fun things to do!

A medal is a medal, there's some that are not expensive, and if you manage to get other clubs to join, you could have a competition with 10 or 15 people, this would break even and cover the medals. also, raffles on the day help cover cost, raffles equipment and everyday items so family and friends of the shooters chip in. a round of hotshot also entices people, as you might win it, that brings people too.

Yours to sensei

in germany you can shoot wherever you want but of course you cant endanger ppl 15m around the target should be a save space

Have a car now, but....even for recreation, the closest range in nyc was in queens that was 2 hours away, 1 way, by public transportation, carrying my equipment with me on crowded trains. And now I have to work a lot to pay for the car -_-

I got advice from high-end archery athletes: "...300-500x a day..." Local JOAD club was needing coaches and was willing to work around the fees to become a Level 1 (safety and competency) coach. I have access to a huge warehouse and factory (half empty); but, not allow to use the space for archery (Ohio winter). Asian parents.............. I can sympathise.

I started 2 months ago at the age of 44 :)

First barrier to archery success: not using tactical rubber-assisted repeating 400 pound bow with high-capacity magazine

Time and money both things I don’t have 😢

You should be very careful about playing political ads on your channel.

These are all true and I have lived many of them I find I trained like crazy for hunting season and then took a break about a month before the vegas shoot I got back out when the shoot was on the horizon I now I shot more when I lived in Reno because the local range organized leagues year round, hosts weekly pin shoots for USA archery, hosted every possible indoor tournament they could, when I moved I didn't have that anymore and I stopped regularly shooting and what I do shot is 20yds in my backyard. Again living in Reno the shop provided casual coaching, if you were there to practice and something felt wrong the staff would come help help you, or if you just wanted to get better you could ask them to look at you and they would, they transitioned one of the pin shoots each months to a coaching night. After I moved that casual coaching for those of us that couldn't afford a coach vanished and I had to become my own coach and it really doesn't work.