- a) Identify four safety procedures you must follow when participating in archery activities.
(i)Always check that your equipment such as arrows, bow and strings are in working order.
(ii)Never approach the shooting line before the two whistle blasts (Blairschools n.d.).
(iii) Always ensure that you point your arrows downrange as you load the bow
(iv) An archor should always look downrange and past his/her target as a way of ensuring that there are no obstructions on the range, and that all is clear past the target (Blairschools n.d.).
- Explain why each of these are important.
-Ensuring that archery equipments are working well is important in order to avoid accident that is likely to occur, such as the snapping of the bow.
– The two whistle command requires archers to approach the shooting line. Otherwise, one could get injured by a shooting archer.
– Ensuring that you point your arrows downrange is important so that in case you accidentally shoot, you do not injure another archer but shot on the ground.
– Looking downrange is a safety precaution to avoid accidents such as shooting at another archer, possibly retrieving an arrow.
- List and define the 10 step to the 10 – ring.
(i) Stance: to establish a proper stance, the archer is advised to straddle the shooting line with his/her two feet. The archer’s toes should be aligned to the center of target; head should face the target and body in an upright position.
(ii) Nocking arrow: this involves placing arrow on the bowstring, ready for drawing. For successful nocking, the left side of bow should be aligned with the arrow shaft, but slightly above the arrow handle, when nocking, the index feather ought to point out or up. Make sure that the bowstring and arrow are at right angles.
(iii) Setting the Hook: to establish a proper hook, the archer uses the index, middle and fourth finger on his/her right hand. The first three fingers are hooked around the string making sure that the arrow is held lightly between middle and index fingers.
(iv) Setting up a bow hold: make sure the handle of the bow rests and is supported by your thumb, at its base. Place the other fingers lightly around the bow’s handle. Turn down the elbow of the bow arm prior to releasing the arrow so that you do not slap the bowstring (Klein, 2010).
(v) Raising the head: prior to raising the bow and arrow, ensure that your head is directly facing the center of your target.
(vi) Raising unit: raise the bow in an upright position to the same height as your shoulder. Make sure the bow faces your target.
(vii) Drawing and anchoring: the two activities should be accomplished with a single but smooth and conscious motion (Klein, 2010). Draw the string to the fullest so that it makes contact with the center of lips, chin, and nose. For every draw, do an anchoring at the same point.
(viii)Aiming and holding: make sure your eyes focus at the core of your target
(iv) Release: this should be accomplished with unconscious effort. Release the complete drawing hand but make sure that only the drawing hand moves (National Archery in the Schools Program, 2006).
(x) Follow-through: this involves maintaining the mental condition and body position taken at the point of release to the point where your arrow hits its target.
3.
- a) Give two examples of how a person uses communication skills and applies these skills
effectively in a group archery activity.
Communication skills are important in group archery activities. For example, communication skills are important when consulting with your instructor to plan a sessions that meets your individual needs. In addition, your may also use communication skills to interact with other participants while developing a positive and safe environment.
- b) Provide two examples of opportunities to cooperate with others in a group archery activity and
explain how these examples impact the group.
When you need to change the program’s environment: this could be necessary to ensure everyone enjoys the activity. Cooperation with others may also happen in case there is need to change the archery program in order to meet the needs of diverse learners. It may be necessary to modify techniques to fulfill the needs of individual learners, and this could necessitate a change of program.
- History of Olympic archery
Archery tournaments have their roots in England. As far back as the 17th century, archery competitions were being held in various parts of England as a key activity of community festivals. By 1600, Englishmen practiced three forms of shooting that have survived to date, albeit in another form. Butt shutting is an archaic form of Olympic target archery where bowmen were required to aim at targets at a distance of 100 to 400 yards, mounted on earthen butts. Clout shooting involves shooting arrows high in the air to descend on a piece of canvas (the target) laid on the ground with a wooden peg at its center and about 18 inches across (National Archery in the Schools Program, 2006). In roving, archers were presented with targets of varying sizes and shapes, or even small simulating animals. Shooting occurred haphazardly over round ground of unknown range as opposed to a prepared course. In the 1900 Olympic Games, archery was officially recognized as an Olympic event. It thus featured in subsequent Olympic Games in 1904, 1908, as well as 1920. At this point, each host country applied its own format and rules as there were no international rules in place to govern archery in the Olympics. On account of the ensuing confusion, archery did not feature as an Olympic event at the 1972 Olympic Games.
In 1931, the FITA (Federation Internationale de Tir a l’Arc) was established as an international body charged with the responsibility of governing archery as a sport (Coppen, 2016). FITA implemented international rules and standardized the competition. By 1972, a good number of countries had already adopted FITA’s rules and this led to the re-admission of archery to the Olympic Games. Since then, the sport has enjoyed significant changes, thanks to advances in technology, thereby necessitating the development of ore advanced archery equipment. In addition, advances in technology have also rendered certain competitive formats obsolete. Nevertheless, not much has changed in terms of the sport of archery.
References
Blairschools (n.d.) Archery. Retrieved from
http://blairschools.org/gen/blair_generated_bin/documents/basic_module/ARCHERY.pdf
Coppen, J.L. (2016). Bear Archery Traditional Bows: A Chronological History. New York: Page Publishing Inc.
Klein, A.G. (2010). Archery. Minnesota: ABDO.
National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP) (2006). National Curriculum Grades 4-5. Revised 2006.