O…M…G…!!! I got to meet a 5 time Olympian Archer, Butch Johnson, he’s actually our coach! He’s alsoa one-time Gold Medalist! He just left this weekend for trials! We all thought he was going to watch, it turns out he’s going for the trials!If he makes it on the team he’ll come back home in Manchester to self-train in his backyard! Dom, our first archery teacher told us that Butch shoots 80-120 arrows a day! I wonder how many he’ll shoot for his self-training if he makes it! In 2000 he brought his 17 year old student with him. She started training with him at 7…Years after, she had a new coach, Butch said she would call once a month and say, ”he’s changing my form”, ”he’s changing my fingers” and all that kinda stuff. So, in ’08 she made it to the trials but not on the team…:-(
Now, back to Butch, Roxie (I’ll write more on her later) told us that she thinks Butch started shooting in his late 20s!—he’s been in the Olympics for 24 years! He’s 57, so 57-24=33. So that means he made it to his first Olympics at 33, that means it took him anywhere from 4-8 years of shooting! Hey, Roxie said it takes 5-8 years of “Really Shooting” to make it to the Olympics or World Team—no fighting with that! 
So, about Roxie…1) she “Rox” 2) she made it to the Olympic trials at 14 years old—that’s the youngest ever! That’s actually IMpossible, considering that you have to be 18. There’s also Josh, the Go-T Guy…not the go-to guy. And Ben, he shot a boar before…a really ugly one…although, Roxie told us he never catches anything because ha falls asleep in the tree-chairs!
Alrighty, to what I’ve learned!
- When I point my front foot to ahead of my other and point it halfway towards the target and the right I shoot better.
- You can pull back “to far”—you just gotta learn.
- Line the sting with the opposite side of the of where your arrow is and make sure you’re look on the side of the arrow
- I gotta keep my front shoulder flat! Also, I gotta keep the inside of my elbow flat!
- Go through the string, don’t let go
- Corner of your mouth, once you shoot farther than 10 yards anchor below your chin
- Stay still even after you release, it’ll affect where the arrow lands!
- Keep your back straight! Do what you would do if someone was going to punch you! Suck your stomach in, it’ll help keep your back straight!
If you ever try archery, I’d love to know if these help you…although, every person is different!
GREAT first Archery Log, JuJu. You shared your lessons learned and by writing it in your own words, you’ll be able to internalize the lessons on a deeper level–the beauty of journaling/blogging!
So glad Roxy encouraged you to do this. I’m so excited you’re so happy and excited. I couldn’t be a more proud Mommy!
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JuJu Reply:
June 12th, 2012 at 9:37 AM
Thanks! I know, Roxy is brilliant…I can’t forget a single body positioning!
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