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Sophomore Physical Education                                                                         Mr. Wedge

Study Guide                                                                                                            Fall 2009

ARCHERY

Terms and Equipment

Anchor Point
The reference point that a person pulls the bow string to before releasing. This point should be the same for each shot and may be the side of the mouth, ear lobe, or other reference point.  

Armguard
Material attached to the forearm of the arm that holds the bow to protect it from a string burn or keeps the sleeve from catching on the string.  

Arrow Shaft
The main body of the arrow before the nock, fletching, or point is installed. It can be made from several materials including wood, aluminum, carbon, and composites.  

Arrow shelf
The area of the bow above the handle or grip where the arrow sits.  

Back of Bow
The side farthest away from you when you hold bow in shooting position.  

Bow Belly
The side closest to you when you hold the bow in shooting position.  

Bow string
Several strands of material twisted together to form a strong string used to launch an arrow.  

Compound bow
A bow with one or two cams that provide let-off and power.  

Crossbow
A small, strong bow, held and shot like a rifle. The stronger one's have a lever to help cock it.  

Crossbow Bolt
The shaft or arrow fired from a crossbow.  

Draw length
The distance a person draws a bow, measured from the bottom of the arrow nock to the back of a bow when in shooting position.  

Draw weight
Amount of pull weight measured in pounds that it takes to pull a bow string a certain distance.  

Field points
Points that are round (no blades) with a sharp point, usually used for practice.  

Fletching
The feathers or vanes used to stabilize an arrow in flight.  

Limb
The ends of the bow that bend when the string is pulled back.  

Longbow
An archery bow with no cams and when strung, the string only touches at the ends of the limbs.  

Nock on arrow
Arrow part glued or snapped into the back of an arrow shaft that the bow string fits into. On early or very traditional arrows, the nock is cut into the shaft itself.  

Nocking point
The spot on bow string where the arrow nock is placed to be shot.  

Quiver
A piece of archery equipment that holds arrows. It may be attached to the bow, placed on a belt, or carried on your shoulder or back.  

Recurve bow
A bow that has no cams or other method to lessen the amount of force to pull back the string. When strung, the string contacts the bow limbs a short distance from the limb tips.  

Release
Letting go of the string to shoot an arrow.  

Release aid
Some type of tool that is used to pull the bow string and provide a better release by a trigger of some type.  

Sight window
The area of the bow above the grip and arrow shelf where you would mount a site or as with a long bow, you see your target.  

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History 

The bow seems to have been invented in the late Paleolithic or early Mesolithic periods. The oldest indication for its use in Europe comes from the Stellmoor in the Ahrensburg valley north of Hamburg, Germany and date from the late Paleolithic, about 10,000–9,000 BC. The oldest bows known so far come from the Holmegård swamp in Denmark.

Classical civilizations, notably the Assyrians, Hungarians, Persians, Parthians, Indians, Koreans, Chinese, and Japanese fielded large numbers of archers in their armies. The Sanskrit term for archery, dhanurveda, came to refer to martial arts in general.

Archery was highly developed in Asia and in the Islamic world. In East Asia the ancient Korean civilizations were well-known for their archery skills.  Central Asian and American Plains tribesmen were extremely adept at archery on horseback.

Decline, last uses, and survival of archery

The development of firearms rendered bows obsolete in warfare. Despite the high social status, ongoing utility, and widespread pleasure of archery in England, Korea, China,Japan, Turkey, Armenia, America, Egypt, and elsewhere, almost every culture that gained access to even early firearms used them widely, to the relative neglect of archery. Early firearms were vastly inferior in rate-of-fire, and were very susceptible to wet weather. However, they had longer effective range and were tactically superior in the common situation of soldiers shooting at each other from behind obstructions. They also required significantly less training to use properly, in particular penetrating steel armour without any need to develop special musculature. Armies equipped with guns could thus provide superior firepower by sheer weight of numbers, and highly-trained archers became almost obsolete on the battlefield. However, archers are still effective and have seen action even in the 21st century. Traditional archery remains in use for sport, and for hunting in many areas.

Modern primitive archery

From the 1920s, professional engineers took an interest in archery, previously the exclusive field of traditional craft experts. They led the commercial development of new forms of bow including the modern recurve and compound bow. These modern forms are now dominant in modern Western archery; traditional bows are in a minority. In the 1980s, the skills of traditional archery were revived by American enthusiasts, and combined with the new scientific understanding.

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Archery Form: 10 Basic Steps

The following sequence of figures shows the basic steps of shot execution.

Although it is depicted as a sequence of separate events, you should execute these steps in one single smooth motion.

Also keep in mind that these are Basic steps, individual adjustments are possible, but these are usually given by the instructor / trainer / coach.