“Stand at the ten-pace mark, Taz. I’ll show you how to hold the bow and then you can take some practice shots.” He added. He quickly showed her how to nock an arrow and draw back the bow with her mechanical release and how to release it without releasing it. Before she actually shot the arrow, she had to do something else first. That something was completely surprising. He had her take off her pack and quiver, set them down, and hold a single arrow. Then he had her turn around so her back was to the target, turn, nock the arrow, and fire towards the stump with only a quick aim and release. As she did so, Xander watched what she did with her feet.
The arrow went right of the target wide. He nodded to himself as if this wasn’t unsurprising, and had her do it again more than ten times, fetching the arrow himself each time until she was consistently hitting on or near the target. Then he pointed at her feet. “People use a square stance, closed stance, or open stance… all of them having to do with toe position. You hit most consistently with an open stance. So have your body facing the target, your hips open, your toes wider than your heels pointed towards the target. Your body doesn’t fight itself when you do that… you are more comfortable shooting that way too. That’s your stance you want… memorize it.” He added, smiling. “I’d guessed that’s the type of shooter you’d be.” He admitted, then took her bow.
“Take your stance, twist your body so your left shoulder is pointed at the target, and let your arms hang down at your sides comfortably. Now… look at the target. That’s your natural head position. Got it? Don’t tilt your head back, lean forward, tilt your chin down, anything…right there... that’s the natural spot.” He said, handing her bow back to her.
Tazrae nodded, learning the stance and position, attempting to memorize its level of comfort.
“Now, proper grip. If you don’t have the right grip, you will not only have a hard time tuning your bow but also will suffer from a lot of shooting that is inconsistent. You want accuracy. Juli has tuned the bow to what she thinks is right for you. We’ll fiddle at it. When you hold your bow, you apply pressure. It’s called hand torque. What I mean is that as you fire, you might squeeze the grip, move it, unintentionally twist or turn it during the shot. You want your bow to be held firmly in the center of the strong part of your palm where all the meat is. It needs to line up with your thumb. You shouldn’t be squeezing your hand or moving your fingers. This needs to be an easy hold, confident, and firm, without any additional movements. The key is the focus. The most common archery problem is grip. If you are aware of this from the get-go, you won’t make it… hopefully.” He added, laughing lightly.
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