Archery self-experiment: The experience of shooting with a bow yourself

As is well known, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. Since the World Archery Championships are about to start in Berlin (July 31 to August 6), I was able to try out archery for myself as part of a training session with the German national team. Unlike most other shooting sports, archery has the advantage that no conventional weapon is used. The bow is classified as pure sports equipment and is therefore excluded from the weapons law.

Therefore, this sport can be practiced in Germany without restrictions. Gone are the days when people rode horses and hunted animals with bows and arrows. The bows these days also look more like the Hunger Games and not like an old piece of wood.

So I dared to try. As soon as Freddy Siebert, aspiring youth national coach, had managed everything and everyone in the area, I was able to shoot at a target. At a distance of ten meters, the flight time of the arrow is almost non-existent, because when it leaves the string it flies towards the target at over 100 km/h.

Then, when I fired, barely a moment later I heard the target’s satisfying bong. I couldn’t believe my eyes: I hadn’t achieved anything special in terms of points, but I was still amazed at how accurately the arrow flies where it was aimed. The moment the bowstring is released, it springs back almost faster than the eye can see. With each shoot I developed a better sense of how accurate I had to aim to hit gold (middle of the target). Which I even managed to do once.

In archery, body tension is important

In archery, the shooter is basically aligned with his shoulder to the target, his legs should be shoulder-width apart. Unlike in the western film, the athlete does not hold the string completely in his hand, but only with the index, middle and ring fingers. Right from the start, Freddy Siebert told me that it is important for a shooter to be stable and that a lot of body tension is generally required. It is optimal that the sometimes very heavy string is pulled back as far as possible in order to then shoot with optimal power.

All in all, it was a nice experience to hold a bow in my own hands. Especially in this environment on the Maifeld, while the German national team is training for the World Cup. After this experience, I can only recommend everyone to pick up a bow and arrow and try this sport for themselves. Although I couldn’t imagine shooting an arrow 50,000 to 80,000 times a year like the pros do.

On July 31st, the World Archery Championships will take place in Berlin. In addition to excellent sport, there is certainly also the opportunity to start your own experiment.