On-target trajectories and the final pull in archery

Abstract

At the end of the aiming phase, an archer pulls the arrow back a little bit before he releases the shot. This pulling back of the arrow is called the “final pull”. Simultaneous with the final pull, the archer has to hold the bow calm. The aim of this paper was to examine the motion of the bow and the final pull in highly skilled archers. From a technological point of view, we wished to develop a system to measure the draw-length in the final pull that could be used during archers’ normal training. Seven archers (two males, five females), all of whom were participants at the Junior World Championships and German National Championships, performed 66 shots indoors at a target 30 m away. Each archer shot the same bow as used in competition. On-target trajectories of the aim point movement were measured. Also, the alterations of the draw-length in the final pull were determined. The results suggest that irregularities in the final pull have a negative influence on archers’ scores. Intra-individually, a smaller range of motion of the bow in the last second before the shot appears to have a positive influence on archers’ scores.