MONITORING YOUR
PERFORMANCE
Why bother?
- So that you know whether or not you have
improved, based on an objective look at your current performance.
- To enable you to set realistic goals based
on both your typical and best performances.
- So that you are not disappointed if you don't
shoot your handicap.
- So that you can see your improvement over
a season rather than just comparing each score with the previous
one.
- To help to maintain your interest in archery.
- To help to identify factors which led to
good or bad performances in the past so that you repeat the good
ones and eliminate bad ones in the future.
- So that you recognise when you are shooting
well and enjoy your success.
How to do it
Getting started
- The minimum requirement is to shoot some
rounds, score them and record at least the name of the round (or
distances shot), date and total score. It is wise to get into
the habit of scoring every arrow in your score pad since this
can also provide a double check on the adding up of the scorer.
-
- Handicap tables are a very useful tool for
competing against yourself or monitoring your performance. Every
GNAS round that you shoot has a handicap that can be found in
the tables [available from GNAS]. Handicaps range from zero to
one hundred, the lower the handicap the better the standard. You
will have a separate handicap for the indoor and outdoor seasons.
Handicaps are recalculated for the following season from the average
of your best three rounds shot during the season. Use of the handicap
tables is illustrated by the following example. Say you shot a
National round and scored 360, the handicap for that score would
be 56 since you have bettered the score of 351 required for a
handicap of 56 but not reached 367, the required scored for a
handicap of 55.
-
Obtaining and reducing your personal handicap
- Your initial handicap is based on the average
handicap (rounded up) of the first three scored rounds that you
shoot. From there onwards, every time that you shoot a round with
a handicap lower than your current personal handicap, your new
handicap will be the average of the handicap from the round you
have just shot and your personal handicap. If you shoot worse
or equal to your personal handicap then your handicap remains
unchanged. This means that during a season your handicap cannot
increase.
-
Monitoring your performance
- Because it is difficult to know how well
you are doing or what scores you should be getting on rounds not
familiar to you, I suggest that you compare the handicaps that
you shoot to for each round. Keeping a list of the handicaps of
every round that you shoot will make it easy for you to see your
improvement and calculate your running handicap. I find it useful
to plot my handicap for each scored round on graph paper. It is
important to plot all scored rounds on the graph. Over a period
of time you hope to see a reduction in the handicaps - the graph
will make it easier to see trends in your performance over the
season. The graph will also help you to see that your current
personal handicap reflects your BEST performances, not your average,
so don't be disappointed when shooting a score worse than your
current handicap.
-
-
Melanie and Neil Wakelin
-
Neil shot for Great
Britain on a number of occasions and achieved a handicap indoors
of Zero. His wife Melanie has also shot for the country.
Reproduced from InSight,
the Stortford Archery Club Newsletter, Issue 8, Spring 1996
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Stortford Archery Club