How to Become a Master Archer Like Katniss Everdeen

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Hi, I'm Angela Watercutter,

and I'm here with Tony Ng from Cupids Gate Archery,

and we are here at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco,

and Tony is going to teach me how to shoot a bow and arrow.

[Tony] Okay, these are called finger sling,

and these are finger tab.

It's to protect you and makes it more relaxing

and help you with your release.

Okay, and then what is this thing on my arm?

This is an arm guard.

It's to protect your arm from getting hit by the string.

So, that's for protection.

So, if I just wanna get into archery

at sort of a basic level,

what are the steps I need to go through?

Like, what are the main things I need to learn.

So the first thing we wanna go through

is the anatomy of the bow.

This is the stabilizer.

This is a bow sight.

And, this is an arrow rest.

And, right here, we have what we call, the knot locator.

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Now, for shooting wise, the form,

the first thing that we talk about is the stance.

Like this, with the toe tip lining up,

straight down at the shooting lane.

Okay.

So, now, what I need you to do,

is to bring this arm over here.

And, now, look that way

your body is supposed to be straight up.

See how solid you are right now?

Yeah.

Yeah. You don't really need a lot of muscles

No.

to do a lot of shooting.

This is the strongest I've ever felt.

Yeah, exactly.

So, first, the arrow has three fletching,

and you wanna make sure that the odd color fletching

faces you, so it's ready to be shot.

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So, now that we know the basics,

how do you become a master archer?

[Tony] Actually, at the beginning, most of the people

will be using their arm and shoulder to pull,

so you'll be seeing them having a release like this,

Mmhmm.

instead of having them release with the back.

Okay.

[Tony] And, as you release, your follow through

should be looking like this.

[Angela] Okay.

How long do people train before they are ready

for something like the Olympics or the World's Cup?

Well, the shortest amount of time that I know of

is two years.

Uh huh.

And, the longest amount of time, probably forever.

Oh really.

Yeah, because there's no age limit for the Olympics

Right. Yeah.

in archery.

I mean, it's like there are people, in their 50s

that are shooting in the Olympics.