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A Look at Archery Stances
from: Maxx Sports GuidesArchers can use four different stances -- each wotj good qualities and shortcomings. Understanding each stance allows you to choose the best one for you or under what circumstances to go into.
First, there's the even stance which is a very natural and intuitive positioning. It's easy to reproduce repeatedly for the sake of consistency and accuracy. However, there are some drawbacks. You'll only have a small base of support in the plane of front to back. This makes it so that your body isn't really sturdily set. So, if you're out shooting on a windy day, you could actually be blown off balance.
It's also easier to accidentally fall while in the even stance. Going into this stance lowers the area for string clearance, especially for archers who have broad chests.
The open stance gives the archer a very stable base of support while cutting down on the body's tendency to lean away from the target. However, this stance also tends to cause the upper body to twist towards the target. In addition, it tends to cause you to use your arms muscles instead of your back muscles to draw. You want to mainly use your back muscles for drawing and releasing.
You also get a stable support base with the closed stance which gives excellent alignment of the shoulder and arm with the target. However, there are some drawbacks in that it reduces the string clearance and makes it so the string could actually strike against your body. This stance also tends to cause the archer to lean away from the target, requiring compensation by overdrawing the bow.
The stance that gives the greatest amount of string clearance when the arrow is released is the oblique stance. With this stance, your body is in complete equilibrium and the target can be seen quite clearly. However, this stance is difficult to maintain. Usually, only expert archers use the oblique stance.
When you're practicing your stances, start by marking the exact placement of your feet on the shooting line. There are some experienced archers who insist that stance deviations of even only a couple of inches can mess up your aiming and sighting, which can begin to plague you with accuracy problems.
The open stance and oblique stance are the two best stances. Most experienced archers only use one or both. However, individual preference is the name of the game in archery. So, try out the different stances and see which one suits your style best. If you like the closed or even stance, use them.
Once you have your stance down, practice the four major shooting steps, which are nocking, drawing, getting your anchor point, and releasing and following through.
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