Two weeks ago we were excited to start a beginner's archery class in Lower Hutt (outside Wellington proper). But typical NZ would have none of that and we were rained out. Remember, we're going into "winter" which means rain (only some of the time). So last week we had our first lesson. We took the bus out found the field where we would have our class. Before we were given our equipment or any direction we completed a simple task to determine which eye was dominant. With Tim being right handed and me being a south paw we were sure that we'd shoot according to our handedness. With that said we were much amused to learn that I was right eye dominant and Tim was left. :) Since I haven't done archery since middle school I figured I could start learning to shoot right handed even if it didn't seem intuitive. Tim spoke with the instructor and learned that you can shoot either way regardless of your dominant eye. In the end he decided to shoot right handed. We never would've guessed that we shoot the same way. :)
Soon after we were given recurve bows, a quiver of arrows, an arm guard (for the bow arm) and a finger tab to protect the digits that contact the bowstring. When everyone was situated we were given some basic instructions and set 'to the line' to put technique into practice. Our main focus was to work towards correct technique and not worry so much about where the arrow is hitting the target.
With two lessons under our belt now we're continuing to learn about the subtleties of technique. And for the second week in a row I'm upper body sore pretty much everywhere. Apparently, I don't ever use some of the muscles in my shoulders and arms. :) It hurts so good.
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