The Longbow Shop Blog — shooting technique

Hands up who’s kids are very happy in front of a video game or a TV? Mine certainly are and that’s great for some hand eye co-ordination but personally I would sooner they get out into the fresh air alongside playing their video games. Getting my kids involved in Archery for me as a coach was a winner - it’s a safe, fun activity with tons of extra benefits to be had along the way plus I get to spend quality time with us doing something together - no brainer! New blood If you’re new to the sport or your...

Did you know that The Longbow Shop has supplied some fantastic TV and film production companies over the last few years? Our work can be seen in the following (sorry we can’t give you a full list as some of it is hush hush!) BBC – The White queen We supplied some of our medieval style arrows for this popular TV series and they were used throughout. We really like the behind the scenes photo of some of the arrows being used Henry V - Royal Shakespeare Company We supplied english longbows for the Royal Shakespeare Company production of Henry...

On 5th March Pip Bickerstaffe paid a visit to The Longbow Shop For those that couldn’t make the latest Bickerstaffe demo day we had a slight change in format concentrating more on the mechanics of shooting with some coaching analysis input alongside shooting tips and historic thoughts on all aspects of that greatest of bows – The English Longbow. Alongside Pip for the day was renowned Warbow archer and expert Simon Stanley who brought some fantastic examples of Yew Longbows including a huge 154lb Warbow. Everyone there was treated to Simon shooting this beast of a bow so take a look...

A new English Longbow needs to be used with due care and attention Your English Longbow has been made very carefully over a long period of time to draw in an optimum bend and tillered to suit the stated draw length and draw weight. Before using your new bow you need to ‘teach’ it to shoot. This is why we always tell Longbow Archers to never let anyone else draw your bow. It’s been taught to shoot to how you shoot and any variation on this usually has very bad results! To teach your bow, brace it a low brace height and...

When Jason asked me if I fancied coming up with some hints and tips with a coaching element, I thought “this could be interesting! Would you coach traditional archery any differently from recurve or compound archery? What are the differences? What are the similarities?” In the end I thought I would start with the basics. I have spent a lot of time over the last few years watching competent longbow and traditional archers shooting both target and field. I have also spent quite a lot of time talking to them. One thing I have noticed is that there can be...