Archery Release for Beginners: The Easiest Way to Get a Clean Follow-Through

In this video I'm going to show you how to clean up your archery release with one simple tip. This tip works great for those that are very new to archery and is a great way to explain to young archers on how to properly release the string. So I've got a Genesis bow here in my hand and this is actually a bow that is officially used in the NASP program which is a program that is designed for young archers through middle school to high school and they allow competition with this bow with these arrows. It's a very specific regulated tournament that a lot of young archers get into and I just got done working with a bunch of new and young archers through Tenex Archery that are in the NASP program that use this bow and that's why I'm going to use it in this video to show you how to properly release the string and how to have a proper follow-through. There's a couple of very super simple tips that I'm going to show you in this video. This doesn't work just for this bow it works for all types of archery that use fingers on the string and I'm going to show you how to change your release from very static or even a collapsing release to a much more fluid follow-through and it's really very very simple. Before I show you how to actually follow through properly with a couple of tips I want to go over a couple of reasons really quick as to why people tend to stay still. Usually it's just a concept issue most young kids don't even know they're supposed to follow through they don't know what it should properly feel like so it's easy to just show them how to properly do it but in case you're a coach out there I want you to understand a little bit more as to the why behind why most people actually don't follow through not naturally at least sometimes. So basically most people think about archery as staying as still as possible or they think about the shot ending the moment they let go of the string and that's not the case. The case is that the actual shot ends or should end when you hear the arrow hit the target so I really try to suggest to young archers to stay as still as possible until that arrow hits the target because most of them are actually staying still or moving their string hand off their face as they're letting go because they're pretending that the shot ends the moment they let it go because they also want to see where the arrow is going so they typically tend to move the bow move their hand move the string out of the way of their eye when they're letting go and that's causing the arrow to change the trajectory or it's causing the bow to change the trajectory of the actual arrow which makes the groups bigger and inconsistent downrange but these static releases that stay very still on the face when the string is being let go can lead to a couple of issues like a collapsing release or a plucking release or a release that is a little bit just erratic and inconsistent and so the better way to do it is to actually follow through. Follow through is something that is just a continuation of the tension that you have at full draw the tension is you know simple it's physics I'm pulling back the string and I'm pushing the bow forward if I don't do one of those things like not pull the bow back my string side would collapse right I would stop pulling and the bow would pull me forward so I have tension that is built up when I am at full draw the moment that I let go of the string that tension has to go somewhere it should at least because if you keep the tension going and you let nothing more than the string push the fingers out of the way and keep the tension going the hand will move backwards and the bow will move forwards the string hand will move backwards that is right and so the idea is to try to keep that tension the same and to not change it because what actually happens when you're trying to be static when you let go of a static release you're having to do two things at once one of those is let go of the string and the other is to stop the tension that you had at full draw and the timing there is super critical if you're a little slower or faster in either of those two things it's going to change where the arrow goes on the target so it's much simpler to just keep the tension and just let go of the string and that's going to make the string hand move back but the simple trick that I want to share with you is to simply tell your archers when they're at full draw no matter how they're anchoring doesn't really matter all they want to do when they let go is to take their index finger and to touch the backside of their ear behind their earlobe the backside of their neck or maybe their shoulder I personally don't like the shoulder because you can see the hand comes down instead of just going straight back the straight back is keeping more of the tension exactly where it is so I'll show you the three variations here of when I'm at full draw if I keep the tension going and try to take my index finger and touch my earlobe versus touch the back of my neck versus touch my shoulder those are three different options that you can actually use to explain to your archers and so when I'm working with a young shooter I will tell them okay that's great everything looks great but let's try to just touch the backside of your neck touch your earlobe something like that after you let go of the string and after a few shots of you know a little bit of hiccup here or there because they're still learning the actual motions they realize that they can easily touch their ear touch their neck or maybe their shoulder and it dramatically cleans up their release it turns a very static very inconsistent plucky collapsing release to something that is very fluid very natural and now they're only changing that one thing of letting the string push the fingers out of the way but they're keeping that tension going behind them and they're able to follow through the more fluid they can do this the better you know you don't want to add tension you don't want to jerk the hand back it's just a natural motion very gentle very gradual and you keep that movement going and keep that position staying as still as a statue until you hear that arrow hit the target and then look to see where the arrow goes if you're interested in learning more about some of the archery technique that I would suggest using in a NASP program on a Genesis I do have a video specifically about how to put your hand in the bow grip already created and I'm creating a little mini series so you should definitely hit that subscription button and the notification bell down below and check out the link down in the description below for that video and I will put a card at the top up there to the playlist on how to properly put your hand into the bow grip and I will continue to build on this series as time goes on suggesting more form changes on how to better shoot the Genesis and how to have better technique within the NASP program but like I said in the beginning of the video this isn't just strictly for NASP this is just a very simple bow it's just a compound kind of but there's no there's no let off it constantly gets heavier just like a recurve would and there's also no draw stop other than the maximum draw length which is longer than most young shooters can even pull anyway so it's just a great universal kind of bow that sort of looks like a compound and it's sort of a solo cam but it's really nothing different than just a single string bow for lack of better terms with a finger style release so this applies like I said to traditional to barebow to recurve to a genesis anything you're going to shoot with your fingers this tip works for that when you're at full draw all you want to do is think about touching your ear lobe touching the back side of your neck and just following through and staying still until you hear that arrow hit the target and then check to see where it went don't move the bow don't move your hand don't get too excited I understand it's really exciting to shoot our arrows you want to see them land in the middle but if you stay still like a statue and follow through you're going to have a much higher chance of those arrows going in the middle if you're interested in learning more about archery technique I will recommend a book that's called total archery inside the archer it's written by an old teammate of mine Tyler Benner as well as my old coach Kisik Lee that link is to my website jkmancy.com and reminder we are currently running a four thousand dollar archery package giveaway where you can get a riser a set of limbs of your choice and draw weight and length as well as a case a stabilizer setup and a few different other things and there's no purchase necessary full details down in the description below but if you do purchase an item such as total archery every dollar spent including on shipping gets you one entry into the actual giveaway that ends at the end of this month so be sure to check that out and see all the different offerings that we have available currently at jkmancy.com and if you got value out of this video and you enjoyed it please consider sharing it there's a ton of NASP shooters out there and I would love to get this information out to those young shooters as well as the coaches so if you're a coach share it within your discord group or your text chat or something like that to your archers to your parents or if you're a parent share this with your kids share this with other parents I'm genuinely trying to make a little bit of a playlist per se on how to shoot the genesis bow with a little bit more proper technique overall I think it'll make all the archers much better and it'll make all the programs perform much better as well at states or nationals or those type of events so if you wouldn't mind like I said before hit that subscription button and the notification bell and consider sharing these videos genuinely helps this channel out and I can't thank my supporters enough without you I wouldn't be able to produce this content at least not to this level so thanks