Youth Bow Tips: Proper Hand Placements

Growing archers are the ones that need the most direction. We should be teaching them in a fundamentally sound manner that will grow with them as they age. I feel that many times when we show a child the techniques that are involved with the sport; we do not do the best job that we could be doing. We should inform them as much as possible and give them explanations about their bow. We neglect many things, because we just want to get them involved. How many of you can honestly say that you have talked to your child about proper hand placement, and the impact that hand size will have on their ability to shoot throughout their career? Instead of teaching them what draw weight it good for them right now, we should be teaching the children the reasoning behind why it is the best for them. The same can be said for many of the other deciding factors for a consistent and comfortable shooting experience. They will know how to determine their hand placement, and how to choose a bow that will fit their needs when they grow out of their youth bow and advance onto something more powerful. The more knowledgeable that our archers can be, the better off our sport will be in the future.Explain to them that it is important that they have proper hand placement because it could cause them unwanted torque on their youth bows and that could mess with their accuracy. You should have them place their knuckles at a forty-five degree angle towards their handle. If you teach them to place only the thumb on the grip section of the bow they will substantially eliminate torque. If you have them hold their limp hand in front of their face, they will notice the natural way that the index finger sits higher than the thumb (it should be similarly placed when they are shooting). I would say to avoid bows that have arrow shelves that extend because they will distort this form. Check our youth compound bow here.