HAIKU DRILLS

Over the wintry

forest, winds howl in rage

with no leaves to blow.

- “Over the Wintry,” Natsume Sōseki

Abraham Lincoln said, “Give me six hours to chop down a tree, and I’ll spend the first four sharpening the axe.”

The way we practice and prepare defines our performance.  One of the most significant things I’ve come to realize is how we do the little things is how we are going to do the big things because the Devil, they say, is in the details. To fully understand what I call Haiku Drills, I have to set the framework for what they are, where they came from, and why I have my athletes do them.

Haiku drills are our time to sharpen, test, and resharpen. The drill’s name comes from a Japanese form of poetry that utilizes just three lines-- 5 syllables in the first line, seven syllables in the second line, and, again, five syllables in the third line. I translate that structure onto the physical space of the range, including the number of ends shot at each distance.  That is, close distance (5 ends), competition distance (7 ends), and back again to close distance (5 ends).  Depending on whether I’m working with an individual or working with a group dictates how I structure the drill.  While working with an individual, our close-distance work will use their “Goldilocks Zone.”  To learn more about the science supporting it and how to find your Goldilocks Zone, check out my article “The Science of Failure: Learning to Shoot Higher Scores.” I start each new training block with Haikus. It is a self-guided time in which you choose where you want to focus your preparation and practice: all detail work.

The main reason to practice Haiku Drills is that you are in control of the bow, and I have found that, as your coach, the things that you think are necessary to your preparation and practice aren’t always the things that I can see or discern. I’m fascinated by Japanese Haiku poetry because of what it requires of me. There is more story in the words that are not written than in the words that are. As the reader, I become equal to the writer. As much as the writer had to chip away to achieve the minimalist structure of the Haiku, the reader must build to complete it. On the range, there is only so much work that I can do with you from the outside (technical skill); your equally important work comes from within (mental process). It is in the mental space where I can only serve as your guide. You are charged with applying your thinking to the technical space. The Haiku drill is your time to work on this. It is your time to prepare, practice, and refine.

If you've worked with me before, you know that I'm a minimalist. Haiku drills drive to the essence of what I expect to see from you: all wasted movement cut, all wasted tension/effort gone, until just the finished piece remains. It is time spent in the details and time spent in refinement. It is you now, searching for perfection, meeting you performing it. Perfect preparation and perfect practice. It is a time when you, alone, get to identify and celebrate your ideal technical and mental process. It is where you get the benefit of knowing what right feels like and how to get there again. It is in your preparation and your practice that separates you from them. It is the defining characteristic of the professional. It is where you become you.

THE HAIKU DRILL – Individual Session

1.     5 ends in “The Goldilocks Zone” Distance (30 arrows)

2.     7 ends at Competition Distance (42 arrows)

3.     5 ends in “The Goldilocks Zone” Distance (30 arrows)

THE HAIKU DRILL – Group Session

1.     5 ends at ½ Competition Distance (30 arrows)

2.     7 ends at Competition Distance (42 arrows)

3.     5 ends at ½ Competition Distance (30 arrows)