The Benefits of Archery

Archery is a sport that is open to nearly everyone. Both able bodied and disabled people can do archery. In fact, even blind people can participate in archery now using advanced tactile technology equipment. One great benefit of archery is that it is physically demanding, and so helps to get your body in good shape. Those who want to advance in the sport will need upper body conditioning and this has other health benefits as well, needless to say. Archery stimulates you get up and off the couch and get outside learning a skill.

Another benefit of archery is that practicing it improves your focus. Mental fitness is greatly improved by the practice of archery, and this spills over into all other aspects of one's life, so that you find yourself concentrating better when reading, cooking, working, and so on and so forth. You also develop mental agility and nimbleness of mind that you did not have before.

Archery is a sport you can take up that is relatively cheap. Of course, if you want to get deep into competitive archery then it can indeed be quite costly. But for people who just want to get outdoors and have some fun, archery is something that doesn't need a big investment in order to be done. Archery is also a sport that you can practice inside or outside. So on rainy days you can still go to the target range and have a good time, getting out of the house and away from the television.

Archery is a great source of satisfaction and enjoyment. Indeed, in Japan they consider archery to embody truth, beauty, and grace. Archery demands that you focus on self-improvement instead of worrying about what everyone else is thinking or doing, and this spills over into other areas of your life. Doing well at archery causes you to want to do well in other things like your job, keeping your house, improving your personal relationships, and on and on. Young people especially also benefit from the fact that archery teaches patience, which is something that is very hard for a lot of children and youths to learn.

Archery is a very social sport that brings people together. People from all different segments of the population take pleasure in archery. Nearly every age group can get involved and there are women as well as men. There is no gender competition or gender splitting with archery. People as young as six or seven years old and people as old as in their 80s or 90s are involved with archery. Sometimes there are contests that make archery into a team sport and this teaches the value of teamwork.

Yet another benefit of archery is that is instills in one a sense of confidence. When you advance in archery you feel great about yourself. You feel that you can take something that is both physically and mentally challenging and become skilled in it, and that's an important feeling to have and can be applied to other walks of life.