The first go-to way to track skill and progress in (target) archery is to write down scores for a set amount of arrows. A nice alternative to this is to make a scatter plot of *all* shots over a longer training, in order to get a clear picture of the current skill level.
Something like this:
The most primitive way to make a scatter plot (as pictured above) is to secure a lane for yourself and make sure that the target paper is only shot on by you. If that doesn’t work, there are also plenty of nice scoring apps available for phones, or it can be done on paper by hand.
In order to get the most out of these plots, it is a good idea to write down everything about the session that resulted in the plot. For example for the plot above: I was shooting for 2 hours, 18m, practicing to shoot instinctive, ~6s per arrow, 6 arrows per round. I didn’t count my arrows xD (I never do unless an app does it for me) but I know I should.
The nice thing about the scatterplot is that not only does it tell you how you are scoring on the target, but can also reveal any regular mistakes. If the cluster of arrows is shifted in a certain direction, it can say a lot about where the mistake is.
I definitely recommend this to be done regularly, especially if you are still in the stage of lots of learning and posture adjusting.
Kitty hugs to all~
~Joouna