This summer my sister came to stay with her two young sons. Before she came she explained that they can be a bit "full on" as she put it. I was very exited as I have only ever visited them in their home, this was a chance for me to show them stuff we had only ever talked about before. I thought it would be nice if I made them both a bow and set of arrows to take home. So I made them two small IPE bows, backed with linen and TB3. I fired the little bamboo arrows I made for them to see how they shot, wow! These little bows spat arrows out like lightning. I must admit at this point I did wonder at the wisdom of giving them such capable weapons, but hey you gotta learn right.
They were really pleased, my sister perhaps less so. We did have one incident were one lad didn't wait till the other was behind the shooting line, I promptly removed both bows and explained again how important this rule was. After a few tears and a no bows for a morning, they got the idea. You gotta learn right! What impressed me most was how quickly they became good shots. I explained about form and shooting techniques, they lapped it up. Practicing till their fingers hurt, even with a tab. I mixed the whole thing up by showing them how to straighten bamboo shafts and turn them into arrows. A month on and my sister tells me they are still shooting, apparently they wont let any of their friends pull their bows unless they have their draw length measured, seems they really did listen!
