#811: 2x Olympic Archery Medalist Jake Kaminski — Lessons Learned and Mantras Used After 1,000,000 Arrows

Jake Kaminski (youtube.com/@JakeKaminskiArchery) is a two-time Olympic silver medalist in archery and a longtime member of the US Archery Team. He runs a successful YouTube channel (youtube.com/@JakeKaminskiArchery), writes training guides, and develops high-performance gear under the Kaminski Archery (kaminskiarchery.com) brand. Sign up for the Kaminski Archery Backyard Championship here. (usa.kaminskiarchery.com/pages/events)
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Timestamps:
[00:00:00] Start.
[00:06:50] A glimpse into the high-precision world of Olympic archery.
[00:11:04] How Jake and I connected.
[00:18:27] Jake’s auspicious introduction to archery.
[00:21:15] Why you (Yes! You!) should try archery.
[00:22:01] The differences between bows.
[00:25:19] The admirable proficiency of Shot IQ’s Bodie and Joel Turner.
[00:26:24] Ethical bow hunting, performing under pressure, and transitioning from rifle to bow.
[00:29:22] Why I wouldn’t have cut it as a competitive archer in Korea.
[00:30:14] Mindful archery and training hard to make competition easy.
[00:37:00] What Jake did when compound bow archery started to get boring.
[00:40:00] Meeting legendary Coach Kisik Lee (KSL).
[00:43:06] The upsides of having no social life as a kid.
[00:45:20] The welcoming weirdness of archery communities.
[00:46:33] For the sake of form, Coach Lee shakes things up.
[00:51:21] “I am.” — an affirmation for apathy adjustment.
[00:58:11] London, 2012 Olypmics: when it all starts coming together.
[01:08:28] How does teamwork play out in archery?
[01:15:40] My own experience with Coach Lee.
[01:19:23] The trials of training and traveling.
[01:27:33] Blank bale practice.
[01:31:14] Layering, biomechanics, and other early points of focus.
[01:33:03] The underrated importance of follow through.
[01:36:40] Coach Lee’s take on follow through vs. release.
[01:37:29] Gauging tension and intention as an instructor.
[01:38:52] Attention to grouping over hitting the bullseye.
[01:40:57] Making adaptations for physical limitations.
[01:43:30] The ups and downs of our patented “Jesus take the wheel” instinctive approach.
[01:46:24] Warm-up tournaments, barebowing, black bales, and string walking.
[01:50:54] Recovering from the disaster that made me rethink Lancaster.
[01:55:15] Rebalancing gear: arrows and arrow rests.
[02:00:50] The importance of practicing in tournament-like conditions.
[02:04:03] Securing convenient fuel.
[02:08:17] Lancaster preparation logistics (with special thanks to Heather Kaminski and Rick Simpson Oil).
[02:13:17] The glue that holds us together: note-taking and training logs.
[02:16:47] Even counterintuitive consistency is key.
[02:18:45] Our experience at Lancaster.
[02:28:00] “The goal is to do the least necessary, not the most possible.” — Henk Kraaijenhof
[02:31:44] Learning by observation and conversation on the practice range.
[02:35:35] What’s the Kaminski Archery Backyard Championship, and why should you get involved?
[02:40:30] How can you (and why should you) get started with archery today?
[02:42:48] Parting thoughts.
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