Wobble board and 30 m archery: Hasibuan 2024 study

Twelve archers aged 13 to 17 from an Indonesian club, Selabora Panahan, followed a balance training programme on a wobble board. Before and after, balance was measured with the Stork Test, standing on one leg, and accuracy with a round at 30 metres.

On the Stork Test the mean went from 3.26 to 4.37 (the unit is not given), and the score from 270.08 to 294.08 points; all 12 archers improved on both tests, with score gains ranging from 7 to 48 points. The paired t-test gives t = 6.19 for balance and t = 5.43 for score, with p below 0.001. The tables list each archer's values, and recalculating from them reproduces the means and tests reported. The authors conclude that the wobble board improves both balance and accuracy.

It is a single group measured before and after, with no control group. The methods section is almost empty: it does not say how many sessions there were, over how many weeks, how long each lasted, what exercises were done on the board, or whether normal shooting practice continued over the same period. Of the shooting test only the distance is known, 30 metres; the number of arrows, the target face and the bow type are not given, although scores of up to 333 suggest 36 arrows. The archers' sex and the unit of the Stork Test are also missing. The analysis is a paired t-test, preceded by tests of normality and homogeneity.

With no control group and no information on what the archers did in the meantime, a 24-point gain in 13 to 17 year olds could come from normal shooting practice, growth, familiarity with the test or the conditions on the day. The idea that better balance produced the better score is the authors' interpretation: the two gains were measured in the same archers, but the study does not relate one to the other.

The discussion talks of immediate effects, which sit awkwardly with a training programme, and the conclusion presents the board as a highly valuable strategy, more than twelve archers without a comparison group allow anyone to say. The journal is flagged in the registry for questionable editorial standards.

Balance training on unstable surfaces is common in archery too, and the idea that a steadier base helps an archer hold on aim is sensible. This study does not put it to the test, though: every archer improved, but without a group that did not use the board there is no way of knowing how much of the gain belongs to it. For anyone who shoots, the picture is unchanged: those who work on balance do so on other grounds, because these data do not say what it is worth in points.