Two Competitions - Mostly By Accident

Finch

Member
Having been on leave from work for a fortnight I would expect there to be more to talk about, and there's a few bits:

  • For my birthday my very generous parents got me some Easton X7 Eclipse arrows. I have shot them a few times now and have to say, they are phenomenal. The folks at the club call them "cheaters", but I don't care!
  • Also for my birthday, my wife got me a new quiver. It's an Avalon Tec X field quiver. In pink. And it's AWESOME!
  • I managed a new indoor PB after a steady decline (about 4 points per session) last week. I suddenly realised that my bow shoulder was out of line to my hand and body and was causing inconsistency with the shot. Friday I was aware of it and (mostly) able to catch and correct before release. The result?
30 August Portsmouth.png
The "two points" is where I forgot about my shoulder and released badly too. I shouldn't have released, but, I did... I know it's not a massive score, but it's still a PB for me so I am happy.

So, the two competitions:

  • The first (29 September) is an internal "Summer Championship" following the cancellation of an organised shoot between 3 local clubs. It's a Short National (I think). I still haven't shot outdoors yet, let alone 50 yards so this should be an interesting session. I need to reconfigure the bow to accept my A/C/C arrows having just got it set up for the X7s. I have a second button (thanks to my brother) in a different colour so I can set up using that and a small adjustment to my Spigarelli wraparound rest.
  • The second (03 November) is organised by another local Archery Club and is a Portsmouth round, funnily enough, in Portsmouth. I am quite comfortable shooting the Portsmouth now so that's one less thing to worry about, just need to get over the nerves of my first "real" competition and get it done. Placing is not too important, I know there's much better archers than me that will be entering, but, we have have to start somewhere...
 

JamesP

New member
You've got the best possible mentality for your first competition season. Too many people forget that placing isn't important, what's important is working on yourself. Keep your focus on form and consistency, your score will improve itself. Don't forget that even though it's a "competition", you're only competing against yourself, the same goes for everyone and you'll hopefully find that archery competitions are just as friendly as a club shoot.
488 on a Portsmouth is a good starting point for competing; the more you do, the better you'll get as well. If you've got a coach at your club (or if there's a nearby coach), it'd probably be useful to get regular coaching if you aren't already.
 

Finch

Member
Thanks James. :)

I learned long ago that the only person i need to compete with is myself, and nobody else (unless we are ribbing each other about a bad shot of course) - archery, running, woodturning - there's always someone that's better than me and as long as I feel I have done my best then I am good. Yes, I strive for perfection, in the knowledge that I will never achieve it!

We have two excellent and very active level 1 coaches and an awesome level 2 coach at the club will regularly help out when asked. I am trying hard not to bother them too much at the minute so that they can shoot for themselves!
 

Finch

Member
Spheroids to that! They climbed into the 'coach' barrel, they have to deal with the consequences!
Don't get me wrong, I am more than happy to interrupt when required, but, I know that I have basic form issues (shoulder, head nod etc) that I need to work on myself that I can happily screw up the shot and then analyse and correct without having to disturb the coaches. Once I have some consistency of form, even if there's something wrong that I haven't identified, then I will definitely approach them for assistance.

I need to tune a new button for my ACC arrows either tomorrow night or for next Wednesday so they will definitely be getting a "tap" when I am doing that!
 
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