I participated yesterday in my first local tournament. I can honestly say, if it wasn't for a friend who was also competing i would not have made it all the way through.
It's been a difficult past 3 weeks and I am bone tired. Compound that with a tough back workout the day before, personal life issues flooding me, and rotten sleep....I was a real peace of work. I kept making excuses and telling people all sorts of weird things. But inside I was really mad at myself. Mad at not preparing better and mad that I was letting so many things effect my shooting. I had a conversation with my club president and i told him, 'I know I'm doing this for fun but I keep making excuses. But when you shoot you can't do that.' He said, 'You either shoot well or you don't.'
So although I walked away with a rotten score, I learned a very valuable lesson. It doesn't matter what is going on in your personal life, job hunting, and family issues. When you step up to the line you must be there to simply shoot and, to shoot well, your mind must be empty. I think I've heard every single major archer talk about this in one way or the other. This is the mental part of archery. And it's just as important as the physical preparation.
So my takeaway from this tournament-put on a good face away from the line, put on your game face and have an empty mind when stepping up to the line and have fun and be humble. These will make you shoot well. Thank you again to the friend who cheered for me and coached me between games and ends. I'm sorry I was so cranky.
And now to blank bale.
On a side note, I tried out my friends W&W winex carbon foam limbs and they were amazing. So smooth and fast. I currently have wood limbs and I don't like their snappiness. So another thing to put on my wish list. I definitely want carbon foam limbs in the future.
