Practice Goals

***Edit*** 
A fellow archery club friend informed me that I will only be shooting at 70m at the State championship. Gulp-better move that sight soon!

I've decided to compete at my state championship later in August. This means more practice and more focus all around.

I've been working for so long on my form that I've haven't sighted in different distances. The competition takes place at 50m, 60m, and 70m. I have 50m figured out but not dialed into incrementally. The others will come as soon as the weather cooperates. Today it was raining off and on and the wind was just strong enough that I didn't want to risk any long distances. As soon as I have another day, I will work at sighting in 60m.

Apart from safety, the other reason for not risking arrows in the wind is I am low on them. Nocks have popped off and I may have lost a point or two to an arrow kiss with a target stand. Time to re-glue and in some cases I will have to re-fletch. Note to self-order twice the amount of spare parts you think you will need because you will inevitably use them up. I'm sticking to the cheap stuff for now because I really want my next major purchase to be new limbs. I've reconciled myself that it may not be as high as 34# but I will make the first jump by the end of the year. Still using Easton Apollo carbon shafts for now although I could see myself playing around with carbon ones, next time I order. I'm also interested in trying out a few other brands. No point in spending money on items I'll use up very fast. I am tempted to try these vanes but not until they cost less than my arrows. Lastly, I may need to invest in a jig for accurate vane placement and strings-ugh, I need to learn more about how bow strings are made and string count and all that jazz.

My shot sequence is coming along! The work will never end there but for now, I've figured out muscle position to align that tightrope of bones between my arms and shoulders. Remembering to shift my weight makes a huge difference. I couldn't figure out why my arrows were hugging the upper right side of my blank bale and I've realized there are so many planes that I have to line up between my bow and my body. If one thing is off everything will be off. My arrows were going to the right because my release was very sloppy and was my string alignment. It's tighter now but still evolving. I've watched so many archers now to learn form that I don't want to force my hand and shoulder to move a way that isn't natural to me. I tried out a few things today with my release that seemed natural and made my arrows fly straighter and group better. Once I'm comfortable with the release I'll make it tighter and repeat it over and over.

I'm hoping to have another archery lesson before state and show my coach major improvement from our previous lesson.

My first local tournament-300 round

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.