It's Official!

My medal!!

It's currently hanging from my quiver... Hopefully it will get some friends added to it in the future! 

Indoor competition season is over, unfortunately... So now I have to decide if I want to compete in outdoor as well. It would require getting different arrows and re-tuning my bow, but it's either that - or no competitions for quite some time. Although, that's not really a bad thing for me at the moment because I'm still working on my new technique and still struggling a bit. My scores are definitely not what they were... I think I'm going to focus on that before I worry about competition.

I am really looking forward to the next set of competition now that we know more... Next year, we will definitely be competing more. We are even thinking of either going to the competition in Vancouver or the one in Nimes. Nimes is higher on my WANT TO list, simply because neither of us have ever been to Europe. When we told our cousin-in-law from Paris that the tournament was in Nimes - all he said was, "GO." Plus, our 10-year anniversary is next year, so it's a good excuse to take an awesome trip. If we do go, we will take a couple weeks and spend a couple days in England, Paris, and Italy around the tournament.

But I'd be happy with Vancouver too... When we took the Alaska cruise for our honeymoon, we left out of Vancouver and it seemed like a really cool place. We've been wanting to go back there again anyway... We'll see.

FOR SURE we will be doing California State Indoor and Vegas again next year. And we are adding in Regional in Northern California and possibly Nationals (which I think is in Kentucky or Ohio or somewhere like that.......). And if we decide to do outdoor - there are TONS of different tournaments to add in all summer! 

For now, I'm still enjoying the fact that I actually placed in my first tournament ever! Even though it really means absolutely nothing in the real world..... It's pretty cool in mine. :-)

2014 Vegas Shoot!

Back when registration first opened up for the Vegas Shoot, J and I both decided that we were crazy enough to have our first archery tournament be… oh, I don’t know… Just the BIGGEST archery tournament in the WORLD. Because – go big, or go home, right? So we signed up with no idea what we were getting ourselves into.

As the tournament got closer, I got more nervous and excited and kept trying to research what to expect. I looked at how my scores leading up to it would rank me compared to last year’s scores… We got the California State Indoor Championship under our belts a couple weeks before we left for Vegas, but I still keep saying that that one doesn't count as our first tournament because it felt like just another day shooting at our normal archery range. Plus – they still haven’t released the rankings, so it’s not going to seem real until I see where I placed.

Luckily we have family out that way, so we didn't have to deal with what we later found out were the most MISERABLE elevator lines imaginable. Just picture it – every two hours during the day there are around 200 archers trying to get downstairs to get ready for their shoot time or get back upstairs after they are done. I feel sorry for anyone staying at the hotel that had nothing to do with the tournament. Sure, it would have been nice to have a room to disappear to in the breaks between the two of us shooting to put our stuff away or to lay down for a minute, but it wasn’t too bad.

We went on Thursday to the South Point to check in to the tournament and get our bearings. J had the 7 am butt-crack-of-dawn shoot on Friday, so we wanted to make sure we knew where to zombie-shuffle to the next morning. We found where we would each be shooting on Friday and Saturday and then wandered the trade show for a bit.

Friday morning we got there EXTRA early because J wanted to try to get on the practice lanes to warm up – I did the same that day before my 1pm shoot time, but after seeing how long you have to wait in line and how you really only get about 3-4 ends in the span of 45 minutes (there are constantly people leaving and coming in, so every end there are people taking down or putting up targets and it takes FOREVER), we didn't bother trying to warm up (other than stretching - GOTTA stretch!) after the first day.

 J's group day 1 and 2

My group Day 1 and 2

We had decided beforehand that we wanted to get to our shooting areas early each day so that we could have first pick of target position – we felt that starting with your target in the high position would be better because then when you move it to the lower position half-way through and your arm is tired, you don’t have to raise the bow up as high… We over-think things. A lot. But we each got our targets where we wanted them each day. And neither of us shot the wrong target after we moved them like we saw a few others do…. (BIG oops – shooting the wrong target = miss = loss of the points you could have gotten if you had shot the correct target) So that was good.

We had a “cheering” section on Saturday when my family that is local came to watch. I warned them that it’s not a super action-packed sport to watch, but they braved it anyway. There were also people from our local range that were there either to shoot or just to watch that stopped in each day. We were all constantly popping in and out of the halls to watch each other shoot and constantly checking the on-line rankings to see each of our people’s current standings.

We found out around 11pm Saturday night what our shooting times were going to be in the morning which SUCKED because I scored that horrible 7am shooting time. I told J on the way to the hotel in the morning that it was kind of a good thing because I was just too tired to care about being nervous. I shot my best round that day, so I was happy with it – it was closer to what my usual scores are. (I was having an off week… I don’t know if it was jitters or what, but I was pretty grumpy about how I was shooting all week) I shot a 285 (out of 300 possible points each day) Friday, 286 Saturday, and a 290 on Sunday which put me 19th out of 38 in my flight. No money, but I wasn't expecting to win anyway. I was actually pretty pleased with it because I moved up from pretty much LAST in my flight when they aligned them to the middle. And I was better than about 400 other people in my division, so not too shabby…

 You can't see how tired I am right now...

J got a 271 Friday, 256 Saturday, and 254 Sunday. He ended up 20th out of 35 in his flight. He had been having a hard time shooting lately, so he was happy for the experience and to not finish last.

Now I am working on basically completely relearning how to shoot because I picked up a couple new releases for my bow that are more traditional target releases. I learned with a wrist release and I was the only person I saw in my division still using one. But I knew that it would take a good chunk of time to learn a completely new technique and I knew I didn't have that kind of time before Vegas. And I really wanted to wait until I could go to the trade show and actually hold them in my hand to see which ones fit me best. I ended up going with a Stanislawsky release because it felt good in my hand and they had a blank bale set up where you could bring your bow and actually try out the release.

It hasn't come in yet because it was back-ordered, but I just got the e-mail yesterday that it shipped!! Plus, I had bought a different style one from another company that is meant to be used purely as a training aide and I have been using that since I got back. I was SHOCKED by how sore my arms and back are after using it – it’s a different set of muscles than I was using before. And I’m also a little embarrassed at how terribly I am shooting. I've gotten a LOT better already – the first day was ridiculous. I kept flinching because I had no idea when it was going to go off (which is actually a good thing…). J and I were cracking up after one particularly embarrassing shot where I not only flinched away – I also scrunched my eyes closed and cringed away from the bow… Not an ideal shooting technique…

Basically… We both shot with really cool people each day and had a really good time. It was an AWESOME experience. We came home with a much better understanding of what to expect at tournament, some new equipment, and very sore muscles… Now we are looking into several other tournaments around the country coming up, but we might be a little too late to get in them this year… We are also definitely thinking about going to a tournament in Vancouver next year! No matter what, we will DEFINITELY be going back to Vegas!!

Maybe we'll even be shooting in here with the championship division sometime.... :-)

Getting Out of My Own Way

Ever since I got my new bow – I have been shooting better than ever before. I have begun breaking horrible habits that I had never even come close to figuring out how to break in the past year of shooting…

Things like grabbing my bow – I am NOTORIOUSLY bad about this. No matter how many times I internally yell at my hand to stop grabbing the bow after a shot, I still would. EVERY TIME. Last Saturday I finally figured out what it felt like to let the bow fall. Not that it can fall on the ground – I have a finger sling that stops that from possibly happening, but you don’t want to do anything to the bow that could mess with the natural motion of the shot… And I just couldn’t get my brain to be ok with that. Until now… I still catch myself doing it occasionally, but I’m getting better…

Or “punching the trigger” on my release… You want a smooth, steady amount of pressure in order to have a smooth, steady shot… And I had a lot of trouble getting my brain to connect with my right hand (I blame it on being a lefty… me and my right hand don’t usually have to coordinate on many things...) in order to get that smooth motion. But now I am finally getting more smooth shots than not.

And it has increased my scores to levels of AWESOME that I thought I would never see... I keep waiting for the wheels to fall off, but they haven't! I’ve gotten more perfect triple bulls-eyes in the past two weeks than I did in the past year! I’ve been working on my mental game to break down the bad habits – I know my body knows how to make a good shot… I just have to trust it!

So I’ve been analyzing the breakdown of what is going on during a “good” shot and what is going on during a “bad” shot…

**Side note: I have those in quotes because I’m trying to break the habit of seeing it as “good” or “bad” and instead just seeing it as what it is – a shot. An opportunity to get a bulls-eye or not. Does it matter if I get a bulls-eye? Nope. Not really. I’m here for fun. Yes, I want to improve and that’s why I keep practicing and trying to do better, but it doesn’t REALLY matter. It’s not going to change anyone’s opinion about me as a person, so why should I let it change my opinion about me? If that even makes sense… Anyway…**

It’s kinda hard to really explain, but a “bad” shot is generally full of mental arguing, self-doubt, and name-calling. We are always our worst bullies… I would never tell someone they are an idiot for doing something simple wrong during a shot, but I’ve told myself that a million times. There’s a lot of fighting myself when I know that the shot just does not feel right and I should really just let down and start over, but my brain just keeps saying “Nah, I got this. Fight through it.” But those shots never turn out well… They just feel awkward and you end up frustrated and discouraged… Plus, there’s a much bigger chance that you are going to hit yourself with the string because your form is off. Which HURTS – btw.

Now a “good” shot? I love those. Those are the ones where you are calm and detached. Your body goes through the motions smoothly – nothing is forced. I told J the other day that a good shot feels incredibly graceful to me. He disagrees – his best shots feel the least graceful to him. There’s really no right answer (seriously – it doesn’t matter that he’s been struggling lately and isn’t shooting as well), everyone has to find their own, unique groove for it. But for me it feels beautiful. The positioning, the draw, the breathing… Smooth, controlled… Peaceful. And there is no mental arguing – no bullying.

In fact, I tell people all the time that they wouldn’t believe the stupid crap going through my mind when I’m shooting well. Yeah, I go through my mental checklist of what needs to be happening, but that’s secondary to my insane random chatter. Like the other day – for reasons I can’t even begin to explain – I kept thinking, “If Anne Hath-a-will, Anne Hathaway” and then giggling hysterically in my head. If I need to distract myself, I’ll start spelling state names… Or humming songs in my head with the wrong lyrics that make me laugh…It’s all about getting your brain out of the way and just letting your body do what it knows how to do.

With these break-throughs lately, I feel so much more prepared for the tournaments that I have coming up. My first one is tomorrow – it’s the California State Indoor Championships. Throughout January each archery range in California has had available times to shoot and then all the scores will be compiled to determine who the winners are. I’ve decided that I’m just going to look at it as just another Saturday at my usual archery range. I’m not going to get too fixated on the score or else my brain will start trying to take over. But between me and you? I have a REAL chance of getting a medal. Like, for real real. And I still think it would be awesome if I could get a new State Record – the one now for my division was set back in 1996. It’s about time someone beat it! But that’s a BIG-TIME stretch… I would have to have an almost perfect round, which I have not yet done… But who knows? It could happen…

And then we go to Vegas next month… I was looking at last year’s scores and if I can get myself into the right group – there’s a chance I could actually win some money! That is CRAZY-PANTS!! I just have to keep my mind in the right place and go through it one shot at a time!

  

And with her – I FEEL like a pro…

Do I Look Happy? I Feel Like I Look Happy....

MY NEW BOW IS HERE!!! AND I HAVE BEEN RIDICULOUSLY ALL-CAPS EXCITED SINCE I FIRST HELD IT!

Look how pretty it is!!! LOOOOOOOOOK!!!!!!

MY PRECIOUS!!!!!!!

Sidenote: No idea who that kind lady in the background is, so she is now a smiley... MARVEL AT MY AMAZING PHOTO EDITING SKILLS!!

We didn't think that there was a chance of it getting here in time for the tournament coming up in February, but HERE IT IS!!! I am SO excited!! I feel so professional now! 

I'm going to be spending a lot of time at the archery range so that I can be sure to get her broken in and get to know her.

Someone asked me how I know it's a her.... Simple - she's way too pretty to be a dude.

I think her name may be Scarlett....  

For the curious: It's a 2014 Hoyt Pro Comp Elite in Red Fusion. It's also love at first sight. Sigh...... :-)