Sunday 30th August 2009

@ Liverpool City Archers

Sunny, but strong gusts of wind.

24x 12 arrow ends @ 70m, 60cm FITA Field face
1x 12 arrow end @ 30m, 20cm FITA Field face

Total 156 arrows.

It's the first time I've ever been to the Liverpool club, and it's quite nice. I am going to join as an associate member in about a months time or so, so I can get the 25% discount since the first quarter of the financial year is nearly over.

I shot on the target range, while their field course is next to it, so I could see people shooting on the first four targets of the field while shooting and collecting my arrows. The ground there is now 30 years old, and used to be a rubbish tip, where they got army engineers to help out convert it into what it is now. The problem is that the ground is slowly sinking as the rubbish subsides, so parts of the grounds are undulating here and there due to that.

The Target targets are the Whitetails, but with replacement centers that are much easier to pull arrows out from, while the Field targets are layered strammit, which is also the same used for their indoor range.

My shooting today was mediocre, with the gusting winds and the different face, aiming was harder, and at times I know I just hauled the arrows through when they weren't happening. Out of all the arrows shot today, I would say possibly 15 of them were any decent that I was fully happy with, but for purposes of just strength, they were okay. I didn't miss any off the target, so at least that is a benefit.

Saturday 29th August 2009

@ Sefton,

Very windy, predicted gale force winds in areas. Clear skies.

4x 18 arrows @ 8m

Total 72

Worked on release, more relaxed release without having a backwards jerk action.
Increase bow mass by adding extra weight units.

Tuesday 25th August 2009

@ St Paul's
Breezy, sunny, clear skies.

9x 12 arrow ends @ 90m, blank target with yellow core visible
3x 12 arrow ends @ 30m, same

Total 144

It took me 2 arrows to get my 90m setting today. I set the sight rack at 90 on the closest hole of the extension as possible and took a shot. The left/right alignment was spot on, but was under the target, so I pulled it down to 100 and, it was into the inner core of the target. Minor adjustment to 98 got me a little more center of the target and I left it there.

I was doing really well considering the wind conditions, out of the 108 arrows shot, I only missed two, the first being without the sight setting, the second was to the left, possibly a bad release, possibly the wind catching it (since it was the right direction for it).

Later on, Ricci came down, and gave me some coaching with his experience of shooting (former Australian Institute of Sport archery, Junior Worlds and World University Games competitor). We worked a little on my release trying to clean it up some. He also told me about how to change the balance of forces used in my arms to bring it more to 50-50 so I wouldn't be getting the head and shoulder jerk movement that I saw previously.

I have strength issues, but they can be resolved if I put in the time and effort (SPT, or SPT pumps), and I need to relax my fingers more to have a smoother release with greater contact along the jaw line. In addition to this, bring my elbow around on the draw arm more sideways than downwards since the subscapularis locks the positions, but I need to find a way to increase my chest expansion, or push with the bow shoulder down and out, to bring the shot through the clicker more efficiently.

It was a pretty good session.

Sunday 23rd August 2009

@ Sefton

Afternoon, warm, shade.

2x 18 arrows (3x 6) @ 8m, 60cm gold spot.

1x 12 arrows @ 3m, blind.

Total 48 arrows.

Todays shooting was very light. I shot two sets of 18 on the spots aiming, had solid grouping though some releases were not that great, so at the end, I put in twelve shots shooting blind, concentrating on feeling and controlling the release. I stood sufficiently close to the target that having my eyes closed wasn't an issue for missing with my straight arm posture. While twelve doesn't seem to be a lot of arrows in the big picture, it was good to just gently re-control my release a little.

I didn't shoot a lot today because I was still a little stiff from Kendo and shooting yesterday and I have Kendo tomorrow.

Saturday 22nd August 2009

@ Sefton,

Late afternoon, warm, in shade.

4x 18 arrow ends @8m, 60cm spot centers (gold only).

Total 72 arrows

Nothing much to note except I realised that I must be keeping my bow arm more rotated than before since string contact on the arm is higher up than the armguard.

Thursday 20th August 2009

@ Sefton

Afternoon weather, warm, sunny-ish.

6 arrow sets, 12 sets @ 8m, 60cm target face yellow only

Total 72 arrows.

I stuck on some spots today and did some shooting with some aiming. I was happy with the majority of the results, and yes, I know that it is only 8m, so grouping should be easy, but I was happy with the control and results of the shooting.

Tuesday 18th August 2009

@ St Pauls College Oval

Warm, Sunny, slight odd breeze at times. Clear skies.

28x 6 arrow ends @ 70m, 122cm face, no scoring.

Total = 168 arrows

I had my netbook out today with the delay to watch my shooting, and it worked quite well since I made a simple cardboard shroud around it to keep the sun off the screen. I could see my posture and bow arm movements, and also the release action.

I shot reasonably I thought today, managing to keep 90% or so of my shooting within the red of the target face, well within the acceptable range of scores for an '1200' score. Later on in the afternoon, with some discussion with Rob, I concentrated more on my bow arm actions and also trying to keep relaxed and waiting for the shot to "happen" than to force it through the clicker.

Since I have been only shooting at home with a short distance, I had to move the clicker out about 1/8th of an inch and 1mm ontop of that to get a comfortable draw for 70m, but it worked quite well. I think I'm quite happy with todays shooting. Volume wise, it's also quite considerable, and will no doubt try and solidify my bow arm action.

Sunday 16th August 2009

@ Sefton

Nice day, warm (24°C), in the shade with target in sunlight.

6x 12 arrow ends @ 8m

Total 72.

Today, I built myself a plate for my netbook to sit on. The reason was last night my brother was kind enough to find for me and show me how to do time shifted video that I had been looking for. He found it using VLC player under capture devices, which permitted a variable time shift depending on how you set it. The only thing is that it appears to only work on v0.84, not v1.0 or v1.01, so if you want to use the function (Open Capture Device - Ctrl+A, then in Advanced settings, caching value in ms = the delay) make sure you have v0.84 (unless you can get it to work with older versions).

I had the netbook set on the plate with the 1.3MP USB webcam, and a 2.5 second delay, which was enough for me to take the shot, and then turn my head without changing my foot position, to watch the feed.

From what I could see of the feed, my arm dips a little, but no-where as much as it did a long time ago. I have definitely become stronger in keeping the arm up. Shoulder rotation is very slow after the release, to the point where my alignment is fine during the shot I think. Kendo and the exercising of my triceps have helped in this definitely. I seem to be leaning backwards a little after the show, indicating that my bow is heavy, but when I took some bow weight off the stabilizer and riser, it felt very un-natural to me, and I couldn't shoot with it very well, so I put them back on. If I concentrated on the form and keeping my body in position, it is corrected, but it takes more concentration and other aspects get worse. I can also see that my release is so-so. Some are very visible in that they are not plucking, but opening, not releasing. I can see the elongation of the fingers, which shouldn't be that visible if a good release occurs (which I did have some).

Having the playback is very useful, and when I have the time to bring it all out, I'm sure I'll continue to use it. Some pictures below show the plate and general setup of it.

Saturday 15th August 2009

@ Sefton

Afternoon shoot, sunny but in shade.

4x 18 arrow ends @ 8m

Total 72

I had my camera set up with a timer interval, changed between 5 to 10 seconds with various speeds of shooting. I found it was initially difficult to concentrate on hearing and feeling the clicker instead of the camera shutter (nearly released on a camera shutter at the start) but towards the end, was not hampered by this.

Shooting was so so, nothing specific to speak of. Some releases were not so good however as the photographs indicate in regards to follow through position of the hand/fingers. The set can be seen at my Flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/dchiou/sets/72157622042657322/ .

I also got new wraps and refletched my arrows so they look pretty spiffy.

Thursday 13th August 2009

@ Sefton, Afternoon

No wind, light conditions good.

3x 20 arrow ends @ 8m

Total 60.

About the same as yesterday.

Wednesday 12th August 2009

@ Sefton, Night under light.

Cool, no wind

3x 20 arrow ends @ 8m.

Total 60.

It was a bit of a struggle to get through the last 10 or so arrows in the end. Not shooting for almost a week is probably not so good when shooting large arrow sized ends without much break between ends (16m walk isn't very long).

Managed about 50-75% backtension, but must continue to have strong and deep grip position. Was happy with how the bow arm was keeping up.

Thursday 6th August 2009

@ Sefton
Warmish, no wind, clear skies, bright.

6x 10 arrows @ 8m

First end was very relaxed, very easy, straight through, good release.
Then returned to usual form, however concentrated on not stopping release fingers, as result, did not have sore right shoulder.

Bow hand control seems to be better, less bow arm drop when concentrating on not dropping.
Concentration on aiming however seems to mess with release relaxation.