Tuesday 28th June 2011

@ SOPA

Light to medium winds, overcast, quite cool

20x 6 arrow ends @ 70m, 122cm unscored

Total 120

Sunday 26th June 2011 - State Short Course Championships

@ SOPA

Bright, Cold morning with constant wind for the early morning, sunny and turning warm todays midday

State Short Course Championships

4x 6 arrow ends @ 60m, 122cm unscored

FITA900

Total 114

Shot the competition, the cold weather in the morning was quite challenging for me as I couldn't feel my fingers even with 4 ends of warmup.  I was told by someone it was about 8 degrees without the windchill, definitely not great for shooting.  I felt like it was a bit of a struggle all day long, but I did seem to pick up somewhat with warmer weather as my release cleaned up since my arrows starting climbing up in height (I had to adjust initially as my arrows were grouping low for 60m and half of 50m).  

The ending result was that I finished with a 778, 20 points down from my Friday practice score, which placed me 5th, though 3rd was a 781, and 4th place was a 780.  So, the gapspace was only 3 points between the 3.4 and 5.  I did shoot some 5s and 6s sadly in the event as I had some I punched through due to not functioning properly, which cost me surely.  That said, at least I didn't manage to run out of time.  One of the guys shooting on the target next to me sadly wasn't able to get through the end and only shot 5 out of the 6....

I asked to get the electronic scorecard for the event, and from looking at it, it was indeed a pretty interesting result.  I only shot 4 blues.  Had they been 7's, I would have come 3rd.  Oh well.

Session: 1 ( FITA 122cm at 60 metres )

1  = 51  51 2  = 48  99 3  = 52  151 4  = 45  196 5  = 53  249

Session: 2 ( FITA 122cm at 50 metres )

1  = 50  50 2  = 53  103 3  = 50  153 4  = 53  206 5  = 54  260

Session: 3 ( FITA 122cm at 40 metres )

1  = 56  56 2  = 55  111 3  = 52  163 4  = 50  213 5  = 56  269

Friday 24th June 2011

@ St Pauls
Warm, no wind, sunny

2x 6 arrow ends @ 40m, 122cm unscored
2x 6 arrow ends @ 50m, 122cm unscored
Canberra

Total 114

Shot okay I felt, sight settings were fine.  Clocked in a respectable 798.

Wednesday 22nd June 2011

@ SOPA

Windy, sunny but cool

8x 6 arrow ends @ 60m, 122cm unscored

8x 6 arrow ends @ 50m, 122cm unscored

4x 6 arrow ends @ 40m, 122cm unscored

Total 120

Tried to shoot to check on my sight settings for this weekends upcoming State Short Course Championships being a FITA900.  The height of my groups were good when I had controlled releases and action, but with gusty winds supposedly ranging from 25km/hr  to 50km/hr it was a bit harder to pinpoint my left/right.  However there were some brief lulls in the wind at 40m that I was satisfied enough after four ends that I decided to get out of the wind.  I am currently having some problems keeping my bow shoulder down and this is the biggest struggle in windy conditions, as the hunching reduces expansion making it very difficult to hold stable and get through the clicker.

Monday 20th June 2011

@ SOPA

Sunny, moderate, slight breezes at times

18x 6 arrow ends @ 70m, 122cm unscored

Total 108

Tried to work on consistency.  Left/right grouping position was relatively under control today, however I was going low at times, not entirely sure why, possibly due to bow arm and poor release.  Was struggling in expansion, and this affected bow shoulder collapsing and tension in the bow hand also.  ~sigh~

Sunday 19th June 2011

@ Liverpool City Archers

Sunny, no wind of note

QRE

2x 6 arrow ends warmup

F70/720

Total 84

Liverpool QRE is probably the most informal and relaxed QRE I have shot.  There is no flag signals for time but rather the 'DOS' says 30seconds... smoking from behind the archers in the space of less than 3m is very not helpful and highly distracting.  No visible timing equipment is also something I have a problem with as I can't maintain my shot cycle and rest periods as well as I would like to without the timer.

I was happy enough with what I managed to put down today, but towards the end of the second half I was having problems expanding through the clicker, and after completion, I chose to not do the afternoon session (I wasn't even aware that there was an afternoon session until I got there, it was not the most well advertised of QRE events in terms of detail...).  No clear shooting line or middle of target position marked/lanes either.

In terms of technique and score, I was back to my pre-nationals solid form, but was still cycling between good/bad/good/bad/good end pattern, and still with the 1 blue arrow per end.  I had a total of 8 blues, which if 1 point better is 8 points, 2 points better is 16, which, isn't that unrealistic.

First half:

1) 10 10 8 8 7 5 = 48

2) X 9 9 9 8 8 = 53

3) 9 8 8 8 7 6 = 46

4) X 9 8 8 8 7 = 50

5) 9 9 9 8 5 5 = 45

6) 9 9 8 8 7 7 = 48

Total 290

Second half:

1) 10 9 8 8 7 6 = 48

2) 10 9 9 8 7 7 = 50

3) 10 10 9 8 7 6 =50

4) 9 9 8 8 7 6 = 47

5) 9 8 8 8 7 6 = 46

6) 8 8 8 7 7 6 = 44

Total 285

QRE Total 575. 2X's and 8 X+10's

So, in the second half end 6, although it was a 44, it was a tight group with the 8 8 8 7 all together underneath the gold, while the 7 and 6 were the outliers, 6 to the left, 7 high right.  As you can see the 4th, 5th and 6th ends of the second half were when I was having problems getting through and sustaining.

A 290 is pretty good for me, the 285 was okay and definitely could have been a little better.  8 points better would be a 583, 16 points better would be a 591, which is definitely where I should be.....  My nemesis shot a 293 and a 304....

Friday 17th June 2011

@ St Pauls 

Sunny with overcast periods, very windy in inconsistent gusty conditions up to apparent 40km/hr

15x 6 arrow ends @ 70m, 122cm unscored

Total 90 arrows.

Tried to work on form and what not but it was pretty difficult in the windy conditions.  Was pretty happy with how the groups were for the conditions.

Friday 10th June 2011

@ St Pauls

Windy, very cold

10x 6 arrow ends @ 90m, 122cm unscored

2x 6 arrow ends @ 20m, aiming with 90m setting, 122cm shot trainer

1x 6 arrow end @ 20m, 122cm scored

Total 78

After yesterdays shot trainer session with my 90m setting, I wanted to see how it went with some 90m shooting. Unfortunately the weather was pretty bad today, so my results were a bit hard to gauge how well I was truly shooting.

I was shooting very tight groups when the wind wasn't kicking the crap out of me, even with the blades.  The field was producing conflicting wind patterns due to the trees, as the flag at the target indicated a right-left and towards me wind, while on the shooting line, it was a left right wind, which might have been a vortex type of swirl.  

In any case, today was very comfortable in getting a good 4-5 ends away at 90m without feeling like I wasn't in control of the shot.  When I moved to 20m (to accommodate a beginner who arrived to shoot), I went back to the shot trainer.  He asked to see how well I could shoot at 20m, and as it began to rain, I finished off with an end of 6 at 20m, X X X X 10 10, a little to the right of the X ring.  Pretty okay with that.  Wrapped up due to the rain, I really don't want to get sick before I head over to the US.

Thursday 9th June 2011

@ Sefton

Cool, windy

6x 6 arrow ends, using 90m settings, blank blanket shooting using shot trainer

1x 6 arrow end @ 8m, 40cm 6-ring.

Total 42 arrows

Worked using the shot trainer in attempting to get my higher angle shooting fixed up.  Seemed to be okay in relaxing and drawing through, the slightly lower shooting weight due to the last tune I did may have made it a little more comfortable.

Tuesday 7th June 2011

@ St Pauls

Cool, windy gusts coming from behind and right->left, sunny.

4x 12 arrow ends @ 70m, 122cm unscored

12x 6 arrow ends @ 70m, 122cm scored.

Total 120

Just put down some 70m today, working on trying to control my bow hand to be more straight forward on the release and helping with expansion.  In my 12 arrow ends, I had a lot of solid groups, a little shifted to the left from the wind at times, but a good half in the gold kind of thing.

In scoring, the ends opened up some in the first six, leaving me with a low 268, but concentrating more on the second half, and also watching the wind conditions better, I scored a 279.  The first three ends being 49, 52, 52, but conditions got a bit blustery and my shooting fell apart somewhat, ending on a 39.  Total coming only to a 547, not particularly good.

That said, process wise, things felt a bit more together, and shooting in windy conditions isn't a strong indicator really, though I need to develop better timing and faster expansion without losing my control.  I feel that I have good control but it is so slow that I have no timing and it is too energy consumptive.  Consistency is probably the biggest issue at hand.

Sunday 5th June 2011

@ Camden & District Archery Club

4x 6 arrow ends, 1x 3 arrow end @ Various distances warmup and sight checking

24 target marked FITA Field

Total 99

I shot the Macarthur Field today, and scored a 278.  Certainly wasn't my best effort, but thankfully it was better than the last field I shot at Nationals being a 261.  I have come to realise that my uphill shots are a lot worse than my downhill shots, in a similar fashion to being likened to shooting 90m+ distances.  The course itself wasn't too bad, but uphill shots made my bow shoulder rise, shortening the draw and made me struggle to get through the clicker, resulting in terrible releases and so forth.  I need to figure a way to shoot with hips better and keeping the bow shoulder down.  It is a much more challenging course I felt than the course at Liverpool, and at Mt Petrie.

Talking with Robert Talbot after the shoot, he mentioned that he thinks of his back shoulder as an entire 'unit' that moves, and he focuses upon feeling it move, rather than anything else.  I haven't got that sensation, so it is something I need to mull on, in how to get consistent engagement of my back to 'move' like a unit.

Friday 3rd June 2011

@ St Pauls

Sunny, slight breeze, cool but not cold

30m and 70m to obtain sight setting reference points

Walkback 10 to 60m in 5m increments.

Total 120 arrows (20 ends)

Shoulder felt so so after Thursday, some twinges, felt close to a little strain so was careful to not push through.  Got settings for field, and changed vertical bar slightly to compensate for tilt issues.

Thursday 2nd June 2011

@ SOPA

Slight winds, bright sunny

Bow tuning and rough sight setting.

Approximately 100 arrows.

I tried to re-tune my setup today, and found that my arrows are in fact displaying behaviour of being weak for the shooting weight.  I wound the limbs out to the maximum 6 turns, and they were still being slightly weak.  A bit puzzling really so it must be something to do with my form.

I put in a few ends at 30m and 50m to dial in rough settings for distance that I'll get better tomorrow.  That said, my shoulder was hurting a little, so if it is bad tomorrow, I might have to withdraw from the weekend field shoots.  My form is at a slump right now and it doesn't feel good at all.