Tuesday 30th August 2011

@ St Pauls

Warm, some light winds, turned overcast and cool

18x 6 arrow ends @ 90m, 122cm unscored

8x 6 arrow ends @ 70m, 122cm unscored

Total 156

Worked some on 90m today, was roughly scoring low to mid 40's about normal, some reasonable group sizes at times, but not great consistency.  By the time I got to shooting some 70m, I was a bit tired after not having shot a high volume for nearly two weeks, but had some good ends in there, some good groups also, not fantastic day of shooting but just good to put the arrows down.

Monday 29th August 2011

@ Sefton

Warm, sunny, no wind

6x 6 arrow ends @ 8m

Total 36.

Just put through blank again.

Its hard to say exactly where I'm goal-orientated towards now.  While I am not going to make it for 2012, where exactly am I heading now.  There are a few QRE's still on the calendar, the Northern FITA900, the State Championships, and the City of Sydney too.  Without a week-day venue right now, its harder to practice properly, except for uni days.  I need more practice for 90m for a FITA90 score increase, so I guess I will have to focus upon that in the upcoming few weeks to the State Championships, and then assess the situation at hand.  I've had a good run, no regrets.  I've also had an email from my boss regarding potential work so I don't know what will come of it, and if it is an opportunity for me to have more career orientated movement or not.

One step at a time.  Though, someone I used to coach (since I haven't been around for two months, and even prior to me going overseas, they kind of stopped seeking development from me) has been shooting fantastic scores lately, better than me, so whoever is assisting them, great and I hope they keep up the improvement, since as a junior they have many years available to them upcoming.

Sunday 28th August 2011

@ Sefton

Warm, sunny

6x 6 arrow ends @ 8m, blank

Total 36

Put some ends down on the target at home, with the smaller rest break, since it takes almost no time to retrieve from 8m away, the 36 arrows were a little harder to shoot than compared to 70m shooting.

Saturday 27th August 2011

@ Liverpool City Archers

Overcast, warm, no wind of note

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

Woke up too late and not feeling top shape after my international flight in, so rather than trying to rush down to shoot the State Field, I decided to forfeit my entry.  Since SOPA no longer accepted Associate Memberships, I needed an alternative venue to practice at, with Liverpool being the next closest club, I dropped by to ask about their fees.  Unfortunately no-one was there who had the ability to help me, so I just put down some practice.

I didn't score, but the groups were reasonable size, just not centred well, though they would not have been as tight as Fridays shooting.  One thing that I am not a fan of for the Liverpool club is their target range is uneven and well, it is a challenge to shoot on for sure.

Friday 26th August 2011

@ St Pauls

Sunny, no wind of note, warm for a winters day

12x 6 arrow ends @ 70m, 60m-10m in 5m gaps for sight settings

Total 72

I went from the airport directly to the field, the flight being delayed so I didn't have much opportunity to go home and come back out again as I had originally wanted to.

Putting my bow together after a week or so of not shooting, and put down several ends felt good, and for 70m, I had several good ends scoring 50, 53, 51, 57, 52, 50, which would have resulted in a 313.  Tight shooting especially coming off a 15hr flight that had been delayed 5 hours.  My field settings were good enough for my liking so I packed up and headed home as I originally intended to shoot the State Field Championships on the weekend.

Sunday 14th August 2011

@ Delisle Sports Ground

Overcast, slight breeze, moderate temperatures

5x 6 arrow ends @ 70m, warmup 122cm, sight settings check.

Matchplay

A-side 1st round: 15 arrows - Win

2nd round: 12 arrows - Loss

B-side 3rd round: 9 arrows - Win

4th round: 9 arrows - Loss

Total 75.

Being the FCA Open, it was matchplay using the WAF Set System, with qualifying rankings based from the FITA90 and the 720 rounds the two days before.  I was placed 7th in the rankings and so had to shoot my way through.  They ran an A side and B side, where the B side was where the losing athlete from the A side had an opportunity to win a 'consolidation' prize.  Two losses meant you were out.

My first match was a tight affair, 2-0,0-2, 2-0, 0-2, then 0-2 to me for a 4-6 point win.  My second match was against Canadian Olympian Crispin Duenas, where it went 0-2, 1-1, 0-2, 0-2 for my loss 1-7.  It was however the 1/4th round so I was pretty happy with that result anyway.

On the B side, I shot my first round with a clean sweep 6-0, before getting the same in return 0-6 to be bowled out in the Semi's.  The guy who beat me ended up winning the B side, while Crispin also won the A side, so I can't really complain at how I lost out.

Overall, the week of competition in Canada was a lot more relaxed in general though I had greater pressure from myself and expectation to do better in my scoring than I did in the WOAF.  Sadly it didn't happen but I still had a great time.

Saturday 13th August 2011

@ Delisle Sports Ground

Warm, sunny, windy gusts in changing directions

4x 6 arrow ends @ 70m, 122cm unscored unofficial warmup

3x 6 arrow ends @ 70m, 122cm unscored official warmup

72 arrow 70m/720

Total 114

I really had a hard time shooting today.  Everything I tried just didn't work or settle.  Tried to relax and work on my cycle, tried counting, tried to be more resolution, it just didn't happen.  I felt that I was straining my muscles and back a lot, everything felt really stiff and tight, so I hope I didn't really push too hard with it.

Not much to say, but it was just a horrible day of shooting so I was surprised when I did manage to put down a reasonable 584, which breaks down to a 293 and a 291.  Going back to yesterdays shooting for 70m, anything 290+ is still reasonable.

I will hope to just keep working on the problem issues at hand and grind my average up.  Peaks and falls happen, just hope that when I have a next important shoot, that I'm on a good day.

Friday 12th August 2011

@ Delisle Sports Ground

Warm, some winds, sunny

5x 6 arrow ends @ 90m, 122cm unscored warmup

FITA90

Total 174

The day started okay, bit of time to warm up as usual, and having the 5 ends starting was helpful, while I had one miss at 90m, I still shot reasonably well I felt with a 252, solid shooting for me in terms of 90m, especially since my slower bow setup now means having to shoot with an obstructed sight pin.  My 70m round was pretty reasonable too I felt, with a 293, not as great as I had hoped with the 314 earlier in practice, but anything 290+ for me is a good range, just slowly raising the average.

I however had a bit of a meltdown at 50m.  We had no choice but to use the 5+ ring 80cm faces, and for really no good reason, I put three misses in.  I fought hard to recover from the poor shooting, but struggled through to put down a 259, considerably lower than the 298 I had in Yankton, I was fairly disappointed with it.  

To finish off the day, 30m was up, and having shot 30m comfortably for years, I felt I could finish well.  I had some points of struggle, being tired, and mentally trying to stay strong through the last distance.  I did manage to scrap in a 334, not my best, but at least kept it above 330.

Finished up with a 1138, definitely not my worse, just disappointed at the 50m result that dragged the whole result down somewhat.

Thursday 11th August 2011

@ Delisle Sports Ground

Sunny, light breeze at times, turned overcast

Official practice day

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

2x 6 arrow ends @ 70m, 50m, 30m, 122cm and 80cm 6 sport unscored

Total 72.

Had problems executing today, was really struggling to get through the clicker, and didn't feel quite right with my shooting.  I hope that I can stay relaxed and not worry tomorrow, and try to regain my shooting sequence in focus.

Wednesday 10th August 2011

@ Thunderheads Archery club

Warm, sunny, no wind of note

2x 6 arrow ends @ 60m, 80cm warmup

24 Target Marked FITA Field

Total 84

Shot the Canadian National Championships today, finished up with a 300, which was pretty good for me I thought.  My last few field shoots were all sub-300 anyway, prior and after my form change at Easton Newberry, so being able to push through that 'barrier' to the 300 was a good feeling.  I had a few issues in getting my back into use again, and also just a few really bodge releases that cost me because I plucked them out to the 1 ring.  No real complaints though, it was a relatively easy course and finished quickly.

Tuesday 9th August 2011

@ Thunderheads

Warm, no wind, clear skies

6x 6 arrow ends @ 90m, 122cm scored

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

Total 72.

Practice day for field.  Registered for the event, paid and picked up registration package and had equipment inspected.  Decided to not stand around to shoot the field course, which is very strange to me since no other place that I have ever shot field round lets you practice on the actual course to compete on during practice.  Seriously, wtf Canada.  Also, their scorecards do not contain boxes for 5+6s and 6s.  Rather, officials will do countback if there is a score tie.  So, I decided to shoot some 90m and 70m practice, and finished up with a 244 and 288 for a 532, not fantastic, but my last two ends for both 90m and 70m were where they should have been.

Just have to be aware of, finger pressure, bow cant, and confident execution.  I had some video assistance that was good in showing my clicker position was right on where it needed to be, so I should be more confident in knowing I don't have massive amounts to get through for the shot.

Tomorrow, will be the field championships, and regardless of how I shoot, I have a feeling I will place well.

Sunday 7th August 2011

@ Thunderheads Archery club

Very windy, sunny, cool.

1x 6 arrow end @ 10m, 122cm sighting check

1x 6 arrow end @ 15m, 122cm sighting check

1x 6 arrow end @ 20m, 122cm sighting check

Practice marked FITA Field, 24 target.

Total 90

I was planning to do some more shooting at the target but the wind conditions were quite bad, so I decided that the best way to check off the sight settings from Accurate Sights was to go around on the field course.  Most of the settings were pretty sweet on, so long as I executed properly, and I am confirming more now that my biggest problem is finger tensions on the release hand.  The field course isn't as flat as it could have been, so it's nice to get some up and downs.  Only one target was really far off on the settings, which was target number 19, says its 20m but I would go as far to say it is closer to about 23m or so as the sight setting was getting close to my 25m setting.

I was pretty happy with how I shot the field course casually, it'd be good if I could shoot the same during the championships.

Saturday 6th August 2011

@ Thunderheads Archery Club

Windy, bright, sunny, comfortable.

3x 6 arrow ends @ 90m, 122cm unscored

FITA90

Total 162

The conditions didn't seem to be the best today for scoring, but I decided to score anyway as its important to get used to it, as thinking about scoring will often change your concentration during an event.  I tried to focus on engaging my back properly and letting down when shots were not getting through.  That said, there were still some shots that I stupidly yanked through and shot anyway, simply because I thought that I would have exceeded the 4 minute shot clock (even though I don't have one to check on my end timing).

I was still struggling somewhat at 90m, but did a bit better today with my focus on the back and finger tension.  Finger tension is so important, it is really the main cause of why my shots are not getting through.  Having a specific sideways draw sequence start helps maintain that finger tension.

In the end, I shot a 266, 314, 298 and 334 for a total of 1212.  What can I say, I'm really happy that I broke 1200 in practice, with a solid score, not like a 1201 or something.  In addition to this, the 314 for 70m is another PB too.  I just hope I can repeat the performance later.

Friday 5th August 2011

@ Thunderheads Archery Club

Sunny, warm, light breeze at times, nothing major of note

4x 6 arrow ends @ 90m, 122cm unscored

6x 6 arrow ends @ 90m, 122cm scored

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

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

8x 6 arrow ends @ 70m, 122cm unscored

Total 180

Tried to work on getting through the clicker at the higher arm position for 90m, and some 70m.  Scored the 90m to a 245, which was decent enough I felt, reasonable  But then when I started on the 70m scoring I discovered that the clicker mount plate was moving due to the sight block screws loosening.  I spent a bit of time fixing that up and I hope that it will not come loose again, if it does, I may need to go with superglue.  After that, just more work in shooting 90m consistently, push/pulling to get through and with controlled releases.

Thursday 4th August 2011

@ Thunderheads Archery Club

Sunny, windy, bright

1x 6 arrow end @ 70m, 122cm unscored

11x 6 arrow ends @ 90m, 122cm unscored

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

Total 180

Today was quite windy in gusts, making the longer distances harder to shoot.  I tried to work on 90m some but didn't really feel it working so well and moved up to 70m.  When the wind wasn't blowing, I was getting good execution, but once the wind picked up, I struggled.

I managed to get clean releases by 'reaching' out with my bowarm and not being too concerned about the release itself, will try it more again tomorow.  When it was executing well, the groups were pretty sharp, all within the 8 ring plus.

Wednesday 3rd August 2011

@ Thunderhead Archers, Delisle Saskatchewan Canada.

Warm, sunny, breezes at times.

25x 6 arrow ends @ 122cm 30m, 50m, 70m, 90m

Total 150 

First visit to the Thunderheads Archery club.  It's a bit of a drive and rather remote to the point where GPS co-ordinates are more useful than road names as on my GPS, it knows there are roads there, but they are unknown names.

Their club has a permanent field range, and a small target range that is normally not left set up.  They have distance markers on the ground but by the looks of it since they are heavily overgrown, most of their members are not target shooters, Gib Henderson who is the club contact told me that a lot of them are into 3D shooting.

I worked on shooting in my KSL Gold tab, and setting the AAE Micro Gold Clicker.  It shifted on me so I had to re-set the mounting screws so will need to recheck settings etc tomorrow again.