Looking Back

This summer I will have been shooting officially for two years. Just recently I decided to start a scrapbook dedicated to my archery and it has given me the opportunity to compare the "then" to the "now." My.....what a comparison it has been. Just think, two years ago this summer I was shooting a 20 pound traditional bow at 3D targets I was LUCKY to hit, not to mention score well. Since then I have seen State in the pouring rain, Nationals (also in the pouring rain, I was beginning to think I was cursed), the Gator Cup, and more. I have been so blessed to have the experiences I have had, and I wouldn't trade them for anything.

At the start of the two-year mark my coaching staff (I have enough of them!!!) and I have decided to work on a new shooting method. The B.E.S.T., or Biomechanically Efficient Shooting Technique is what Coach Lee (the coach that brought over this technique from Korea) has named this monster. Ladies and gentlemen, let me just tell you how politically correct addicted our country is getting. This method is actually no longer called the B.E.S.T. method. It is now called NTS, the National Training System. People in this God-blessed country have whined about it being called the B.E.S.T. method.

"What makes YOUR method the best?!?!"

"How is YOUR method better than ours?!?!"

Little did these people pay attention, for if they had, they may have realized the B.E.S.T. is an acronym, not an adjective. However, this is still the greatest country on Earth and I wouldn't have it any other way.

In conclusion, I have been working on the method for a whopping 6 whole days. In these 6 days I have learned that in order to break two-year-old habits you MUST have a strength that is NOT your own. If it weren't for God I don't think that I would ever have made it these six days, not to mention the rest of my archery career!

A Few Little Updates

Sunday, my dad (who is now a registered Coach!) and I decided to put on my new clicker. If you don't know what that is, it's a very simple concept. It's basically a piece of thick wire that attaches toward the front end of the riser, typically near or under the sight. You place the arrow under it, come back to anchor, and stretch your back just a little bit extra until the arrow escapes from underneath the clicker. The clicker then makes a "clicking" noise (which you probably deduced) at which point you know you've reached full draw and you release. In short, when done correctly, it allows the archer to reach the same exact draw EVERY time.

Now, as simple as that sounds, it is a PAIN to set up and adjust, especially since I had some consistancy issues to start with. It started out with me coming back to full draw and stretching back just a little more (like I'm supposed to) and it not clicking. Then we started to fine tune the placement, once we knew we were somewhere in the ballpark. That is where the problems started. My inconsistancy curse started to rear it's ugly head. It would go off too soon.......or not at all. Then Dad and I started to disagree about what the problem was, which was dumb since he's the registered coach and I'm....well....not. After a while God started smiling down on me and it started to "click" (pun totally intended). I'm defintely starting to get the feel it, I just have to learn to trust it. I also have to strengthen up some, since I went into muscle failure. :)

A lot of great things happened on Sunday because my grandfather just finished his level 1 and 2 coaches training. He got a 100 on the first test and a 96 on the second one. He's too smart! My dad is getting ready to go to level 2 training in February, which is great. That means that I'll be allowed to have BOTH my dad and grandfather on the line with me, which will be SUPER cool. I'll have my own little coaches panel or something. Not to mention my grandfather is one of the wisest people I know and my dad knows how to irritate me just enough to get me to listen (I hate it when he does that too).

The future looks bright, my journey's just begun, I can't wait to see what God has in store for me.

Sorry for the wait!!

Sorry guys,

Things got sooo busy since my last post that I wasn't able to finish "Our Texas Adventure." Good news is we won third place in all competitions, as well as third place overall for recurve archery. It was a great experience and I would recommend it for all archers wanting an entry-level competition experience.

A couple weeks after Texas I competed in a 900 Round in Atlanta. By God's grace I pulled out with third place. If there were any more people in my division I wouldn't have been that lucky. I had what you call a BAD DAY. My mind wasn't where it should have been and my shooting showed it. I pulled it out the last four rounds......after some sweat and tears. It just goes to show that archery is just as much a mental game as it is an athletic one.

Not only did a get a pretty cool medal for coming away with third, I got the privilege to go, if I so choose, to the 2011 National State Games in San Diego, CA. I can tell you that I am SOOOO looking forward to that!

Now.......the Gator Cup. For those of you that don't know, this past October was the first annual Gator Cup in Newberry, FL, not too far from Gainesville, FL (chomp chomp!!). I tell you what, I have never felt so small and humbled as I did walking onto that range. My dad and I got there a couple days early so we could get used to the feel of the area. As this being the FIRST tournament I had EVER shot 70 meters in, I am glad we did. The unofficial practice day was definitely one for the books. We fixed some string issues that I was having (my string had lost some twists, so I was shooting lower), plus I got a good look at the "competition." I type that with quotes because I really was no match for any of the shooters out there.

That practice day I shot one person down from Brady Ellision, the top male recurve archer in the world, and a couple people down from Katuna Lorig, four (soon to be five) time Olympian. WOW!

Long story short I had a great time and learned a lot. I didn't win any medals but I got a lot of great tips and knowledge, which trumps medal any day (well, almost any day). I thank God each and every day to be able to have GREAT experiences and meet GREAT people in this great Circle of Archery.