Rookie chokes, fails to recover....

[Holmes]

Nine weeks of archery under my belt now. Generally considered a quick study.

Observed first 3D tournament several weeks ago. Studied it to see how they're run and how the game's played.

Observed my second 3D the following week. Spent a few hours in the bleacher stands with binoculars studying the stickbow shooters form and such.

Spent last week tuning a new Martin Hunter. Experimented with brace height & nock height and their relationship to bareshafting. Arrow flight by Thursday was great.

Packed op for a 3 hour drive to Cheyenne, WY for my first participation in a small shoot that mixed space bows and stickbows. The ratio was approximately 35-5, respectively. Everyone I met was very friendly and helpful.

The shoot consisted of a 12 target scenario run through thrice. Maximum range was about 33 yards. Scoring was normal 3D, 12/10/8/5, for a possible of 432. Seemed like a perfect way for me to start.

Started off great, even nailed a couple of 12s in the first stage. Second stage stayed pretty good until I got to the last shot of the second round, a bedded buck. The target number ID was a metal plate on the floor near the kill zone. Bright red with the number '8' on it. Yep... I whacked the damn thing! Noisy as hell and my face quickly resembled the colour of the sign.

Third stage started with less than wonderment on my part. Then I finally missed my first target entirely. Managed to drive a point/insert an inch or so up the shaft of my 1916. Steel beams are rather hard on arrows...

Next couple of shots are 5s, but were close to complete misses. Confidence has evaporated in its entirety at this point. Last few shots find the bow arm unpredictable, sloppy releases, and inconsisent draws.

My equipment cannot be blamed nor can my early level of skill acquisition. This was a complete breakdown of focus, concentration, and confidence on the part of the archer.

This happened to me as a youngster when I started playing baseball. I had a natural pitching talent but was playing in a league with older youths. My first pitching opportunity arose when our regular man was injured. We lost that game 21-1. I had no father to practice with so I spent weeks throwing to a coffee can nailed to a tree. Went on to become a successful pitcher throughout my school and university years.

I'm hoping I can do the same with this archery stuff. Yesterday really humbled me. It would be so easy to run out and grab a spacebow but I want to shoot a recurve.

Got into this archery thing because of a friend's youngster who wanted to learn it and has no father or other relative to assist. He's 14 and doing fairly well. He also shot yesterday, performed commensurate with his experience, but he had a ball! I've never seen the kid so happy even though he didn't win a damn thing.

I took today off to sulk and wrestle my dogs. Tomorrow I shall get back to it.

So ends my initial saga.

Fly 'em true, gentlemen.

-Holmes

[BLACK WOLF]

Holmes,

I'm sure you already know this...but it doesn't happen only to rookies. It still happens to me once in awhile.

I commend you for helping out that boy like you are doing. That's HUGE!

Gotta love archery. Keep it up.

Ray

[Floxter]

Ah, Holmes.....you take me back to a point in time not that long ago when I experienced much the same as you. But it's still fun, isn't it?

[Papabull]

Winning makes you feel good - but losing always teaches you something. So it's good no matter what the outcome. I've always loved the 3D shoots for more reasons than can be quickly mentioned from the comraderie to the personal challenge.

:cheers:

[Cueball]

I have been shooting bows for about 20 years about half of that stickbows. Have been in my fair share of 3-d's it can and does happen to everybody at some point. Don't expect to much to soon. Nine weeks is a blink of an eye in your archery life. I have had slumps that lasted a year. LOL or Cry out Loud. Enjoy the ride it really is the fun part.


..............................................Roby .................................................. ....

[BowDonkey]

You just may have done something far bigger and better than winning by taking that young man to the shoot with you. Keep practicing and keep taking that 14 year old with you. There's alot more at stake than a trophy.

[Esquire]

These guys have expressed my own sentiments already. I'll just add one thought. If you grabbed a bow, tuned it up, stepped out onto the pitch, so to speak, and whupped everyone's butt right off, that kid and every other newbie around would have had an instant inferiority complex! :)

That could have set him back ten years!! By keeping it real you both have something to aspire to and laugh about. Thanks for posting your experience. I'm fixing to get into 3d shooting myself, once I figure out how it works!

[DAS]

Holmes,
Competition of any kind is tough! The guys that win like Bob Gordan, Steve Morley, and the like have something that most of us don't. I don't know what it is but I can shoot great at home. When I'm hunting there is ice in my veins, but I fall apart under the pressure of competition. You may get past it or you may not. Luckily, there is plenty of room for regular guys like me to still have buckets of fun! Glad to see you're sticking with it! :highfive:

[steve morley]

Don't worry about it, we all hit bad patches during a tourney it's just that the experienced shooters normally recover in one or two shots and the newbies take a little longer.

The important thing is NOT to get upset or give up trying, as your tourney experience and confidence grows so will your consistency and accuracy.

Good shooting

[steve morley]

Have an Article on the TRADJournal

Tips for tournament practice and mental preparation


It might help. :)

[1bjd]

Holmes, What helps me keep my head in the game is remembering that each shot is the only one that counts. When I start thinking about how well I am shooting it starts going down hill. Shoot each shot like it is at the animal and it is a life and death matter. Keep after it and in 30 years or so you will be still learning. Still as much fun as the first arrow. John

[Pinelander]

Great post, Holmes. You're doing the right things and can only get better in the shooting/distance judgement dept as time goes by. As for the youngster... mentors don't have to be the best there is, even helps that they are not totally infallible like Esquire said. Shows them that nobody is perfect, and there's always room for improvement. :)

[swampy]

Sounds like ya won to me.....got to take a young man out and had FUN.Well done !!

Everybody choookes sometimes LOL It,s easy to say not to let it in your head it,s a whole nother thing to do it. Keep havein FUN you,ll do better.Laugh at yourself ,if it was your buddie it would be funny wouldn,t it ?? Everybody goofs sometimes tain,t no sence gettin worked up over it

[Scooter]

I agree with everyone above. Sound like you might have been a victim of fatigue both physical and mental. Can't wait till my son is old enough to shoot.

[Holmes]

Greetings, gentlemen.

I appreciate your comments and they are spot on.

Steve, I did read your article but failed to take it to the line with me! Seriously, the info that you and other skilled archers post here is most appreciated. I convey it to the youngsters (yes, my group of rapscallions is growing), I'm working with as we have no real resources locally for this education.

Ah, the young Michael. When I mangled the arrow on the steel beam, he was the one that found it - and proceeded to parade it around to show the other archers the effects of impact swaging!

And when I managed to pin-the-tail on a Big Horn, the first sound I heard was Michael's laughter from several positions behind me.

By this time, even the space bow shooters had joined forces with Michael. After I gut shot shot the antelope from a blind drop kneeling position for the third time, the hotrod shooter on our relay looked me straight in the eye and with a deadpan expression said, "Your consistency is impressive!"

Moral of the story is, if ya can't beat 'em, entertain 'em!

Our practice sessions this week will include pictures to evaluate our form and maybe a session of roving if the weather permits.

We have another 3D next weekend and it appears I'll have three youngsters in tow for this one.

Thanks again for the advice and I'll report back with regard to Chapter II of the Holmes Archery Saga :)

-Holmes

[BLACK WOLF]

Holmes,

That is truly priceless!..."Your consistency is impressive!" "Moral of the story is, if ya can't beat 'em, entertain 'em!"

You da man!

Ray ;)

[Bowcephalus]

It's all a mental game, much as is most of life.....The best medicine for a bruised ego is laughter....as long as it's the guy with the bruised ego doing the laughing......Trick is to beat everybody else to it even if you only just crack a little smile to yourself....

[Kevin]

Oh if tournament shooting were so easy. During an event a few weeks ago I had 1 of my best rounds ever on the practice course. I just couldnt miss. I was relaxed and confident. The next day during the first round of 20 I couldnt find the 10 ring and had 3 total misses to make one very bad round for me.

I went into the Sun round with the thought of 1 thing. Its a practice round, I blew the tourney and just get back on track and shoot how Im capable of, the heck with the score. If someone is a better shot than me, so what! It worked. No pressure, no expectations, I shot the best of the field that day and managed to make up enough points to take 2nd place overall for the tournament. No matter long youve been shooting, whether your new to the sport or have been into it for many yrs, shooting relaxed, I feel, is the key.

[steve morley]

Good shooting Kevin, sounds like you’ve wised up to tourney shooting and settling into the right mental approach. :)

Some of my best learning experiences have been from disastrous tourneys. A few years back I shot at the IFAA World Bowhunters, I was on a real high with my shooting because I’d been unbeaten in England for 18 months and felt very confident with my abilities, the tourney was set in the Italian Alps at 4,500 feet and was still very hot even at that altitude (compared to our mild English weather) the first two days I just couldn’t get it together and found myself in 50th place. :mistake:


Luckily for me something clicked and I shot the two highest scores for the following couple of days climbing back up to finish in 7th place. Although I didn’t win any trophies I felt like a winner because I overcame my shooting problems and didn’t mentally give up when most people would have, I came away from the experience a better tourney archer. :)