Shooting Indoors - 2007/2008

15 March 2008 - Wicken Open Stafford

Now playing:  Angel - Jack Johnson

Look at this - it's been nearly a month since I shot competitively indoors, and boy does it show! Shooting at the new Hazeley School near Milton Keynes today though was a pure joy - a brilliantly-lit modern sports hall, with enough room for about 12 bosses, and long enough to shoot 50 yards! The steps from the waiting area down to the shooting line were a bit dodgy, as they were made from gym benches, but the whole shoot worked really well.

I've been wanting to shoot a Stafford round for over a year, especially as last year my entry form was returned to me as the shoot was full! The Stafford round is more of an outdoor distance (30 metres on an 80cm target face) but shot indoors, and over 6 dozen arrows - so a double Frostbite really! I had the notion of getting somewhere near 600 for the day, as I've been averaging 300 in my Frostbite scores over the past couple of months, so anywhere near that mark would do for me. I then discovered part way through this week that I was to be shooting on a half-sized target face, with the compound shooters - this is a much smaller face, and only has the 6 ring and inwards on it, even though the gold is same size as a normal 80cm face. This therefore means that if you miss, even if by a fraction, the arrow scores a big fat zero, whereas it would be a 5 on a normal target face. So no pressure then! I was relieved to see that at least there was one other recurve shooter on the same target as me, shooting the same sized face, so we could embarrass ourselves together, while the compound guys tore holes out of the 10 ring!

This is the last indoor shoot I'll be doing this season, so it's a great way to get into the feel of shooting longer distances, and shooting a longer round. This is the shortest distance shot in a FITA, and somewhere that's possible to make up a lot of points (we'd hope!) so I was hopeful that today could be a good test of how things might develop as the outdoor season progresses.

I'd kept my sights as they were from the last Frostbite shoot, so didn't need to change anything on the bow at all, and shot with my outdoor setup - carbon arrows and outdoor button. Shooting in timed ends of two minutes for three arrows, the shooting was somewhat erratic to say the least. The dozens came in at 103, 85 (with a miss), 107, 94 (with a miss), 105 and 95. Making a final total of 589. Had it not been for those two misses, which would have been 5's on a regular sized face, it would have been 10 points higher and a lot closer to what I'd wanted to score. A lesson for this shoot next year - shoot on a full-sized face! I did manage to beat the other recurver shooting on the smaller face though, so there was some small reward!  It's a D class 43 handicap which is well below what I'm capable of, and I should really be aiming to get somewhere near 620 next time - that'll be next years target, as I will definitely be doing this shoot again.

17 February 2008 - Aquarius Open Portsmouth

Now playing:  Someone that you're with - Nickelback (LOUD!)

I never really had myself down as someone who does "in the zone", and "totally focused", but today I embarrassingly fell into both of those categories! I've had a mental barrier to overcome when it comes to Portsmouth rounds, and I just cannot seem to get past the 550 mark - I've done 548 twice, countless 545's but never managed to achieve the magical mark of 550. 

The environment was great today, and the (overheated!) hall was full of familiar faces from other Middlesex clubs, so it felt very relaxed and didn't have the air of tension that some indoor shoots have. I was shooting with a junior from Aquarius who kept the mood on our target light, and a lady and gent both from Reading - the gent I was particularly keen to beat after I was on the receiving end of one of his sarcastic comments last summer at Cranford. So again, another psychological spur in my side. 

The first two dozen went by in the blink of an eye, and I don't remember much about them other than looking at three perfect tens at least 3 times in the space of 24 arrows! I thought to myself "blimey, this is going a bit well". I've not hit the 10 ring with such regularity for a very long time. Then the next two dozen came in a bit shabbily, with a few random 8's to keep my feet firmly planted on terra firma. So, a good start, a mediocre middle, which left me needing 108 from the last dozen to achieve 550. I received a text of encouragement from a friend at this point which was just what I needed as I was feeling a little nervous, and the next 6 came in at 54, which was spot on for what I needed to achieve. The penultimate 3 were all 9's, leaving me just 27 to get from the last 3 arrows - no big deal, but a 10 wouldn't go amiss at this point! First arrow, straight into the 10 ring - perfect! Next arrow, the clicker dropped earlier that I was expecting it to, and I consequently dropped my bow arm as I released - a 7! What?? My only 7 of the entire day, and a borderline one at that - it was nearly a 6! So, no pressure then, last arrow HAS to be a 10 - big deep breath, centre the sights on the gold, perfect release, perfect follow through, and even a perfect spin of the bow as a flourish to finish off - the arrow lands dead centre next to the first one - a 10! And me punching the air with a perfect uppercut! Who says encouragement from friends is superfluous? It was perfect timing!

So the round took the form of 113, 113, 109, 107, 108 - the magical 550 attained at last! And with only one more Portsmouth left of the indoor season. The perfect end to the perfect day! 

9 February 2008 - Middlesex Indoor Championships (Portsmouth)

Now playing:  You make me real - The Doors

The Middlesex Indoor Championships is the first County Championships I've actually attended, as I wasn't able to make last years shoot through various administrative errors, so I was keen to see how I fare in the grand scheme of things against some of the better archers in the county. The first session was just finishing as I got there, so it was nice to mingle with some familiar friends from other clubs and to see how they were getting on. The leader board had the first place gent recurve at 582 - so quite a mountain to climb for whoever was to follow! The session I was shooting in also had a large contingent of French archers who had been invited over for the day, and were representing clubs from Abbeville, Amiens and Cachy. It was very eye-opening to watch them shoot actually, as some of them had very "individual" styles, and some of their equipment (especially the compound bows) weren't what you'd find in most UK archery shops.

I started off fairly well with a 110 for the first dozen, and then all hell broke loose when the fire alarms went off! Thankfully I wasn't on the line when it happened as I can imagine that it was very off-putting to have been at full draw when it started. The alarm carried on for at least 30 minutes and shooting was suspended until normality was resumed once again. What was interesting, was that the judges allowed anyone who had shot an arrow (there were only 5 of them) to retrieve their arrow and re-shoot it if they felt that their shot had been affected by the alarm - however no one did. So, after the half hour delay we carried on, and my total round took the form of 110, 107, 106, 109, 113. I needed the 113 to make up for the 106, but for a total of 545 I wasn't too unhappy with that. I had one nightmare shot in the 106 dozen that simply slipped off my fingers way before the clicker went off - thankfully it landed in the 7 ring, but it could have gone anywhere! 

I've been consciously working on my follow through for the past few weeks, and making sure that my drawing hand comes back in a straight line after the shot is completed, and when I execute the shot properly I almost get a feeling of "placing" the arrow in the target, as it goes precisely where I want it to. Shooting with fat aluminium arrows is, I think, helping too - they fly much slower than carbons and are more forgiving when it comes to linecutters. I think I'll stick with these for indoor shooting from now on, and maybe try some big feathers on them for next winter. 

So I ended the day nowhere near the leader board (but didn't expect to), but I enjoyed the shoot and the more I see of archers from other places, the more I'm learning and picking up from their experience, which is all good. It's a two day shoot, with a lot more archers who are considerably better than me still left to shoot, so we'll see how we ended up in a week or so when the results are issued. Anywhere above halfway will please me though.

5 January 2008 - Spelthorne Open Portsmouth

Now playing:  Should I stay or should I go? - The Clash

I think this was a shoot (or certainly the session) where GOA were determined to turn up and outnumber all the other clubs! We had at least 8 archers there today, and all fairly evenly spaced along the shooting line, so it almost felt like a shoot at our own club. Shooting alongside Nick T (formerly of GOA) also made it seem like a very homely shoot for the GOA crowd. The hall is also the venue for the Middlesex Championships which are held next month, so the whole shoot is a bit of a preparatory event for the main event in a few weeks time. 

Dozens came in at 110, 104, 111, 109, 108, making a grand total of 542 (D Class, 37 h'cap) and I'm beginning to think that getting somewhere close to the 550 mark is harder than I expected. There is always one dozen (usually in the middle) that lets me down, and today was no exception. Everything about today felt very average and very ordinary. With the exception of one end of 3 tens, everything else was just a little bit below par today. And yet I only hit one 7 in the whole afternoon and everything else was 8 or better - just too many 8's. 

It was good shooting with Nick, as he's always been at about the same level as me, and we were within 3-4 points of one another right from the first whistle. In fact, going in to the last 3 arrows we were exactly level - my last end was 10, 9, 8 and his was 10, 9, 9 so he beat me by one lousy point! Still, it was good practice to shoot under pressure for those last three shots. Definitely a shoot I'll be doing next year.

16 December 2007 - Arrowheads Open Portsmouth

Now playing:  On Top - The Killers

Arrowheads Archery Academy is a fun indoor shoot, and is great for the juniors who are just learning how things work at tournaments, and how to go about behaving on the shooting line etc. I entered this shoot last year and at the time was only just coming to terms with the intensity of indoor shooting, and even though last year I broke my own PB, my score left a bit to be desired. The day was memorable for a lot of other reasons though. I was determined to do better this time round and today's shoot was well run (mostly by Aquarius Archers), and it was highly enjoyable to watch some of the younger kids miss, and then miss again, and again - they still kept on going though, which was all credit to them. 

Dozen scores were fairly respectable at 112, 110, 103, 109, 111 making a final total of 545 (D class, 36 h'cap which is about what I'm on at the moment). I had a terrible 3 in the middle dozen, which was a result of the string slipping off my fingers way before I was ready to release it, so that probably lost me about 6 points, and had it not been for that I would have broken 550 for the first time - still, there's always next time!

I ended the day in 3rd place over all, which I was very happy about, and even more pleasing was that the 6 points I lost due to my 3 would not have made any difference anyway as 2nd place was 20 points ahead of me! So it was nice NOT to come away from there thinking "if only". And it's my first ever medal for an indoor shoot!

9 December 2007 - Racketts Open Worcester

Now playing:  There She Goes - The LA's

I haven't shot a Worcester in a competition before, so I was very attracted to this shoot when I found it on the calendar earlier in the year. Even though it's still a full two weeks before Christmas, this was billed as Racketts' Christmas shoot, so there was free mince pies, lots of mistletoe and a lot of people dressed in fancy dress. I cant remember all the costumes, but from memory there was a great Wonder Woman, a few elves, a snow man / Michelin man (not sure what he was meant to be, to be fair!), I was shooting with Richard the Lionheart, and there was one girl in a Santa dress and Christmas stockings that left nothing to the imagination whatsoever! She was on the target next to me, so I was very pleased that she was standing behind me on the shooting line rather than in front, otherwise I'd never have hit the target at all!

The shooting wasn't too bad either - the first four tens came in with monotonous regularity of 45, 45, 45, 45. Then, shock horror, I got a bouncer! My first ever bouncer since taking the sport up! These things are normally the preserve of juniors or beginners using weaker bows, as the arrow hitting a hard spot in the target with less power behind it is more likely to bounce back. However I'm pulling around 42lbs, and using thin carbon arrows! Still, bounce it did, and came halfway back up the hall to greet me - and this was my first arrow of the end! Stuck my hand up in the air, felt like a right numpty, called the judge over and then carried on again. I'm convinced it had an effect on my shooting though - my next two tens were 43 and 43, making a final total of 266. It's equal to my PB so I'm really pleased with that, and definitely a shoot I'll be attending next year, if only to see the girl in the Santa dress again!

24 November 2007 - Brunel University Open Portsmouth

Now playing:  How sweet it is (to be loved by you) - Marvin Gaye

I've not been to Brunel University's Open shoot before, even though it would appear to be a regular date on the Middlesex calendar. A lot of the people I was shooting with were all keen to tell me how much better today was than last year, and how much the organisers have improved things on last year. I must admit, the large sports hall was very nice, with fantastic lighting, and although there was a climbing wall being actively used behind us (although shielded by netting), the noise they were making in no way distracted anyone from their shooting. 

Talking of which - I was keen to get my form back on track again today, after shooting an abysmal 42 h'cap FITA 25 at the club last Thursday evening (my worst handicap rated score since about June!). The round was a Portsmouth, which seems to feature very highly in most indoor tournaments, so anything above 540 should be where I'm aiming. 

Sighters went scarily well - 2 X's to start with, and then my son comes over to me asks me something inane like "where's the water bottle?", this despite the fact that he knows full well not to speak to anyone when they're on the shooting line! So when I returned to shoot the third arrow, I was amazed to see it also sailed beautifully into the X ring. This was a bad sign - I'm now convinced that if I have good sighters then I tend to shoot badly, and vice versa - it doesn't get any better than 3 X's in a ring about the size of a 10p piece!

Dozen scores then came in at 109, 107, 112, 104, 108, making a final total of 540. It's a 38 h'cap D class score, so about average in relation with what I'm shooting currently. The 112 was over-shadowed by the 104, and what's interesting was that it's exactly an average of 9 per arrow, or 108 per dozen. If I'd shot all 9's all session I probably would have felt better about achieving that same score, but there was one 7 and a handful of 8's in there, and "only" seventeen 10's - I know I can do better than this!

Overall though, a lovely shoot, and one that I'd definitely attend next year.

11 November 2007 - Green Dragon Bowmen Open Portsmouth

Now playing:  You're the world to me - David Gray

I do like this shoot! I think this was the first indoor tournament I'd ever done last year, so I do have a bit of a soft spot for it. It's incredibly well organised, extremely well run, and the company is always good, especially as I've now started to develop some new friends from clubs outside of Middlesex County. Some of whom couldn't make it today, and they were missed, but it was a great atmosphere. My plan for this tournament, and perhaps for here on in for indoors, was to shoot it with my Navigators instead of the X7's that I've been using indoors lately. I can't shoot any worse than I have been recently, so here's hoping. I also started the day with a bit of a stiff left shoulder, which was as a result of a day playing with racing cars on Friday, but I had to work through that. More info at this site, if anyone's interested.

I'd decided when I entered this shoot (back in August!) that I wanted to do two rounds, so I could get some decent indoor practice in, as well as try to achieve a decent score, but knowing full well that that the second round didn't count toward my placing (thankfully, as it was a bit laid back!)  Shooting with a bit of a "sour faced old git" for the first session, (who came away with something like 560, and was genuinely disappointed!) kept me focussed and concentrating on what I was hoping to achieve, and the dozens came in at 110, 111, 111, 106 and 110 - making a total of 548. The 106 spoiled things a little, but I was very happy with that, and it equals my PB and is an indicator of what I can achieve if I set my heart on it. Just goes to show that "attitudes" count!

The second round had me paired with one of my new friends from an Essex club, and as we'd both already shot the first session the second session effectively didn't count, so we relaxed into having a laugh with it. So much so that he decided to change his riser, stabilisers AND arrows after only 2 dozen, so made me shoot reeeeeally slowly whilst he changed all his gear in the space of three arrows! His scores did dramatically improve as a result though. There was no pressure at all for this session and I really did enjoy my shooting, until I took a look at my score sheet - starting with a 110, then 109, then 108 - I was gradually going downhill! I picked my socks up a bit and did a 111 for the next dozen, and then it was decided that (apparently) we needed a new face for the last 12 arrows.... And then it all went out of the window! I finished on a 101. Don't ask, but I managed to lose 10 points in the last dozen - maybe I didn't want to damage the nice shiny target face we'd just installed, but had it not been for that, I'd have emulated my mornings score. Still, 539 when I wasn't taking things too seriously was quite gratifying. 

A great day's shooting, quite pleasing scores (well, the 548 was) and it was great to see some friendly faces again, as well as people I haven't seen for ages, from AIUK. Definitely on my shoot list for next year!

10 November 2007 - Portsmouth and a Worcester

Now playing:  Always - Bon Jovi

Hmm - something's not right with my archery lately, and I cannot put my finger on what it is. I've been looking at my scores for the past few shoots, and my handicap rating has been gradually creeping back up, when it should be (at worst) maintaining a level, or even dropping down a few points. A 38 at Racketts and then a couple of 39's - it's solid D class shooting, but nowhere near C class, and certainly nowhere near where I want to be at the moment. I must admit that I haven't done much target practice lately out at the field, mostly because I've been looking after a group of beginners recently, and have spent the past two weekends shooting clout. And boy does it show! Went to the usual Saturday morning session at the club this morning to practice at 90m, and after 3 dozen arrows, could only manage one end with all arrows scoring.... Depressing or what? However, I have a cunning plan....

25 October 2007 - FITA 18 and a Vegas

Now playing:  Wish you were here - Pink Floyd

The last two weeks, with the exception of the Portsmouth at Racketts, we've been shooting on impossibly small targets! The FITA 18 was a bit crap at 490 (39 h'cap), and I was hoping for something over 500. Tonight's Vegas, again with a target of 500 was a little better, but only managed to achieve 495 (37 h'cap). This was with two misses as well, so I guess the potential is there for 510 or so. It wasn't even like I put two arrows onto the same target for the misses either, they were just simple misses! A few stray 6's as well, so I think it's definitely possible to expect 500+ as the indoor season goes on. After all the practice of shooting them in the garden, I think I like Vegas's now! It's interesting to see though, how the scores decrease as the distance goes up - 530's in the garden and less than 500 at the regulation distance...

21 October 2007 - Racketts Open Portsmouth

Now playing:  Everything will be all right - The Killers

Racketts Open Portsmouth, my first tournament of this indoor season, a very relaxed environment, with some lovely people on my target, and nice to see some new friends that I'd made at last week's Swan shoot. I thought I'd start the indoor tournament season with just a single Portsmouth, just to get into the swing of things, and enjoy the afternoon. Shooting with a lady compound archer who was using a back tension release for the first time ever, and whose bow went off with a BANG every shot, which was very disconcerting, so I had to deliberately time my shots NOT to be at the same time as hers, as the first time we were at full draw together during sighters I released before my clicker went off at the sound of her bow, and promptly stuck an arrow into the blue ring. It shocked the life out of me! One of my other target companions was one Matt Webb - England team member, and all-round decent bloke - and a damn good shot too! (he won by a country mile, with 582)

First dozen were pretty good at 114, and I was feeling quite pleased with myself. Next two dozen weren't quite so good at 108 each but I was fairly happy with how things were going, and by this time the organisers had put a leader board up for the the first two dozen and I took a double take to see myself in 3rd position, only 5 points behind Mr Webb! This can't be right! Then it all went rapidly downhill - the last two dozen came in at 106 and a poxy 102. Giving me a final total for the day of 538. I was a little disappointed with that as a final score, even though it's a 38 handicap, and my first time shooting in an indoor competition since about March, I was hoping for something closer to 550 which it would have been had it not been for a number of contributory factors, which I won't go into here. It's all too easy to lay the blame at someone else's door for my crap shooting, but ultimately it's down to me to get where I want to be. I'm definitely not a fan of leader boards though! I hit one blue (a 6) and only two 7's in the entire shoot, but there were way too many 8's for my liking. Room for improvement next time round.

Still, all in all it was a very enjoyable shoot, and a great experience watching an international level archer doing what he does best, which I can only dream of emulating! 

11 October 2007 - 1 Portsmouth and 1 Worcester

Now playing:  Rosalie - Thin Lizzy

Blimey these indoor nights come around fast! I think that unless I have an indoor competition, I'm only going to write up my indoor (club) shooting every couple of weeks. Ultimately they're just the indoor equivalent of rounds, and to be fair, who's interested in every Portsmouth or Worcester I ever shoot? Anyway, talking of which - those very two rounds are what we shot in the past couple of weeks, with the following scores:  Portsmouth 541 (h'cap 37), Worcester 266 (h'cap 37). Talk about consistent...!

27 September 2007 - Portsmouth

Now playing:  So Right - Dave Matthews Band

It's clearly been a while since we last shot indoors (6 months to be exact), and it was really obvious that people were out of practice tonight. To start with, we even had problems remembering which lines to place the targets and shooting lines on!

Once we'd done sighters, most people just carried on shooting ad nauseum, without any scoring, but a few of us decided that as the target faces were on, and we had plenty of time, then a Portsmouth round was called for! There's a bit of friendly rivalry now building up between two or three of us, which I really enjoy, and it goes to spur one another on to achieve better scores. Anyway, my scores came in at 112, 112, 108, 112, 104, making a final total of 548. It's a D Class and 35 handicap, so about in line with what I'm currently shooting outdoors, so I'm fairly pleased with that. It's also about 30 points on top of my old PB too, so we're making progress. Had about half a dozen 8's in there, and one 7 (which was the result of releasing just at the point of someone's bouncer coming back out of their target towards me!), so I reckon there's about another 5-6 more points to be had by tidying up those reds into golds, which could potentially take me into C Class territory. Having worked the scores out using the handicap tables, the figure I need to achieve for this is 555 - here's hoping!

I ended up about 15 points behind one of my main rivals, so I've still got some way to go to catch him yet!