The Glade is one of the leading magazines for archers across the UK and they also host The Glade 70m Internet Archery League. This is a reasonably new type of FREE to enter competition that enables individual archers and teams of archers to judge how they are progressing, both locally and internationally. Recurve, Compound, Longbow and Barebow are all supported, as individuals or as teams of three.
The format is very straight forward. Archers shoot six 70m rounds for a team and then an archer’s best three (from 6) scores are used to determine the individual rankings.
The league is open to all archers and it runs from the 1st January until 30th September in any given year and 2011 will be the third year that the competition has been run.
You can get further information, full details of the rules, previous year’s results and more from their website. Oh, and you can sign up to take part on their website as well.
http://www.thegladeleague.com/
Monday, 28 February 2011
Saturday, 19 February 2011
Don't scratch your new riser!!!
Martyn Phillips
Archers of Raunds
We’d brought Lauren’s first bow (a Mizar in pink along with longrod, sight, etc.) and she proudly set up the bow on our usual Friday night session. She shot a couple of ends and was settling into a good evening shooting when I noticed that she was scratching her riser very badly around the handle area and also the top of the plastic handle itself.
She was wearing a ring, so she took that off as a precaution and a couple of us watched her shoot a few more arrows, perplexed as to how she could be scratching the riser. The reason for the riser being scratched soon became apparent.
Lauren shoots with an AF finger tab and she’d got into the habit 9with the wooden bow) of putting the tab on and then picking up her bow, with the tabbed hand. The screw heads on the back of the tab were sharp and were the cause of the scratching as she picked up the riser and also put it down following the end.
She was clearly upset at scratching her new pride and joy and she quickly learned to pick up the riser and then put on her finger tab at the shooting line, and then to remove it after shooting before leaving the line.
So be warned! If you have a nice shiny new riser (or just a nice riser) and you want to keep it scratch free, be careful with your finger tab when picking up and putting down your bow.
Archers of Raunds
We’d brought Lauren’s first bow (a Mizar in pink along with longrod, sight, etc.) and she proudly set up the bow on our usual Friday night session. She shot a couple of ends and was settling into a good evening shooting when I noticed that she was scratching her riser very badly around the handle area and also the top of the plastic handle itself.
She was wearing a ring, so she took that off as a precaution and a couple of us watched her shoot a few more arrows, perplexed as to how she could be scratching the riser. The reason for the riser being scratched soon became apparent.
Lauren shoots with an AF finger tab and she’d got into the habit 9with the wooden bow) of putting the tab on and then picking up her bow, with the tabbed hand. The screw heads on the back of the tab were sharp and were the cause of the scratching as she picked up the riser and also put it down following the end.
She was clearly upset at scratching her new pride and joy and she quickly learned to pick up the riser and then put on her finger tab at the shooting line, and then to remove it after shooting before leaving the line.
So be warned! If you have a nice shiny new riser (or just a nice riser) and you want to keep it scratch free, be careful with your finger tab when picking up and putting down your bow.
Friday, 18 February 2011
My First Year in Archery
Martyn Phillips
Archers of Raunds
Well, my first year in archery has finally drawn to a close and it’s been quite a ride.
My interest in archery is all down to Lauren, my teenage daughter. After being hassled to get out and do something rather than sitting watching the tv and Facebooking (is that a word yet?) all of the time, she decided that archery was going to be her sport and we began looking for a local club.
We checked out a couple and following a bumpy start, we found Archers of Raunds (AOR), contacted the club and found ourselves VERY warmly welcomed at our first beginner’s session. Yes, both of us, as I did not realise that parents are encouraged to learn at the same time as their kids - something that i am now very grateful for. One of things that swayed us in favour of AOR, was not just the attention from the chairman and coaches, but the interest in us as beginners by the other club members. Not once did we feel isolated on the sidelines or wanting for that extra bit of help or guidance.
Following the usual safety briefing and being taken through the parts of a Recurve bow and how it all fits together, we moved to the shooting line, nocked an arrow and hey presto (from memory) I put one into the curtain. My main coach for these beginners’ sessions was to be Roy and to say that he was patient and understanding would be an understatement. Encouragement was abundant and I was soon finding the large target face, just 20 yards away and left the initial session pleased. Over the next few weeks I progressed and worked on the discipline and procedure that Roy had taught me, working with Tony and Lesley (two of the other club coaches) at times. Throughout these sessions the tuition was focused, progressive and most of all fun.
I might be just a little biased, but if you live in the East Northants area and want to have a go at archery, then contact AOR – you won’t be disappointed.
All too quickly the beginner’s course was complete and, along with several others, Lauren and I were presented with our certificates and a club membership welcome pack. Without any hesitation, I signed Lauren and I up for full membership and continued the hire of the club wooden bows, our GNAS memberships were settled and we found ourselves part of a growing club of archers.
The following Friday saw us moving off of the beginner’s bosses and sharing with the other club members. Friday night is beginners and tuning night, so the sessions remained relaxed and things progressed at a leisurely pace. Although Roy and the other coaches were now working with a new set of beginners, they remained interested in our progress and, along with other club member’s help, I was quickly very comfortable shooting with my fellow club colleagues.
I’d been shooting indoors throughout my beginner’s course and it was not long before we all moved outside. The shooting remained the same, but the extra space was nice (although it’s not overly cramped indoors at AOR) and it was nice to get some fresh air at the end of a long week in the office. My ability and technique progressed, but I was still using the wooden club bow and each week I longing watched other archers with their Hoyts, Win & Win’s and other makes of shiny metal bows with all the ancillaries.
Lauren was first to progress to her own bow, a nice pink Mizar with Samick limbs, the result of a full morning over at Aim4Sport and masses of patience from Stan and his team as Lauren tried riser after riser. She was very pleased with her new kit and shot better for it. In my next posting I’ll let you into a little tip that will help you to keep your riser scratch free – Yep, she scratched hers to bits within three ends, before one of the other club members worked out what she was doing.
Throughout the early summer I continued to shoot with the club’s wooden bow. Although everyone was advising me to make the investment in my own, I’d tried the Hoyt GMX when Lauren was buying her bow and I’d fallen in love with it. However, they are not cheap and once Lauren’s kit was paid for, I set about saving for my own. Finally, a few days after my birthday in July, I headed back over to Sandy to hit the credit card and I walked away with my prized Hoyt Fusion GMX and a huge smile on my face. I could not wait until the following Friday and to try out my new kit.
The difference in shooting a club wooden bow and your own kit is enormous and the advice that I had been given about making the investment was not unfounded. My confidence took a leap, with my technique and scores with it. I was still scoring in the mid to high 300’s on a large target face at 30 ad 40 yards and then the same on a Portsmouth face, but everything was moving in the right direction.
My first competition was a closed Portsmouth and, whilst I can’t recall the score, I came away with a silver medal for a handicap adjusted score. My shooting partner Andy (who also attended the beginner’s session when I did), pipped me to the gold, but at least I finished the year with one medal. I then shot my first away competition at Targetcraft in December, another indoor Portsmouth, but had a torrid time and I was only able to post 402. At least I had broken the 400, so that was the consolation that I took away from the event.
Towards the end of 2010 I developed a really bad problem with my left shoulder (I shoot right handed). It was crucifying my technique and also my scores and it was leaving me with a very painful arm half way through a two hour shooting session. I even dropped from shooting 6 arrows to just 3 per end to give my arm a rest, but it was troubling and I very nearly gave up archery altogether.
However, Bradley Denny (one of AORs most promising Juniors) took an interest in me and, over an hour one evening, he identified the issue and taught me the drop and lock shoulder technique. Within two weeks of putting into practice his advice, I was back to shooting my normal scores and leaving without a horrendous shoulder ache. A big relief and a massive thank you to Bradley.
Christmas and New Year saw a break from shooting for a couple of weeks, but I was soon back into my Friday evenings shooting at the practice session. Following some encouragement, Lauren and I began to attend the Sunday session - AOR shoot on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday whilst outdoors, dropping the Thursday session when we go inside. Sunday is all about shooting different full rounds and I began to record my scores in my iPhone using the iArcher application.
I’ve continued to shoot Friday and Sunday since Christmas and I usually manage to score around the 450 mark for a Portsmouth. I entered the clubs next closed competition, another indoor Portsmouth, and I was pleased to post a personal best in the first session (even though I’d managed to put my limbs on upside down :@) and then 481 to make a second personal best in the third session.
I closed out my first year of shooting with the purchase of a nice set of Easton X10 stabilisers and a properly balanced bow (again all courtesy of Aim4Sport). Stan gave me access to every stabilizer system in the shop and the new shooting range to test them all - Something that I was very grateful for.
I then shot at The Jolly Archers Open Portsmouth in February scoring 472. Not a medal winning score, but relatively pleasing for my progress thus far, maybe early 2011 will see the 500 broken and then I’ll look for 550.
So I finished my first year as a member of a wonderfully friendly club, made some new friends, spent a small fortune on some great kit, I have a few competitions under my belt and some personal bests have been set. I even came away with one silver medal for my efforts, although Lauren blitzed that by winning a Junior Portsmouth trophy, a gold for Junior Team and a handful if other medals for both home and way performances.
All in all, a very pleasing, productive and rewarding first year with Archers of Raunds.
Archers of Raunds
Well, my first year in archery has finally drawn to a close and it’s been quite a ride.
My interest in archery is all down to Lauren, my teenage daughter. After being hassled to get out and do something rather than sitting watching the tv and Facebooking (is that a word yet?) all of the time, she decided that archery was going to be her sport and we began looking for a local club.
We checked out a couple and following a bumpy start, we found Archers of Raunds (AOR), contacted the club and found ourselves VERY warmly welcomed at our first beginner’s session. Yes, both of us, as I did not realise that parents are encouraged to learn at the same time as their kids - something that i am now very grateful for. One of things that swayed us in favour of AOR, was not just the attention from the chairman and coaches, but the interest in us as beginners by the other club members. Not once did we feel isolated on the sidelines or wanting for that extra bit of help or guidance.
Following the usual safety briefing and being taken through the parts of a Recurve bow and how it all fits together, we moved to the shooting line, nocked an arrow and hey presto (from memory) I put one into the curtain. My main coach for these beginners’ sessions was to be Roy and to say that he was patient and understanding would be an understatement. Encouragement was abundant and I was soon finding the large target face, just 20 yards away and left the initial session pleased. Over the next few weeks I progressed and worked on the discipline and procedure that Roy had taught me, working with Tony and Lesley (two of the other club coaches) at times. Throughout these sessions the tuition was focused, progressive and most of all fun.
I might be just a little biased, but if you live in the East Northants area and want to have a go at archery, then contact AOR – you won’t be disappointed.
All too quickly the beginner’s course was complete and, along with several others, Lauren and I were presented with our certificates and a club membership welcome pack. Without any hesitation, I signed Lauren and I up for full membership and continued the hire of the club wooden bows, our GNAS memberships were settled and we found ourselves part of a growing club of archers.
The following Friday saw us moving off of the beginner’s bosses and sharing with the other club members. Friday night is beginners and tuning night, so the sessions remained relaxed and things progressed at a leisurely pace. Although Roy and the other coaches were now working with a new set of beginners, they remained interested in our progress and, along with other club member’s help, I was quickly very comfortable shooting with my fellow club colleagues.
I’d been shooting indoors throughout my beginner’s course and it was not long before we all moved outside. The shooting remained the same, but the extra space was nice (although it’s not overly cramped indoors at AOR) and it was nice to get some fresh air at the end of a long week in the office. My ability and technique progressed, but I was still using the wooden club bow and each week I longing watched other archers with their Hoyts, Win & Win’s and other makes of shiny metal bows with all the ancillaries.
Lauren was first to progress to her own bow, a nice pink Mizar with Samick limbs, the result of a full morning over at Aim4Sport and masses of patience from Stan and his team as Lauren tried riser after riser. She was very pleased with her new kit and shot better for it. In my next posting I’ll let you into a little tip that will help you to keep your riser scratch free – Yep, she scratched hers to bits within three ends, before one of the other club members worked out what she was doing.
Throughout the early summer I continued to shoot with the club’s wooden bow. Although everyone was advising me to make the investment in my own, I’d tried the Hoyt GMX when Lauren was buying her bow and I’d fallen in love with it. However, they are not cheap and once Lauren’s kit was paid for, I set about saving for my own. Finally, a few days after my birthday in July, I headed back over to Sandy to hit the credit card and I walked away with my prized Hoyt Fusion GMX and a huge smile on my face. I could not wait until the following Friday and to try out my new kit.
The difference in shooting a club wooden bow and your own kit is enormous and the advice that I had been given about making the investment was not unfounded. My confidence took a leap, with my technique and scores with it. I was still scoring in the mid to high 300’s on a large target face at 30 ad 40 yards and then the same on a Portsmouth face, but everything was moving in the right direction.
My first competition was a closed Portsmouth and, whilst I can’t recall the score, I came away with a silver medal for a handicap adjusted score. My shooting partner Andy (who also attended the beginner’s session when I did), pipped me to the gold, but at least I finished the year with one medal. I then shot my first away competition at Targetcraft in December, another indoor Portsmouth, but had a torrid time and I was only able to post 402. At least I had broken the 400, so that was the consolation that I took away from the event.
Towards the end of 2010 I developed a really bad problem with my left shoulder (I shoot right handed). It was crucifying my technique and also my scores and it was leaving me with a very painful arm half way through a two hour shooting session. I even dropped from shooting 6 arrows to just 3 per end to give my arm a rest, but it was troubling and I very nearly gave up archery altogether.
However, Bradley Denny (one of AORs most promising Juniors) took an interest in me and, over an hour one evening, he identified the issue and taught me the drop and lock shoulder technique. Within two weeks of putting into practice his advice, I was back to shooting my normal scores and leaving without a horrendous shoulder ache. A big relief and a massive thank you to Bradley.
Christmas and New Year saw a break from shooting for a couple of weeks, but I was soon back into my Friday evenings shooting at the practice session. Following some encouragement, Lauren and I began to attend the Sunday session - AOR shoot on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday whilst outdoors, dropping the Thursday session when we go inside. Sunday is all about shooting different full rounds and I began to record my scores in my iPhone using the iArcher application.
I’ve continued to shoot Friday and Sunday since Christmas and I usually manage to score around the 450 mark for a Portsmouth. I entered the clubs next closed competition, another indoor Portsmouth, and I was pleased to post a personal best in the first session (even though I’d managed to put my limbs on upside down :@) and then 481 to make a second personal best in the third session.
I closed out my first year of shooting with the purchase of a nice set of Easton X10 stabilisers and a properly balanced bow (again all courtesy of Aim4Sport). Stan gave me access to every stabilizer system in the shop and the new shooting range to test them all - Something that I was very grateful for.
I then shot at The Jolly Archers Open Portsmouth in February scoring 472. Not a medal winning score, but relatively pleasing for my progress thus far, maybe early 2011 will see the 500 broken and then I’ll look for 550.
So I finished my first year as a member of a wonderfully friendly club, made some new friends, spent a small fortune on some great kit, I have a few competitions under my belt and some personal bests have been set. I even came away with one silver medal for my efforts, although Lauren blitzed that by winning a Junior Portsmouth trophy, a gold for Junior Team and a handful if other medals for both home and way performances.
All in all, a very pleasing, productive and rewarding first year with Archers of Raunds.
Thursday, 17 February 2011
Long Buckby AC Frostbite
Archers of Raunds
You may remember my email in December '09 regarding a 'Frostbite' competition arranged by Long Buckby Archery Club
A Frostbite competition is 3 dozen arrows at 30 Metres.
I managed to make it after Christmas and looking back in my notes it was my first external competition in over 5 years, yikes.
Hedley, Dennis & Simon joined me and the weather fitted the bill perfectly, the air was crisp and cold with a slight frost underfoot, remember this is an outdoor competition!
I was shooting with a newish chap from Long Buckby and Alison Taylor ( the current Country Chairman's wife) Hedley, Simon and Dennis were at the slightly more competitive end of the shooting line along with Glen Taylor and Chris & James Mason. Needless to say the conversation on my boss was about the numbers of layers of clothing we were all wearing and whether being able to feel or wiggle your toes was a good/necessary thing or not?
Flic joined me in a supporting role, muttering under her breath how we were all 'completely bonkers' while we all thought about 'pots, kettles and black' as she engrossed herself in a catalogue of scrap booking supplies ????
Further adding to the fun of the event was a slightly potty groundsman who decided that the cold morning between Christmas and New Year was the perfect time to rake the grass behind the bosses using his little red tractor. Needless to say the shoot was conducted in a perfectly safe way with us 'Fasting' on each of his kamikaze runs.
The attached photo was taken at the halfway point and the folded arms is not our attempt to be 'street' but more a vain attempt to keep our fingers from dropping off. (shown left-right Dennis, Simon, Tony, Hedley)
During the break several people approached us and commented on how nice it was to see AOR members getting out and about, in fact I think the four of us were all impressed with the positive, friendly, relaxed atmosphere of the shoot overall.
Under the perfect excuse of collecting the kids Flic and I made a break for it halfway, after a much needed hot drink, roll and cup of soup. The AOR 'hardmen' braved the second round, completing the double Frostbite.
The best part of all is that Hedley managed to break the county record for a double frostbite and received a rather cool trophy for his troubles, great work Hedley.
Speaking to the others back in Raunds we would all recommend the Frostbite competition to others and will most likely be attending next year, if you would like to know more just ask.
It has taken me a while to write up my experience at the shoot and since then several of you have participated in our Open Portsmouth competition, hopefully dispelling any concerns you may have had over competitions. I would be very interested in hearing your reports from competitions you attend (as I'm sure the rest of the club would be) and I am looking for other competitions too shoot, so if one catches your eye please let me know.
Comments appreciated,
Regards
Tony
Archers of Raunds
Visit our website at http://www.archersofraunds.co.uk/ for club news.
Are you having a competition? Add us to your distribution list.
Wednesday, 16 February 2011
Archery Interchange (Discussion Forum and Blogs)
Whilst putting this blog together and searching the internet for clubs and tournaments announced on those sites, I finally came across http://www.archery-interchange.net/. This is a great site for people that want to run their own archery related blog or who wish to take part in the archery community discussion forum, either asking or answering questions. For this reason I have added links at the bottom of this blog to both the discussion forum and the blog area.
I then took a deep breath and thought, well is this blog really needed then? After all, I really don’t want to compete with anyone and why reinvent the wheel.
Well I have decided to continue with it for the moment. Why?
It would seem that the Archery Interchange site is ideal for those people who want to take the time to work the discussion board and maintain a blog. However, there are still plenty of people who would rather quickly and easily have something published without the need to register on someone’s website or make the commitment to regular updates or networking.
In addition, most club secretaries and records officers distribute news and related information through an email distribution list. It is therefore easy to simply add my email address to that distribution list and I’ll post or reword the posting as appropriate, usually within a day or two of the item becoming current.
Furthermore, using the ‘labels’ feature, archers will be able to quickly and easily produce a list of posts that are relevant to them.
This blog is therefore (and always was) designed for the casual poster and club official. There is no need to register and you only need to simply email me with your story, news or other archery related item.
I’d welcome your thoughts.
I then took a deep breath and thought, well is this blog really needed then? After all, I really don’t want to compete with anyone and why reinvent the wheel.
Well I have decided to continue with it for the moment. Why?
It would seem that the Archery Interchange site is ideal for those people who want to take the time to work the discussion board and maintain a blog. However, there are still plenty of people who would rather quickly and easily have something published without the need to register on someone’s website or make the commitment to regular updates or networking.
In addition, most club secretaries and records officers distribute news and related information through an email distribution list. It is therefore easy to simply add my email address to that distribution list and I’ll post or reword the posting as appropriate, usually within a day or two of the item becoming current.
Furthermore, using the ‘labels’ feature, archers will be able to quickly and easily produce a list of posts that are relevant to them.
This blog is therefore (and always was) designed for the casual poster and club official. There is no need to register and you only need to simply email me with your story, news or other archery related item.
I’d welcome your thoughts.
Club Records Page Added
I have added a new page to the blog for individual club records.
Each club’s records will be displayed in their own table, once they have been authenticated with the appropriate clubs record’s officer. For this reason, please either submit your request for an entry via your records officer or please include their name with your email request to me.
I have not decided whether or not to create a blog league table with the highest scores for each class, but I will do so if people will find that useful or interesting. Obviously, the main county and national archery websites will hold their respective record scores and I do not wish to compete with those. Your comments on this would be welcome.
Each club’s records will be displayed in their own table, once they have been authenticated with the appropriate clubs record’s officer. For this reason, please either submit your request for an entry via your records officer or please include their name with your email request to me.
I have not decided whether or not to create a blog league table with the highest scores for each class, but I will do so if people will find that useful or interesting. Obviously, the main county and national archery websites will hold their respective record scores and I do not wish to compete with those. Your comments on this would be welcome.
Tuesday, 15 February 2011
New Tournaments Page
The links at the bottom of the blog are beginning to get a little overwhelming and for this reason I have split the clubs into Counties for easier navigation and I have moved the tournaments to their own page.
Moving the tournaments to a page dedicated to them will enable me to include more information in a tabular format to make reading them easier. The events are simply listed in a single table for a year and then by month (grouped in a box) and then by date. The site only contains summary information by I will be including a link to the clubs website or application form as appropriate.
At the present time, this page is under construction and will be worked on once the clubs list is complete.
Moving the tournaments to a page dedicated to them will enable me to include more information in a tabular format to make reading them easier. The events are simply listed in a single table for a year and then by month (grouped in a box) and then by date. The site only contains summary information by I will be including a link to the clubs website or application form as appropriate.
At the present time, this page is under construction and will be worked on once the clubs list is complete.
Labels added to postings.
I have now included labels to postings to enable the blog to be filtered using the search feature. To keep the labels from becoming too bloated, I will include only club names and then the labels: Competition, News and Event.
A list of used labels is noted in the left side bar of the blog and a number indicating the number of postings with that label. Please simply click on the label that you want to filter the posting on. For example, if you only want to see posting for your club (i.e. Archers of Raunds) then simply click your club name in the panel. The blog will then display those postings only.
I hope that this will make using the blog easier as more club members begin to contribute.
A list of used labels is noted in the left side bar of the blog and a number indicating the number of postings with that label. Please simply click on the label that you want to filter the posting on. For example, if you only want to see posting for your club (i.e. Archers of Raunds) then simply click your club name in the panel. The blog will then display those postings only.
I hope that this will make using the blog easier as more club members begin to contribute.
Monday, 14 February 2011
A little bit of Give and Take
Martyn Phillips
Archers of Raunds
Yesterday saw the staging of the Jolly Archers 17th Indoor Tournament and my second competition away from home and the first for Lauren. With the Sat Nav set we headed over to St Ives and found the centre with no problems, parking was plentiful and although the leisure centres reception was unmanned, the competition registration desk was reasonably easy to find.
The day started late for us as we had only entered for the third of three sold out sessions. So turning up just after 15:00 we signed in and handed back Bradley’s Junior Boys trophy from last year as he was at EMAS training this weekend. Looking over the balcony behind the archers, we watched the closing of the second session with archers shooting recurve, longbow and compound. It was wonderful to watch from a great viewing point as some of the regions best archers finished their rounds.
Behind the viewing gallery was a canteen where plenty of people were buying refreshments. Although we did not try the canteen, it would clearly be a useful addition to the venue for those archers choosing to shoot a session A and C double, especially if they had travelled some distance to the venue like we had.
Finally 15:45 drew close and we moved downstairs into the main hall. The layout was different to our hall at (Archers of Raunds) AOR. Rather than shooting lengthwise, we shot across the hall giving a much wider view of twice the number of bosses that we are used to. However, once we were set up and had been addressed by the judges, focus turned to our sighters and all of the other bosses disappeared from our focus – now it was just you and your target.
I had been warned that the venue can be a little cold at times and although I wore my AOR polo shirt and sweatshirt, the temperature was ideal for me. I’m not sure what it was like earlier in the day though!
In recent shoots, I have had great sighters that have been quickly followed by a dozen disastrous arrows. For this reason, I was quite pleased to have my sighters fall around the gold, pretty much north, south, east and west by the time the second set had been shot.
Was this a good sign, or a sign of worse to come?
Thankfully, for me, it was the former and my overall performance was on par for me, although very well down on a medal position. 472 is just not going to cut it and again that illusive 500 was not to be found. However, it was great to be shooting on a boss where two of the top scoring archers shot. Their target was replaced half way through the shoot as the middle was shot out and calling my scores each end after their seemingly regular calls of 10,10,10 or 10,10,9 was somewhat demoralising. Maybe one day – I can dream.
I felt sorry for Lauren. The day before she had been working with one of the county coaches and the bow had been stripped of her v-bar and it was clear that her clicker was no longer set correctly as her technique improved through the training session. She’d also been working on grouping her arrows in the gold on a large target face, so moving back to a Portsmouth added some extra pressure.
However Katie, Lauren’s friend and shooting partner since joining AOR, was on top form following two great practice sessions at the club. She went on to score a personal best and she took the Junior Girls Recurve trophy home with a top score for her class on the day.
Overall, the day very enjoyable, everyone was very friendly and new acquaintances were made. I must say a big thank you to the gentleman from Cambridge who gave me some herbal pain relief for my shoulder, which I managed to pull at the start of the last dozen arrows. Without it, I don’t think that I’d have finished the shoot and the last half dozen or so were nearly all shot through the clicker . I’ve now sourced my own bottle (not an easy task in the UK as it comes from Poland) and I’ll be keeping it in my kit box.
If I had to find something about the venue that you should be wary of, it would be the amount of space available behind the shooting line. This is only my second away shoot and we might be spoiled at AOR behind the line, but I found myself tripping around peoples bows fairly frequently coming off the shooting line. Maybe this is a feature of indoor shoots and one that dissipates when we all head outside in a few weeks time. However, looking along the line of bows in their rests it was not difficult to find several wobbling as people moved around them. My advice would therefore be to get there early and get your bow bag and other paraphernalia against the bag wall, keeping the forward viewing area free for your bow only. I’d also encourage non participating people to use the viewing gallery (balcony), not only does it give a great view of the shooting archers, but it keeps you out of the way.
Anyway, as I mentioned earlier, all in all the venue and the shoot were very enjoyable, well staged and managed and Lauren and I look forward to heading over to The Jolly Archers again next year to have another try at the medals – I can only dream.
So, AOR started with giving a trophy back and ended the day taking another one home, along with the Gold and Bronze Junior Girls Recurve medals. All in all, a sterling performance by our junior girls.
Archers of Raunds
Yesterday saw the staging of the Jolly Archers 17th Indoor Tournament and my second competition away from home and the first for Lauren. With the Sat Nav set we headed over to St Ives and found the centre with no problems, parking was plentiful and although the leisure centres reception was unmanned, the competition registration desk was reasonably easy to find.
The day started late for us as we had only entered for the third of three sold out sessions. So turning up just after 15:00 we signed in and handed back Bradley’s Junior Boys trophy from last year as he was at EMAS training this weekend. Looking over the balcony behind the archers, we watched the closing of the second session with archers shooting recurve, longbow and compound. It was wonderful to watch from a great viewing point as some of the regions best archers finished their rounds.
Behind the viewing gallery was a canteen where plenty of people were buying refreshments. Although we did not try the canteen, it would clearly be a useful addition to the venue for those archers choosing to shoot a session A and C double, especially if they had travelled some distance to the venue like we had.
Finally 15:45 drew close and we moved downstairs into the main hall. The layout was different to our hall at (Archers of Raunds) AOR. Rather than shooting lengthwise, we shot across the hall giving a much wider view of twice the number of bosses that we are used to. However, once we were set up and had been addressed by the judges, focus turned to our sighters and all of the other bosses disappeared from our focus – now it was just you and your target.
I had been warned that the venue can be a little cold at times and although I wore my AOR polo shirt and sweatshirt, the temperature was ideal for me. I’m not sure what it was like earlier in the day though!
In recent shoots, I have had great sighters that have been quickly followed by a dozen disastrous arrows. For this reason, I was quite pleased to have my sighters fall around the gold, pretty much north, south, east and west by the time the second set had been shot.
Was this a good sign, or a sign of worse to come?
Thankfully, for me, it was the former and my overall performance was on par for me, although very well down on a medal position. 472 is just not going to cut it and again that illusive 500 was not to be found. However, it was great to be shooting on a boss where two of the top scoring archers shot. Their target was replaced half way through the shoot as the middle was shot out and calling my scores each end after their seemingly regular calls of 10,10,10 or 10,10,9 was somewhat demoralising. Maybe one day – I can dream.
I felt sorry for Lauren. The day before she had been working with one of the county coaches and the bow had been stripped of her v-bar and it was clear that her clicker was no longer set correctly as her technique improved through the training session. She’d also been working on grouping her arrows in the gold on a large target face, so moving back to a Portsmouth added some extra pressure.
However Katie, Lauren’s friend and shooting partner since joining AOR, was on top form following two great practice sessions at the club. She went on to score a personal best and she took the Junior Girls Recurve trophy home with a top score for her class on the day.
Overall, the day very enjoyable, everyone was very friendly and new acquaintances were made. I must say a big thank you to the gentleman from Cambridge who gave me some herbal pain relief for my shoulder, which I managed to pull at the start of the last dozen arrows. Without it, I don’t think that I’d have finished the shoot and the last half dozen or so were nearly all shot through the clicker . I’ve now sourced my own bottle (not an easy task in the UK as it comes from Poland) and I’ll be keeping it in my kit box.
If I had to find something about the venue that you should be wary of, it would be the amount of space available behind the shooting line. This is only my second away shoot and we might be spoiled at AOR behind the line, but I found myself tripping around peoples bows fairly frequently coming off the shooting line. Maybe this is a feature of indoor shoots and one that dissipates when we all head outside in a few weeks time. However, looking along the line of bows in their rests it was not difficult to find several wobbling as people moved around them. My advice would therefore be to get there early and get your bow bag and other paraphernalia against the bag wall, keeping the forward viewing area free for your bow only. I’d also encourage non participating people to use the viewing gallery (balcony), not only does it give a great view of the shooting archers, but it keeps you out of the way.
Anyway, as I mentioned earlier, all in all the venue and the shoot were very enjoyable, well staged and managed and Lauren and I look forward to heading over to The Jolly Archers again next year to have another try at the medals – I can only dream.
So, AOR started with giving a trophy back and ended the day taking another one home, along with the Gold and Bronze Junior Girls Recurve medals. All in all, a sterling performance by our junior girls.
Sunday, 13 February 2011
Welcome
Welcome to my new blog which is all about trying to personalise Archery.
Whilst there are countless club sites and associated blogs, the main Archery GB site and other archery resources online, I could not find anything that enabled any archer to post their club news or personal archery story in one single place. Some archers are good enough to be featured on their club website, some on their county's website and a few on the national website and in the magazine, but most (like me) are unlikely to have that opportunity.
It is for this reason that I have begun this blog. I’ll run it (posting when I have something to say) for a few months and see what interest it gets. However, more importantly, I’ll be looking to see how useful people find it through submissions from archers around the UK.
I will therefore welcome emails (mdp_aor@hotmail.co.uk) on any of the following subjects, or anything else archery related that you think people might find interesting:
I look forward to hearing from you very soon,
Martyn.
Whilst there are countless club sites and associated blogs, the main Archery GB site and other archery resources online, I could not find anything that enabled any archer to post their club news or personal archery story in one single place. Some archers are good enough to be featured on their club website, some on their county's website and a few on the national website and in the magazine, but most (like me) are unlikely to have that opportunity.
It is for this reason that I have begun this blog. I’ll run it (posting when I have something to say) for a few months and see what interest it gets. However, more importantly, I’ll be looking to see how useful people find it through submissions from archers around the UK.
I will therefore welcome emails (mdp_aor@hotmail.co.uk) on any of the following subjects, or anything else archery related that you think people might find interesting:
- Your personal account of a very recent club competition
- Your archery success story
- Details of an up and coming archery event that you or your club are planning
I look forward to hearing from you very soon,
Martyn.
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