The Goldsmith's had a lot of fun at our Easter get-together playing archery games. We started off with a few games of tic-tac-toe with a bag target. After that, we played a game that we invented called "Bocci Bow". It's a sort of variation of the popular game Bocci Ball. We used a throwing target like the one pictured below. Playing with teams of two, we threw the target, used a range-finder to get the distance, and then one player from each team shot at the target. Before you shot, you had to call out which spot you were shooting at. If you called and hit a small spot, it was worth 3 points, if you called and hit a big spot, it was worth 2 points, and if you hit the target, but not where you called, you got one point. We played to 21, and we weren't allowed to go over 21. It was a really fun game, and everyone had a blast playing it! If you're interested in playing, Plum Creek Archery sells the Rinehart throwing target for around $30.
Last weekend was the Minnesota State Indoor Tournament in Redwood Falls, MN (which is about 2 1/2 hours southwest of Minneapolis). I was going alone, and since my line time was at 1:00pm on Sunday, I decided to go up on Saturday and stay in a hotel. My drive there is a story of its own, but I'll give you the short version.
I printed off directions to Redwood Falls before I left, but I also had my brother's GPS with me. I typed in the address before I left, and was on my way without realizing that they were not giving me the same directions. It was when I got to Albert Lea that I realized they were telling me to go in two different directions. I decided to follow the directions I had printed off, which went more like the crow flys as opposed to going straight west and then straight north. This was probably not the brightest idea I've ever had.
You know how when you're using a GPS and you don't do what it tells you to, it usually recalculates and gives you a different route? Well for 15 miles it kept telling to me "Turn Around". I thought about turning around, but decided I was going to go with my gut (especially since I technically had until 1:00pm the next day to get there). When the GPS did finally recalculate, it ended up telling me that there was no route I could take without taking unpaved roads. Although I didn't have to take any gravel roads, and I did make it there just fine, the route sure was interesting. Here's just one of the neat things I saw:
After I got to my hotel, I realized that I had forgotten my phone charger, and naturally it wasn't fully charged when I left on my trip. Also, my computer charger quit working, and like my phone, my computer was basically dead. Turns out I wasn't very prepared for my stay. Because I had nothing to do, I ended up going to the local casino. This is where I lost twenty dollars, and had to drive back in the pouring rain on dark unfamiliar roads. Luckily I'm an excellent driver with great vision. It ended up storming so bad that the power went out at the hotel, which is fine with me because when it turned back on my computer charger worked!
The next day I woke up and headed to the Redwood Area Community Center. This place was HUGE! I got myself registered, not realizing that we were supposed to be pre-registered. Now that I think about it, I probably should have asked how to pre-register so I don't have to pay the late fee again. Because I registered late, I was told I'd be put on a random bail, and possibly not with people in my same division. After I registered I headed to the area where we could practice. Since I arrived there so early I ended up being able to shoot about 40 practice shots with plenty of time to rest after. I'm glad I did get the chance to practice for so long, because I really think that helped calm my nerves.
When I got into the building where the actual shoot took place, I found my bail and hung up my target. It turned out I was on a bail with all children. I would say all the girls were in about 6th grade. I was a little upset that I wasn't by any adults that I could ask all of the questions that I had, but I was also glad to be on a bail with these girls because I really wasn't too intimidated. However, I was a little nervous at first that I was going to get beat by a child.
There were 63 bails in this place, with 4 people on a bail, meaning close to 250 people were shooting at a line time. There were 4 line times total over the weekend, so I'm assuming close to 1,000 people shot at the Minnesota State Indoor. When I actually shot I was quite nervous, but throughout the shoot my nerves did calm down quite a bit. My score ended up being 291 30X. My goal going into the shoot was to shoot better than a 289, so I'm glad I achieved that.
When I was done shooting, it was after 5:00pm and I was pretty tired. Since I still had over a 4 hour drive home, I couldn't decide whether or not I should stay for awards. I was almost positive I hadn't placed, because I knew what the scores in my flight roughly were because they sent out a magazine called "The Arrow" which had everyone's scores from regionals published in it. This reminds me, my robinhood at regionals made it into "The Arrow"! (pictured below)
Even though I didn't think I had placed, I decided I'd stick around anyway just in case. I sure am glad that I did, because the second division they gave awards out to was mine, and I ended up placing 3rd place in the 1st flight! I felt pretty awkward going up in front of everyone, receiving my plaque, and standing on the podium because not a soul in the building knew who I was. I'm a little disappointed that no one was there to witness it, but below is a link to the 2011 Minnesota State Indoor Tournament Results, as well as a picture of my Minnesota shaped plaque. Even though it was a little boring going all the way up there myself and not really having anyone to experience it with, I had a pretty good time and I'm extremely glad that I went. Hopefully next year I can convince a few people to join me!
2011 State Indoor Results
You may have noticed that I never posted anything about how I did at the Iowa State Indoor Tournament. This is partly because I've been busy, but mostly because I was embarrassed. I shot even worse than I was expecting; and I wasn't expecting much. I believe my final score was 209, which is about 70 points lower than I had previously been shooting. I must admit that I was really glad that my dad, brother, and Uncle Tom came and shot with me, because without them there making me laugh and keeping me occupied between ends I probably would've gotten frustrated to the point of tears. I had practiced so much during the days leading up to the state indoor, but once I got in front of a bunch of people my target panic exploded and I couldn't hit a dang thing.
I'm happy to say that as of lately, I've been shooting MUCH better (feel free to knock on wood for me). So what is the reason for my recent improvement? If I had to pick one thing that made the biggest difference and helped me the most, I would say it's my new release. It's kind of a funny story of how I acquired my release. I asked Steve Plein to bring a bunch of his releases for me to try because I had been thinking about changing to either a thumb or back tension release. I tried a few of them, and even thought that I had found "the one". However, I remembered that my brother Ben had just ordered and just received a new back tension release for himself. I called him and asked if I could try it out before he got it set up for him and his bow. Lucky for me, he said that was no problem. I tried it and instantly fell in love. I fell so in love that I ended up telling Ben he was going to need to order himself a new release, because he wasn't getting this one back. Getting used to my new release was no easy task, in fact, I'm still no where near being an expert with it.
Here is a picture of what my new release looks like, and if you click on the photo it will bring you to their website so you can read more about it. My new release and my greatly improved scores instantly changed my attitude about shooting. I no longer feel defeated, and I look forward to shooting. However, I don't want you to think that I'm over my target panic, because I'm definitely not. Actually, I ended up going to the doctor and getting some pills for what they call "performance anxiety". I pop a couple of them before I shoot help keep my heart rate down so I don't get so worked up. They do help some, but they're no miracle pills.
Besides my new release, I also FINALLY received my new Sure-Loc Challenger sight, Octane stabilizer, and Bowtech Destroyer!! When I ordered all of my new toys I decided that I wanted to be the one to set up my new bow, that way if something ever goes wrong while I'm away at school there's a possibility that I'll be able to fix it myself. The guys at Plum Creek Archery were very patient and helpful, and I'm extremely pleased with the final result. I call my new bow "Black Beauty", and I love it very much. The first 300 round I shot with it, I tied my high score, which I had shot at Regionals for the Minnesota Indoor, of 189. The second 300 round I shot, I shot a new high score of 296 28X. I can't say enough how much I LOVE my new setup! Definitely worth all of the waiting for my specially ordered items. If there's ever something you're interested in getting, I highly suggest you ask the guys at PCA if they can help get it for you, because they'll do what they can to get it done.
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