My 3D career feels like it's a million miles away from where it was when this picture was taken. Amazingly, that photo was taken on target number 1 on my second day of the IBO World a few years ago. I sat at the top after the first day and figured nothing would get in my way. After this picture was snapped, the arrow landed in the 5-ring due to a misjudged gator......nothing like putting yourself in the hole five points on day two on the first target. On the next 4 targets, I shot three more 8s and was treading water to stay alive, gasping for air with everything I had inside. I would go on to shoot 13 11s on the last 15 targets and finish even for the day, making it into the finals. I learned a lesson: never give up, no matter how bad it might seem.
In some aspects, today reminded me of that day. I treaded water all day. The waves splashed in my face, and I tried my hardest to fight off hypothermia. I gasped for air as the water couldn't avoid going into my throat. At times, I thought I was going under, but I tried to remain focused with the task at hand: finding a way to survive the day and make the necessary changes to fix the problems when I got home.
When I drew my bow at the practice bags, I knew it was going to be a long day. I couldn't hold the pin still to save my life. It danced all around the bale and made it difficult to commit to the shot as I've committed to it all winter. This bow just has a totally different feel.
The few times I was able to shoot in the yard to get marks last week, I noticed that it takes me a lot of arrows before the pin sits down. Unfortunately, you don't get to shoot a lot of arrows when you're shooting a 3D tournament. I figured out quickly that the bow wasn't going to sit down and let me make great shots. I would need to figure out a way to get through the course without having all of the wheels fall off the buss and pass me on the way down the hill.
As I made my way through the first half, I struggled mightily to hold the pin in the kill zone. Looking deep inside my own mind, I couldn't come up with a reason why I could hold the pin solidly in the white on a 5-spot target at home and never shoot an arrow out of the white, yet on this particular 3D course, I could barely keep the pin in the 10-ring. Considering all of the battles I was fighting in the beginning, I held my own and continued marching toward the finish line.
My arrows were finding their mark every time my shot broke before the hold deteriorated from the unusually high holding weight on my bow. When the hold broke down, the pin quickly fell out the bottom and the release fired. Although I didn't deal with that on every shot, it did show up on about seven of the 30 shots. I can't consider those shots bad because I saved a few of them when the pin started to go south, and I was able to let down and start over, but there were three that I couldn't catch up to before the bow fired. I knew that I had the yardage on all three of the shots, yet I took my three 5s on the chin. The release fired as soon as the pin darted toward the belly. They weren't really bad shots, the shots were just poorly timed. I'll make the necessary changes this week to avoid those mistakes next week.
With about 10 targets left, I changed releases, and my shots began to go off a little better than they had throughout the day. I didn't have to fight so hard to get through my shot. Although, I still had one shot that bobbed out of the kill zone and fired, the aiming calmed down quite a bit, and I was able to make what I thought were much better shots than I had made earlier in the day. I felt good about the way they were firing.
When the day of shooting finished, I was not a happy camper. I didn't have fun shooting my bow today. I did have fun with my friends throughout the day. It's always nice when you share the range with other guys who like archery as much as me. I'd like to give all of the people from Massachusetts and Connecticut a big thanks for showing your support for the IBO shoot in New York. It goes a long way, and it is appreciated. I hope all of you enjoyed your day.
Today made it seem like all of my hard work throughout the winter decided to get up and leave. I had an extremely hard time feeling my shot with the higher holding weight. Although I thought it would be better for me, I now know that I need to get it down a bit to make my aiming better. If my aiming settles down, I will be able to relax much easier, which will allow me to make confident, strong shots. I expect next week to be much better, providing I can iron things out and get them fixed.
I'd like to give a shout out to three of the guys who came out of the BBO class and shot in the MBO class today. All of you did a great job with the transition, and I expect that you will all learn a lot this year and have a good time doing it. Those guys are Jacob, Jeremy and Ethan. Nice job today guys, especially on a challenging course. If you handled it like you did today, you shouldn't have any problems the rest of the way. That was a great piece of shooting from all of you.
I'd like to write more, but my mind is fried tonight. I have too much to process. It was a long weekend, and I'm ready for the new week to start. Considering all of the issues I faced throughout the day, I only made three bad shots, and they really weren't all that bad. I had great numbers for not being outside at all. I haven't looked at a 3D target outside since Shawn Couture's shoot the weekend after the IBO World last year, so I'll take today as a successful warmup. Hopefully, I put the three-headed monster to rest, and he'll subside into the darkness. I've had enough of his three pesky heads for this year.
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