This week went by too quickly. Once again, the weather wasn't conducive to achieving much outside with my bow. Early in the week, I knew I had to shoot some of my other bows so I would have a bow to shoot in case I decided to go to Maine on Sunday. I figured I probably wouldn't go due to the number of things I had going on over the weekend, but knowing my dad wanted to go, I tried making sure I had a bow to shoot that would make me feel confident. In case any of your are wondering, the bow I've been shooting is in need of a little work, and I haven't made the time to get at it yet. Although it can still be shot, I know I probably should wait until I get the work done.
I decided to work on my bow arm this week. All of my attention was focused on keeping a strong bow arm from start to finish. I've noticed over the years by watching others shoot -- and also stepping back and looking at my own shooting -- that if I have a strong bow arm throughout my shot, I very rarely miss. Misses usually don't come on the backend. Instead, they come from what the bow arm does before, during and after the shot. I've been able to get away with murder with my other hand and arm.
As I focused on my front arm, I realized that I could imagine driving the arrow through the middle of the target. I used the aggressive attitude to help me hold steady and execute good shots. During my trials, I noticed my groups spreading out a little bit. I do most of my practicing from 40, 45 and 50 yards on a 5-spot target. This target has always given me a good idea how I'm holding and executing. Although it's a 20-yard target, I shoot 300 games at 40 to determine if my bow is shooting well. If my bow is shooting well, I can keep all of my arrows in the white. If the bow isn't measuring up, I will shoot random arrows out of the white but very rarely beyond the first ring in the blue. While tuning bows, I use the "keep them in the white" test to determine the forgiveness of my bow. I'd imagine as I get older, I will have to find a different method. I'm sure my hold won't be good enough to do that on a regular basis, but for now, I will continue using that method. Find a method that works for you to determine what is acceptable for groups and what isn't. You need to push yourself to tighten your groups and improve your execution. My choice is to shoot a 20-yard indoor game at 40 yards outdoors. It's double the distance, and I have to compete with the factors that come with shooting outdoors. Too many people get outdoors and wing arrows because they love shooting. I love shooting, too, but I try to achieve something while I'm shooting. This week the work focused on my bow arm. If my bow arm is good, I will not have any left or right misses, which is always my goal.
Throughout the week, I shot a variety of holding weights on different bows. I shot one bow with 13 pounds of holding weight, one with 6 and one with 17. I ruled the 6-pounder out. I just couldn't get it to feel comfortable to get through my shot. My old reliable bow at 13 pounds won the starting job. That bow flat-out shoots. I can stand on my head and shoot arrows in the middle with that bow. Then, I decided to try the 17 pounder again, the one that Vozzy has helped me with a little bit. I'm determined to make this bow work because I like the feedback it gives me while shooting it. So I spent the most time on that bow.
I finally got the bow to sit down and not move. When the pin hits the middle, it locks on the X. Unfortunately, I have only a few seconds to get the shot off. If it goes in the first few seconds, the arrows pound the X. If my shot timing it off at all, I wander around the white a little bit. This bow is really close, and I feel confident that I will get it to where it needs to go. I plan on shooting it at the Massachusetts Senior Games next month. That will put it to the test in my hands. I will try to get my Gold Tip Platinum Pierces to tune out of it. The arrows seem to be a good match for the setup. I had to put a 15' bar on the back with 17 ounces on it and a 27' bar on the front with 5 ounces. The odd thing about this bow is that I found that I need the draw length a tad longer than my other bows. Although this bow is a hair longer axle to axle, it just doesn't work unless I shoot it at about 1/8 inch longer. I'm not going to try to figure it out because that's just the way it is with the particular bow.
Adult Archery Day: Saturday
I spent Saturday at the range at my local club. My buddy Aron Stevenson, owner of Exit Archery, volunteered to give a crash-course lesson to a group of people from where I work. For those of you who don't know, I work for a large company, and the company does things involved with the outdoors to give people an opportunity to explore things they might not otherwise have access to.
We had about 25 people sign up, and some of them brought their kids to try it out, too. We had people ranging from early teens to 60s, all there because they liked the idea of archery. They all wanted to launch arrows and watch the mystical flight of an arrow, just as I did when I was a child and still do today on a daily basis. Archery calms my mind and brings me into a place that so few people ever experience. I get lost within my subconscious mind and sit back and watch things happen from afar. Archery becomes effortless at that point. It's simply awesome to experience at that level, but it takes years to achieve that type of feeling. It's Zen at its finest, but the bad days are miles away from feeling the same.
As I helped the people shooting, it made me smile. The people were having more fun than small children at a water park. Huge smiles formed on many of their faces, and before we finished for the day, some of them were making great shots, but all of them were enjoying themselves. I will definitely try to do this again. Hopefully, a few of them will pursue archery now that they've had a formal introduction to it. Here are a few pictures from the day's events.
This is my friend Yolanda with her first bullseye ever. Yolanda came to this country from Colombia and has experimented with many things that she had never done in her home country. She loved this introduction to archery.
This is the Gerardi family enjoying themselves and having fun. Mom Girardi seemed to figure it out by the end of the day. This family has some beginner talent. We need to keep working on them.
This is Bri, Garret and Sam.........Bri and Garret were showing off a little bit and putting them right in the middle. Sam can actually shoot accurately right-handed and left-handed
Matt and Ann really enjoyed themselves.
Matt's smile says it all. Matt is a wizard with computers. I told him that me talking technical archery to him is like him talking computers to me. We both laughed about that.
There you go. As you can see, this is one of the best days in archery that I've had in a long time. It was simply awesome, and the people who came to the event were awesome people. I hope we lit a fire with some of them that will burn from this day forward. That's all we can do: introduce people to the sport we love and hope they follow in our footsteps.
Maine IBO State Championship
I really wasn't interested in going to this tournament. I had minimal sleep throughout the week, and I didn't work on my numbers that much. I've always loved Maine since I was a kid, and my mother's side of the family is from Maine, so I have a hard time not going to that state when I get a chance to go. There's something about the state that draws me to it. Maybe it's the giant mosquitos the state is know for! I also know that some phenomenal 3D shooters have come out of Maine. Mainers have always driven me to be better. I haven't met many of them that weren't top-notch archers. It's amazing how small their archery community is and how many national champions have come from there. They set the bar for New Englanders, a bar I've always strived to reach. From Roger Thibeault to their current great one, Ben Lambert, they always send a shooter or two to the south so the rest of us can try to learn a few tricks to keep pace. There are too many great ones to mention, but I can easily say that the likes of them have had a great deal with the success that I have attained over the years. I'll be forever thankful that those guys pushed me to become better just to keep up.
Dad and I got on the road at 5:00 a.m. When I woke up, I knew it was going to be a long day since I hadn't gotten more than four hours of sleep in the last two nights. When we arrived at the tournament site around 9:00, I signed up and got ready to go.
After talking to Sean Roberts on Thursday night and discussing the issue on my regular bow that I was putting off working on, he convinced me to just shoot the bow. After all, what could 30 shoots do to it. I decided that would be my best bet, even though I hadn't fired an arrow out of it since my last arrow at the New York State shoot on last Sunday.
I walked to the target butt and fired two arrows at 35 yards, both of them hitting in the center of the bullseye. Not wanting to shoot any more arrows, I walked to the registration area to be grouped. When I saw Jacob and his dad there, I figured I would be shooting with them again, but then a few people walked up behind me. I ended up in a group with Dad, Barry Gates and Jeff Wagoner. I hadn't shot with Barry or Jeff this year, so I knew we would have a good day and catch up on everyone's trials and tribulations in archery.
Off to a Good Start
I got off to a good start when I executed a picture perfect shot on a black panther and donutted the 11 on it. The pin held steady, and the shot broke perfectly. I was off and running.
I picked my way through the first 10 but never felt comfortable. As we progressed through the course, I realized that the time behind the bow I shot all week that had 17 lbs of holding weight was not working in my favor. It made the bow I was shooting today feel like a sloppy mess. I had a very hard time holding steady and I found myself watching the pin instead of focusing on my execution.
I had to let down a lot today. I've always been disciplined with that and will not force a shot. Instead, I'll make sure I get it right, and it was very difficult to get it right today. I stuck to the plan and executed some great ones when they went.
When I started my second 10 and got a few targets into it, I saw the group of young shooters from Massachusetts. They stopped to say hello, and that shot happened to be my best shot of the day. It was a Big 10 buck, and I could see the 11-ring. My pin settled nicely on it, and my back loaded quickly. Once in my back, I relaxed and rotated, and the shot was on its way. The arrow hit directly behind the pin but an inch under the 11. I couldn't have asked for a better shot. This was absolutely perfect. It was shot that I lie in bed at night and imagine in my mind. When I imagined myself winning big events, I always imagined executing a shot just like that one. If you see it in your mind, it becomes a reality. You just have to keep seeing it -- over and over again.
After shooting that shot, I went on a streak of shooting a few more shots just like that one. Maybe those Mass. guys brought me some good vibes. They're always smiling and are always in a good mood, even if they're not shooting well. A lot can be learned from those types of people. They always remind me that it's great just to be alive. I envy them for their ability to have fun. It's a pleasure to watch.
I briefly lost my numbers on the turkey and bedded doe near the end of the course. I knew I was going to hit both targets high -- and I did. Sometimes, I should listen to the little voice in my head. I chose to ignore it on those two shots and paid the piper.
I finished that round solidly by shooting 11s on the last two targets in front of the big Boy Scout audience. All of the Boy Scouts who were making lunch made a good audience. One thing I've always done over the years when there's a lot of commotion is to block it out by pretending I'm going to make a shot that everyone sees and says, "WOW, did you see that shot? That was the best shot I've ever seen."
With that in my head, I focus solely on the process. Even if I blank the target, I will know that I executed a perfect shot for all of them to watch. It will be so perfect that the audience won't even notice if I totally miss the target because they'll still be in awe of the execution. It does wonders to help block out any random thoughts that might come into my mind. It worked perfectly on those two shots, as the shots were two of the best ones I made today.
Going into the last 10 targets, I felt confident. When I had to lead the white bedded goat, I took a few yards off my tape before drawing. I should've left it on. My arrow struck less than 1/4 of an inch below the 10-ring. During the rest of that round, I played on a balancing beam...........shoot an 8......shoot a few 11s to catch up.
When I got to the last few targets, I wanted to make great shots to have those in my mind on the ride home. I accomplished just that to finish my day. I couldn't have asked for two better shots, one landing in the 11 and the other an inch below the 11. I was glad to put my bow back in the case and head home. It was a long day and I was extremely tired.
Here's my card for the day.
My Take on the Day
I shot with Barry Gates today. I know Barry has been working with Mark Myers for quite a while. Barry gets frustrated, just like the rest of us. As I watched him shoot today, I thought about last year. He looked like an entirely different guy. He looked to be shooting the same shot at almost every station. I could tell he was a little amped up in the beginning, and I'm sure many of you also get amped up in the beginning. I get that way, too. I've found that my best method to get through that has been to write down in my journal how much I enjoy shooting the first few shots in tournaments and that those shots are some of my best shots I shoot. I've done this enough that it has become a reality. If you write it down enough, it will happen. If you see yourself doing it, it will happen. Trust me when I tell you this. You just have to commit to these things and make good on them.
Barry has also been beating himself up about his scores all year. I think he shot a 269 today. This was the best 269 I've ever seen shot. Yes, Barry did have a few "Oh Barry" moments from my observations, but try few of them. Instead, he had many shots that were great. That 269 could have easily been a 290 and probably should've been. If you could give him an inch on a ruler, I'm sure he would have been 20 points better........easily. Never judge your performance on your score.
Like Barry, I could've eliminated four 8s today out of my six if I could've had a half inch on a ruler. When I've been missing, it's no more than a fingernail width below the 10-ring. I'm shooting the best line I've ever shot. I made one poor shot today and paid the price for it. I was unsure of the yardage and let that affect my shot. That will not happen again. I know better than that, and I will improve upon that going into the next shoot.
I did not have a winning performance today with my bow in hand, but I had a winning performance in my mind. My mind performed at an elite level today. My mental management system exceeded its normal capacity today and carried me through the day. I struggled a little with my shot, but my strong mental game and all of the work I put into helped me from one target to the next. Sometimes when all cylinders aren't clicking, you need to get in the lane that works and keep the hammer down. Take advantage of the skills that will keep you in the game and trust the ones that aren't working so smoothly on that day. I'm living proof that you can do it if you put your mind to it.
People sometimes fail to realize how hard others work. I've worked on my mental game for many years, and that skill alone has allowed me to come through on some big stages. I do not have the talent that many others have, but I do have the work ethic that most people lack. I've spent hours upon hours meditating in silence. I've spent days and nights visualizing and seeing myself shooting perfect shots in different situations. I've moved targets all over the map every day of the week to get different looks. I've shot arrows until I can't see any longer. I've shot arrows until my fingers are almost locked in the position of how they wrap around my release.
Everyone thinks Jacob is a natural. If you saw how hard he works, you would not want to be like Jacob. He has that work ethic. He puts targets in his truck and brings them to his club that doesn't have 3D targets and carries them through the woods, setting them in different places, just so he can practice judging distance. The work shows up in his performances. I get it, and I an appreciate it. If you socialize with shooters like this, you realize how much they put into the sport the love. I shared this a few days ago on social media, and it pertains in this case. Take a look and really think about it. How much do you really put into it? Ask the winners how much they put into it, and you will be amazed at the answers they give you. Some don't have to work too hard, but many work harder than most can imagine. I have much more I'd like to write, but I'm spent................until next week........keep working -------------------->
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