Sometimes that contest can lead to a tremendous amount of aggravation, and it sticks with you for a few hours, days or weeks. I've experienced the highs and lows just like everyone else, and some days seem to get under my skin more than others.
I've been going to therapy for my shoulder for a few weeks now. My physical therapist, Kris, came up with a plan to strengthen the area around my injury. I've had some good days and bad days the last few weeks, and I take them as they come. In this time period, I have also found myself behind my bow once again.
I decided to take my CBE Vertix sight off the bow and put one of my old CBE 3DXLs on it. The Vertix seemed to be too heavy, and I didn't want to continue fighting it. I haven't been able to get the bow to hold this year like it did last year, and the sight is the only difference in the setup.
I practiced minimally during the week, but I did get the sight sighted in on Friday night. During the process, I found that my backup release seemed to give me a better sight picture while aiming. I felt like the Todd from 20 years ago when my aiming dot never left the X. I was amazed at how well the fiber pin sat in the middle of the X. I felt like the years when it was incredibly easy to shoot high scores and never miss. When I left the range at 10 p.m. on Friday, I couldn't wait to see if the same sight picture would be with me the next day at the annual Guan Ho Ha Vegas tournament.
I arrived at the venue about an hour early and caught up with a few of my friends and acquaintances
whom I haven't seen a lot lately. It felt good to share some great conversation before starting our round. It also felt good to relax before jumping into the deep end. Guan Ho Ha has been one of those tournaments that creates a lot of nerves for me every now and then. I never know what to expect until the first scoring end.
Well, this year I felt good when the clock started ticking. When I drew the first arrow and settled into my aiming process, the pin sat like a rock in the middle of the 10 ring. After finishing the first end, I felt really good about the way the bow was aiming. The incredible sight picture showed up the next end, too. Through six arrows, I had dropped a few points. Since I hadn't experienced such an incredibly still sight picture in so long, I began watching it in amazement instead of participating in my shot. Although I thought I was actively involved, my shot timing was not consistent from arrow to arrow.
When I got into the seventh end, I decided to go back to the release I had been using all year. Although I could hold the bow like a rock with the other one, I was dropping points. After switching releases, I got back on track and missed one low, barely out of the 10, the rest of the way. As long as I've been at this game, I made a rookie mistake on Saturday: I shot a release that I haven't shot all year. I should've started with the one I've shot all along. If I had done that, I would've scored really well.
Looking back at the Guan Ho Ha tournament, I shot some of my best shots of the year. In the 11th end, I made a shot that I consider one of the best of my life. Everything from start to finish was picture perfect, and I say the nock of the arrow a fraction of a second before the arrow buried itself in the X. It was an unbelievable feeling and gave me a sensation of floating while and invisible person took scissors out and cut the bowstring to release the arrow. I can still see it and feel it while I'm typing this tonight. I had a winning performance on Saturday. The score definitely didn't show a winning type score, but everything other than my choice of releases to start the round was what I expect out of myself every day I toe the line. Getting my bow to aim like the old days felt really good, too. I'm hoping that trend continues as I try to shoot a little more than I have for the last three to four weeks.
New Hampshire State Championship
I slept in and headed to New Hampshire for their state championship on Sunday to shoot on the 1 o'clock line. My buddy Chris Hall went with me for the second day in a row. He's getting some tournament experience and his drive is what I like to see. He's putting himself out there to get tournament experience. Tournament experience will always help a shooter. If you can put yourself in uncomfortable situations, you will learn how to deal with your nerves and anxiety.
During our practice ends, I knew I was going to be in trouble. Being an NFAA sanctioned shoot, I knew we would have to hang our targets on the top for half of the round and on the bottom for the other half. I'm not sure if there's a maximum height for NFAA, but the top line of targets was more than I could handle. I just couldn't hold still on the targets. It might have been because I'm not used to shooting at targets hung that high during the winter, or it could be because my arms were tired from shooting at Guan Ho Ha on Saturday. Just for a reference, they had boxes marked with white marker and shooters were supposed to hang their targets in the boxes. While standing with my back to the target, the ball on the top of my baseball hat lined up perfectly with the bottom of the X on the middle target of the 5-spot target. When pulling arrows, I had to reach above my head to pull them out. I found it a little bizarre. It's probably not a big deal to shooters who shoot their regularly, but it was a severe culture shock to me and Chris. Neither one of us could hold steady having to aim that high. By the time the sixth end came, I couldn't wait to move my target. I struggled through every end, and my arms let me down. I only had one clean 5X end of the six ends, dropping six Xs along the way. This put me below my total average, and I was only halfway done. I knew I would have to battle back to try to salvage the day. I've always been good about battling, and I knew things would be much different with my target on the bottom. The bottom targets were set at heights that I shoot every place I go. I knew I would be able to aim better.
The first end on the bottom proved my point. I shot 5xs and 4 of them were inside out. My shooting pace sped up, and my pin locked in the middle. It became easy to shoot once again. I love when my fiber doesn't move out of the X. It seems to relax my mind and allow me to make good shots. I can handle if it's moving, but when it's moving from being in an awkward position, it makes it difficult to have good shot timing. When I was on the top, I felt like I was shooting uphill.
As the round progressed, I felt better and better, and I finished the last end with five solid Xs. My shots were great, and I had salvaged the round. After switching targets from top to bottom, I dropped two Xs. The first one I dropped was the only bad shot I made during the second half. The pin drifted right, and the shot was a little weak. The other one I missed was out less than a fingernail width, and the arrow probably hit where the pin was sitting when the shot fired. When the dust settled, I ended with a 300 52Xs. I definitely wasn't happy on my ride home. I've shot four 300 rounds this year, and I shot 59Xs, 56Xs, 54Xs, and one night I shot 48Xs, but I don't really count that because it was the first round I shot after having an injection in each shoulder and not shooting for two weeks.
My shots were great today, and the bow held steady once I got to a comfortable position on the target bale. Even with all of the excess movement on the top, I didn't miss many by very much. It was one of those rounds that could have easily been much better. It wasn't one where I got lucky to catch Xs. Although I didn't shoot hardly any inside outs, I didn't have any close ones that were going in the direction of being called out. That's always a plus.
I didn't shoot a good score in either tournament this weekend, but I made great strides. Shooting well isn't about posting good scores. Sometimes you need to figure things out along the way, and the scores will follow. I feel like I'm on the edge of tearing off a few good ones in the coming weeks. I guess time will tell on that. I'll continue doing my therapy and trying to make my shoulder stronger. I'm not sure if that will help with my hold or make it worse. I do know that my hold couldn't have been any better than it was at Guan Ho Ha -- or the second half of the New Hampshire shoot.
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