Two weeks prior to the second stop on the 2025 ASA Pro-Am, I had no intention to attend. Therefore, I didn't prepare for the event and never fired an arrow outside. Rather, the set-up I used in Foley the previous month was leaning against the wall collecting dust.
Then after a few text exchanges, against my better judgment, I decided to pack my bags once again and head south. Sometimes it's easier to go into something when you're facing the realism behind it. On this occasion, reality spoke to me, and I wasn't a fan of what it had to say.
It said, "What the hell are you thinking?"
Taking a dive into the dark, cloudy chasms of my memory, I approached it knowing I still hold the ability to grind and give myself a shot, even when it seems all the odds are stacked against me. Believing in yourself is half the battle in this game called archery, and I don't have any problems with self-confidence. There's a fine line between confidence and arrogance, and I've always admired people who have self-confidence. I try to stick close to those people and avoid the arrogance that sometimes spews from others in the arena.
Travel Day
The weather hasn't been the best in northern New York since the last ASA, so I've been plugging along indoors. I've spent the majority of my time working on shooting a handheld release again. In doing so, I took Jacob's advice to use low poundage again. Everything I've achieved in the archery world, whether it's indoor shooting, outdoor target archery or 3D archery, has been accomplished while using low poundage bows... no more than 55 pounds. However, the bow I brought with me, my Dominator Duo 38 with SE2 cams, was set at 63 pounds. Knowing this, I had to use a caliper release I've used since 2019.
We got off to an early start and found ourselves headed out of Atlanta airport shortly after noon. We figured we would stop at the shoot and get a little practice in before calling it a day. After shooting about 10 targets, I decided I would change my game plan for this ASA. Instead of shooting all uppers, I was going to shoot lowers due to the fact most of my arrows were hitting low. Instead of giving it much thought, I figured I wasn't used to the poundage, which contributed to the low arrows. Jacob, on the other hand, couldn't miss. I think he shot 10 12s of the 12 targets we shot and barely missed the other two. However, when we were done, a crack on his limb seemed to have gotten a little bit larger. Without a spare bow or being able to replace limbs, he wrapped the limb with electrical tape to keep the area where it had begun to splinter from getting worse.
Practice Day
We took full advantage of the practice day. Suddenly, I was glad I had decided to attend the tournament. The bright sun and warm temperatures were a pleasant break from what we've been experiencing at home. It felt good to shoot in a t-shirt and enjoy the beautiful day. We were both ready for Day 1.
After grabbing a bite to eat and heading back to the AirBnb, we clicked the TV on and watched "Wicked Tuna," the reality show about tuna fishing. It was entertaining and left us with a lot of questions. We even did some Googling to figure out some facts that had us guessing.
Day 1
When I got to my stake the first day, I learned I would be shooting with Kerry Klund, Richard Teasley, Richard Owens and Johnny Pearlheath. However, when things got closer to starting, there was a mix-up with groups and there were five people in a few different groups. This required people to leave certain groups, my group being one of them. I volunteered to go to another group and found myself sharing a stake with Tony Tazza, Loren Lohr and Kevin Koch. I never could've asked for a better group. There's no better feeling than shooting with guys whom you can call friends in which there's mutual respect and admiration shared between everyone in the group. That always makes for a great day on the range, whether the results at the end of the day are good or bad. While there was nothing wrong with the original group, I definitely enjoyed where I ended up.
I got off to a good start. Although my hold wasn't the best on the first target of the day, it was good enough to stay in the 10-ring and barely miss the 12. By the time I got to my fifth target, I was feeling really good. The bow was holding steady and my shots were breaking cleanly. Everything felt on course for a good day. Although we were battling a little bit of sun, we were able to block most of it with Tony's umbrella. My pin would occasionally wash out, but I could see the end of it well enough to still have a solid aiming reference.
After five targets, I found myself on the leaderboard at +2 and knew I was headed toward a good day. Everything felt too good to be interrupted. When I got to the sixth target, I made a decent, but not great, shot at an impala (if I recall correctly). When the bow fired, I heard a distinct tinging noise and asked if anyone else heard it. Nobody heard it. The concerning part was that the arrow was on the outside of the 8-line looking in. While I had gotten an 8, it was barely an 8. I knew the shot was good enough that it shouldn't have landed where it did. Not totally trusting myself, I shrugged it off and moved to the next target.
Staring at the leopard at the end of the lane, I knew I would play it safe and shoot for the center because I could clearly see a clover where I could hold my pin. I also knew 50 would do the trick. When I drew the bow and anchored, the pin locked on the top of the clover and the shot fired... effortlessly. In the split second that it fired, I said, "Yup," knowing I had just smoked the center of the 10-ring. Then, I never heard the arrow hit the target. Instead, it never touched a piece of foam and skidded to a stop on the back side of the leopard between the legs.
Knowing I had made a perfect shot, I told the guys I was going to the breakdown bale to check my marks. After getting it cleared with the range official, I scurried to the bag and quickly realized I had lost about four yards on my tape. I quickly moved my indicator and got back to the stake without missing a target. Not knowing what caused the issue, I progressed through the round and let it slip from my mind.
I continued making good shots, but there were a handful of targets that I felt I should have pierced the 12-ring, two of which I called the upper and hit below it with the right number. When we finished the round, I was highly disappointed and found myself within reach of the leaderboard but well behind. I ended the day with a 190 after missing the target and getting an 8 on the one before the miss. I knew I could make up the ground, but I would need a really good day. Actually, everyone in the group shot well, but Kevin and I both missed the leopard. Tony and Loren were sitting in good shape going into Day 2.
Near the end of the round, Tony pierced Kevin's arrow for a Robinhood. It was pretty cool that it stuck instead of ricocheting into never-never land.
After finishing the round, we grabbed a bite to eat and went back to our place. In the evening when we figured most people were gone, we headed back to the range to change the blade on my rest. The blade had cracked then settled into place for the rest of the round. The blade caused me to lose yardage on the sight, ultimately contributing to the low 8 and miss before I figured out something was wrong. While it probably wasn't perfect the rest of the day, it held up without breaking or causing any other mayhem like it did on the leopard. If there was a silver lining to the cloud, that was it. As soon as I shot the bow with the new blade on the rest, I gained back all of the yardage I had lost. It only took a few minutes to sight the bow in and call it a day. Jacob was sitting at +16. He had a pretty good day and was more than ready to press the gas pedal to the floor the next day.
Day 2
The picture above sums up our trip for the weekend, especially Day 2. I'm not sure what happened on Day 2, and I'm not going to spend any time on it. I started off well and stayed that way for about nine targets. Then, things went off the tracks and I never recovered. Looking back on it, I have no idea what happened. I'm not sure if what the eye doctor had warned me about came to the forefront, or if I just didn't do well. My shooting didn't feel too terribly much different than it did on Day 1, other than a slightly unsteadier hold.
The only difference between Day 1 and Day 2 was the lighting. Day 1 was a bright, sunny day, but Day 2 was overcast. When the doctor told me I would need similar lighting conditions from start to finish to achieve my potential, maybe he was correct. Did the lighting conditions result in the sub-par performance on Day 2? I could say it did, but I'm taking ownership of it because I'm better than what turned out on the scorecard. I'm going to walk away from the weekend realizing I need to fix a few things, and I'm hoping that by returning to lower poundage setups that I'll return to competitive form. I've been lackluster on the trail the last two years, and I will try everything possible to return to where I know I've been and still want to be. I'm ready for the next challenge. There have been times in the last year in which I felt like I had no hope, but then again I've been climbing Everest in the process. I'll be the first to tell you that it's tough to climb the highest mountain in the world and survive while your mind is consumed with the stresses that come along with family, health, work and well-being. When exterior thoughts are roaming the wastelands inside your mind, you may not think they affect your performance, but I'm beginning to think that maybe they have a bigger impact than I can imagine. It just doesn't feel like that's the case, but when coach Mike Price says it's impossible to be anywhere near your best when you don't have 100% focus, I don't think I can debate with him about it anymore.
Jacob's Day 2 was heartbreaking. He had a chance to make a statement after the extracurricular happenings in Foley, but that cracked limb decided to rear its ugly head. When the devil is sitting on your shoulder and messing with your equipment, there's not much one can do to defend against it. Jacob did everything he could to bite, claw and hold on until the finish but came up just shy of where he needed to be. In the end, he succumbed to a dose of strictly bad luck and bad timing.
Watching the fight he put up while not being able to do what he's capable of doing was inspiring, and a lot can be gained from witnessing it. He never gave up, even though he knew he didn't have things working at 100%. Instead, he came up with a game plan to somehow not go backward. Once he got to +22, he did everything he could to get the few extra points he would need to get to the dance, but everything hit the wall on the final target of the tournament.
That's when we walked off the range together and realized that both of us got slapped square in the face with bad luck. If you shoot long enough, a few bad things are bound to happen from time to time. All you have to do is ask Glenn Meadows. He might have the worst streak of any of my peers in the last few years. If it can happen, it will happen to Glenn. I had a long streak of that in my career, but I'm hoping what happened last weekend was just a little dose of it that will not return.
Final Thoughts
While I wasn't hoping for much at this tournament, I didn't figure the result would be nearly as bad as it ended up. I won't tell you I wasn't highly disappointed, especially after making pretty good shots and good decisions. I guess it just goes to show you that sometimes you're the bug and sometimes you're the windshield. No matter how hard we try or how badly we try to prevent bad things from happening, there is nobody who is immune to unfortunate incidents. At those times, the only thing that matters is how you respond. You can pack it in and disappear or you can never give up. I choose to never give up.
In recent times, I've wondered if the Old Man has finally caught up to me as far as my archery career goes. I've questioned my ability to compete at the highest level. Although I still believe I can compete and be a regular in the top 10, the scoreboard has not reflected that. I've had multiple top 10s the last few years and a few IBO shootdown appearances, but things haven't been like they were about three years ago when everything seemed effortless to shoot good scores. There have been shoulder and back problems combined with the recent eye issues, and the daily stresses of life have been overwhelming. I'd like to be able to look into a crystal ball to tell if those things truly make a difference. I should probably listen to Coach when he says they make way more of a difference than I can fathom. I really don't know where I'm at right now. A good, long, hard look in the mirror has me thinking thoughts I haven't thought in a long time, and I do know that Father Time is undefeated. He defeats some people before others, but he eventually catches all of us.
With that being said, I still firmly believe I have moments of brilliance that are still waiting to return. Between Foley and Benning, I had multiple people in my groups compliment me on my shooting, and they are people whom I highly respect. They are well-respected archers who have accomplished things others can only dream about. They are winners. I've always believed that nothing is better than when you have the respect of your peers, and I know I have that.
Although I currently feel like there's a cloud floating above me that doesn't want to go away, I also know I have the power to change it. If I could jump outside of my body and look back toward myself, this would sum up exactly how I feel right now, I'll leave you with this and this is also for the ones who might be snickering while thinking I'm done:
