The Think Tank

Mom and I bailed out of town just ahead of the snowstorm that has dumped several inches on the Portland area, and headed to Las Vegas for the annual World Archery Festival.

Friday was sort if rough for me. Last week I traded my 2012 dominator for Matt Anderson’s 2013 dominator, and it had been shooting so well the last few days that I decided to shoot it for the first day of the tournament. Unfortunately it’s mojo seems to have worn off: I shot a 297/19x (with an 8 no less). Given that I have been shooting 299-300 with 22-24 x’s pretty consistently this year, the ’97 was disappointing. That was good enough for 90th place, out if about 850+ archers. Also disappointing.

I switched back to the blue bow and practiced for about an hour last night, then mom and I spent the afternoon with our friends Craig and Karen who live just outside Vegas in Henderson.

Today went a little better. I tried to pay special attention to my bow arm today as I was letting my shoulder sag some yesterday, and that proved highly beneficial (as it always does). I dropped my first arrow, which sucked, although I really thought it was a pretty well performed shot, so I couldn’t get too upset about it. After that I rattled off 22 straight X’s, which I think might be a record for me. I got a little nervous and my shoulder was hurting pretty bad the last couple ends, and I dropped three more X’s, but the shots were pretty well executed, so I’m good with that.

I ended the day with with a 299/26x. The X’s were pretty good although the ’99 was a little disappointing. However, as I said, I felt I shot 30 good arrows today, which was what I was aiming for and something I haven’t been able to say for a while. Many of those 30 were about perfect.

Unfortunately being down four points isn’t going to do me any good from a placement perspective and my overall goal of shooting my average score for the weekend is now unattainable. However, there are still some positives to be had:

1. 299/26x is a personal one-day best at Vegas.
2. 22 X’s in a row is a tournament best for me, and may be a personal all-time record.
3. 30 consecutive arrows without an ill-performed shot in a big event is a big step. It’s tempered by the miss as well as the fact that I was effectively out of contention yesterday, but still, it was a goal achieved.
4. Even though I was very disappointed about my shooting on Friday and about the 9 today, I recovered very well and just kept doing my thing. I never got upset or made a fuss or anything. That has been a bugaboo of mine in the past, and both days I handled adversity well.

More to come to Tomorrow.