Chessington Bowmen - King's Cup 2015

Well, it went as about could be expected.  I managed 477 which is higher than last year, but not by much.

The day started off well when I picked up The Ageing Archer for our trip to Chessington.  Popped into the Chessington Oak for a quick bite to eat before the competition.  We were joined in the pub by Fadil, Bryn, Sarah and Roger.  Roger had already shot in the first session so was able to give us a lowdown on the day so far.  Sarah was mightily impressed by Matt Webb (the eventual winner of the competition).  So, refuelled and raring to go we made our way to the venue.

At this point we met up with Penelope from 2020Archery, Jeff, Trent and some of the gang from Sutton.  It was her first comp and she was teetering on that line between eagerness and nervousness,  I think you hardened competitors out there know that feeling.  At this point she was busy marking her arrows as she had not realised that your arrows need your name and a number.

With Penelope settled and the clock ticking away I set about gearing up.  It always amazes me how venues don't leave enough space for competitors to set up.  I managed to find some space behind the back row of seats and set about my task.

Tip No. 1 - If you have a bag with many many pockets don't change the location of any equipment the week before a competition.  Richard had already suffered the ignominy of leaving his sight at home last year.  For 15 minutes I had thought I had left my pressure button behind.  Turns out I had placed it in the tube with my top dampener.  Why?  Lord knows!  Anyhoo, once we had our kit setup we settled down to shoot the breeze with other competitors.  Competitions are a great way to make friends in archery.

 My gear ,,, waiting for the off.  It;s so red!

Hmm, where's the The Ageing Archer? 

Ah, there he is!  Oh and there's Sarah and Roger too!

But where are the Aquarius boys?  They arrive with about 30mins to spare(something about Yau's legendary trousers...)  They are the last to get their kit inspected by the judges.  Yau seems to have a slightly dubious serving but they let him get away with it.  It is at this point I should point out that I make special mention of the three from Aquarius (Yau, Huy and Kevin).  First off, they are former members of 2020Archery.  Second, this is their first competition.  I find this astounding as they have the skill to win competitions but have to date resisted the urge to compete on a large scale.  It please me to see them here. (My instincts are proven correct later ...)

Let's move onto the actual competition.  Today I shot a WA18 round.  For those who don't know, that's 60 arrows at 18m on a 40cm target.  For you 2020 folks, that's a Portsmouth but on a smaller target!  Unlike most club sessions, the shooting is controlled by a buzzer and a clock.  Here's a run down of the buzzer:

1. 2 beeps for first detail to approach the line
2. 1 beep for the first detail to shoot 3 arrows.  There is a clock on either side of the shooting line to count down 2 mins.  Fail to shoot all your arrows in 2 minutes and you're gonna kick yourself.  That's 40secs per arrow.  I bet you 2020 folks can do 3 arrows in 30secs!  That's ok for club shooting, but you really want to take all the time you have in a comp.
3. 2 beeps for second detail to approach the line
4. 1 beep for second detail to shoot their arrows
5. 3 beeps for archers to collect and score their arrows.

And repeat until you have done your 60.  Put in those terms it's simple.  And yet for some reason it never is.  I spoke to some archers and noticed others not having a simple shoot.  Perfect examples are Yau, Kevin and Penelope.  All three were participating in their first competition.  Actually, Yau and Kevin have done club competitions before but when it's your first award status competition in an open tournament ... well it's always a bit nerve racking.  Which brings me to my point, your first competition.  Yau and Kevin were suffering from target anxiety.  I think it's fair to say that they probably don't suffer from it a lot and yet it has reared it's ugly head today.  And what of Penelope?  From what I could gather from others she started off well but then had a dip in form.  I bet this dip in form coincided with a poor shot.  It's you're first comp and you're shooting well.  You're shooting on a smaller target so you're expecting to be in the blue a lot but instead you're hitting reds and gold.  Your confidence starts to rise.  But then comes a poor shot.  You start look inwards to find out what you did wrong.  For those in the know, it doesn't take much for this 'over thinking' to have an impact on your shooting.  Fortunately, Roger was on hand to lend some helpful tips.  One in particular was that she should go talk to other competitors.  It's takes your mind off the self doubt and relaxes the mind and body.  I believe Sarah performed a similar roll by punching me on the arm and telling me not over think it.  Roger's Jedi voodoo has clearly rubbed off on Sarah ...

And that's pretty much about it.  Oh, I probably should mention that I had to take a toilet break during my shooting but just got back in time.  I took a wrong turn and got lost!

So, what was the end result:

Well, I managed 477.  Higher than last year but still not over 500.
Richard managed 498.  Not what he was hoping for.
Penelope lands an 8th place with 452.  (Much applause!) - I think it's obvious she has the competition bug now.  Maybe she can spread that around and infect a few more from 2020 ...
The Aquarius boys brought their team home in 3rd place! (Applause)
Sutton came in 2nd.
Trent won the 3rd session award for compounds.
At this point I need to mention Roger ... strictly speaking he topped the scores for compounds in the 3rd session but he had already shot in the first session.  The rules dictate that only your first session will count.  Still, he did manage to prove that you can compete in a competition with a compound bow that costs less than an afternoon tea for 2 at the Savoy.  So here you go Roger, here's a round of applause for you *Applause*

With the awards done and everything packed away,  the night was completed by a trip to the nearest alcohol distributor.  It wouldn't be a 2020 reunion without some form of post shoot gathering :)

Let's see if I can do better at my next comp.

Read the next post for a more detailed analysis of today's events.

Failure Breeds Success

Well, this weekend's first competition was the King's Cup in Chessington (no not the theme park). A fair few archers from 2020 and other nearby clubs would be attending so I was rather looking forward to the event.  I haven't been back to 2020 in over 2 weeks so was feeling a definite lack of range time.  It would also be nice to meet up with my shooting buddies.

But first, I needed to pick up Roger from East Croydon Station and then a short trip to fetch Richard.  Now I must confess that I couldn't remember the exact times I told each person to be ready for pickup.  Regardless, Roger ended up arriving earlier than expected but Saturday morning traffic meant the trip to Richard used up most of the buffer Roger's early arrival created.  Still, we still managed a visit to McDonald's for breakfast.  Result!

The journey to the venue (King's Centre, Chessington) was uneventful.  My trusty SatNav did not fail me, unlike previous events.  It wasn't long before we bumped into some familiar faces.

This was my first visit to the King's Centre and I was impressed.

The hall is carpeted, well lit and mildly ventilated.  There were two rows of chairs for competitors and spectators and a large space behind the equipment line.  Things were looking up!

We picked our spot and started the bow stringing dance.  It's a ritual that all modern archers learn early on in their archery journey.  However, today's dance would be different for Richard.  He's forgotten to pack his new super shiny sight!  D'oh!  There's nothing quite like the feeling you get when you're unpacking your kit bag and realise you've forgotten something.  Fortunately, today Richard was surrounded by his fellow archers and he was able to move his shooting slot to a later session and therefore borrow my sights off my bow (more on this later).

After assembly I settled down to the task at hand.  Given that I had changed my nock point the previous night I knew that my sights needed to be adjusted.  This would normally be done at the club prior to competition day.  I had just 2 ends of sighters to do it! Grrr!

As I took up my position on the shooting line I noticed a few things:

1. There's 4 targets per boss.  A through to D, starting top left and then moving in an anti-clockwise direction.
2. There were two dot matrix displays at the sides of the range.  They would show the time left to shoot your 3 arrows (120secs).
3. The dot matrix displays also showed which details were due up on the line (A and B, or C and D).  This would be a very useful feature.  More competitions should have this feature. 

I won't bore you with a breakdown of my 60 arrows.  To summarise, I scored 470.  I had hoped to get 500 or higher but you have to remember that I was shooting on 40cm targets and I hadn't shot in over 2 weeks.  But even this low provided me with some very useful info ...  

For some time now my form had taken a drop.  Around January I had reached a level of performance where most of my shots were landing in the gold.  I couldn't miss and was feeling a certain amount of ego inflation.  I wasn't at the level of a county champion or even a club champion but I was definitely feeling good about myself.  But then I started scoring under 520 ... what was I doing wrong?  54 arrows into the King's Cup I finally figured it out.  My confidence had made me arrogant about my archery.  It turned out that I was just raising my bow, drawing, point at gold and then assumed the arrow would hit gold.  That's not how it works .... unless you're Korean.  I had totally forgotten about my shot routine, my form, breathing, shoulders, target focus etc.  My final 6 arrows took all of my concentration and energy.  In fact they took more effort and concentration than all the arrows I had shot since February.  And I was rewarded with 10,9,9 and 10,9,8.  ChaChiing!

Anyway, with that revelation and my 60 arrows shot I stepped away from the shooting line, presented Julie with KitKat chunky for doing all the scoring for everyone on our boss and handed over my bow to Richard.

For those who remember from eariler in this blog entry, Richard had forgotten his sight and was going to use mine.  Except that we couldn't remove the sight block from my riser!  Luckily Bryn Bache offered his sight.  With the second disaster of the day averted, Roger and Richard proceeded to warm up for their 60 arrows ...

Not sure they taught 'Jazz Hands' stretch in the beginners course

After watching R&R start their session I joined the others at a local watering hole to await the final scores.

And so ended my first King's Cup.  I thoroughly enjoyed today.  It's always good when you have your shooting buddies with you at a competition.  It helps calm the nerves and in Richard's case you can call upon them for help if needed.

I guess I better get ready for the SCAS competition on Sunday!

Don't forget to check Richard's blog for his thoughts on the competition.

PS.  I should probably mention the other highlight of the competition ... a couple having a domestic whilst on the shooting line of a world ranking status competition ... whilst each holding a bow and sharp pointy arrows in their hands.  It never ceases to amaze me the things you see at archery meets.

Weekend of Competitions and Disaster

Well ... it's 1.41am of the morning of my first competition in March.  Normally I would be excited but I'm not really feeling it this weekend.  I haven't shot an arrow in 2 weeks and I know my bow has a nock point that is too high.  So, there's only one thing for it ... man up and string up.

I've just opened one of the compartments on my archery bag and found everything covered in a blue gel.  It's all over my tool pouch ... feck it's the thread-lock!  I normally store my bag in a vertical position but since I haven't had time to shoot the bag has been lying flat on the ground and the bottle has leaked everywhere.  Guess I'm gonna have to buy some replacements ...

OK, I've moved the nock point down but I have no idea how effective it's gonna be.  I really should be testing this at 2020 but it's a bit late for that now.

So, competition for today is the King's Cup at Chessington.  A fair few archers from 2020 will be competing.  It'll be nice to get some pointy sticks down range again.