Yes, finally a sport that I can do that doesn’t involve running around and generally getting exhausted, physically. What you don’t see in pro archers is them getting stressed out, what you would know if you were watching me is that I now get mentally exhausted and stressed out over large arrows and where they end up on a target face.

SOPA in the morning – sopa.com.au

My brother Justin takes things quite well, he doesn’t react much when a shot goes bad and he is steady like a rock. Me on the other hand have my sights going all over the place like I have epilepsy and my arm can’t stand the fact that I am holding this shot for so long and not… quite… executing.

Hey that’s all fun and games because like Justin said, it has been an excellent learning curve and we have taken our own pace in getting our skill level up slowly but surely.

What has been encouraging is that our club’s coach has taken notice of our progression and earmarked us to join up with the competitive team for National Indoor Championships 2016. Lately we have been attending a gun club to shoot 18m indoor in a back room with no ventilation, fight club style. A take-away that I get from attending these underground archery sessions is that I am the weakest link… sigh. Whether that is from getting used to the new bow or having it refitted for me around 3 times now I can’t say, I just need to get better and fast.

Another boon is that we have also been asked to go to Vegas for competition in January 2017! Anyone who knows anything about archery especially that of the indoor kind knows that Vegas is the home of one of the biggest archery events on the calendar. Here people aren’t competing for national pride because it’s all about sponsorship and money both things that I like, free stuff and cash. Not that I expect to dominate or anything, just being there in Las Vegas has been on my bucket list since I had one, I can’t wait.

So, I don’t want to embarrass myself meaning I need to get on form and shooting straight and well. To help I have been granted 1/2 a day on Wednesday away from work on on the field to shoot as well as the requisite Saturday mornings and Sunday afternoons. Days are getting short now as we move into winter so less time with max visibility, I need to dig deep.

Oh I forgot to mention I shoot compound as I love the technicality and brutality of the bow. It’s equal parts raw power, fear, deadly accuracy and satisfaction. You should see how my coach reacts when I am trying to let down my bow from full draw, I suck at this because all my bow wants to do is send my fist flying forward while all I can do is fight it as I let it down from draw… hands are over eyes and whimpers are heard let me tell you. I haven’t quite developed the muscles that a seasoned archer has, that ability to draw smoothly and with great control, I need that.

So it’s been a full five months now since we started nearly on new years day, bring on the next and bring on Vegas. See you there.