Shoot report – Severn Valley – October 2014

Archers waiting to start

Archers waiting to start

Last weekend saw us even busier than normal as we prepared for the club shoot. Saturday we were at the wood early to sort through the targets, stake them in position, finalise shots, re-felt some of the bridges and generally put finishing touches to the course in readiness for the Sunday shoot. When I say finishing touches it still took from 8 am until gone 4:30pm. I’d like to thank those in the club who helped on Saturday and in the run up.
Sunday was shoot day and at the beginning of the week the forecasts had predicted rain and wind but we got lucky. The day was dry and sunny.

Target 5 - brown bear 3d

Target 5 – brown bear 3d

So Sunday would see SVYF host their autumn shoot with approximately 170 archers of different classes descend on our wood. The club runs two shoots a year one in spring and one in autumn with the entire course being reset between each shoot.

Target 4 - 3D Ram

Target 4 – 3D Ram

This was the second course we had put our names to officially in the past five the club had set since we joined. Though we had helped out on the others we hadn’t been the primary course layers.
Despite having over thirty people drop out over concerns about the weather we had glorious late autumn sunshine all day. Though in fairness it was a little windy in the more exposed parts of the wood. Think the one downside was the noise from the local shotgun club which were hosting an event the same day.

One of the long shots 3D Ram

One of the long shots 3D Ram

The course itself comprised of 36 targets mainly 3ds with a half dozen paper faces spread out over the course. Sharon and I had helped Nigel, Birnie and Jason lay targets 1-18 so we were keen to see what people thought. As always SVYF members marshall the club shoot helping archers search for lost arrows etc.

Raising boar 3D

Raising boar 3D

In all the day appeared to flow well with only a few hold ups which may simply have been caused by some archers naturally shooting more slowly than others.
Feedback has been positive with archers enjoying the challenge of the course.
Thanks for reading.

Lessons learned from last night disastrous practice

Last night we headed to the wood for some practise as I know I need it. The following are the hard lessons I learned. I hope you learn from my mistakes.
  • Don’t go to the wood to practice after a long tiring day of work. Might seem good to get some practise in but really wasn’t.
  • Don’t try and practice as dusk approaches as depth perception is poor and you can’t see where your arrows land.
  • Don’t get stressed and agitated about the shoot.  this is a lot harder than it sounds and something I completely failed at.
  • Don’t let your frustration effect those around you. Sorry Sharon for my mood.
  • Don’t keep practicing when it’s not going well you just get more frustrated and smash arrows.
  • There are no easy or quick fixes no matter how much reading you do, searches of the net, youtube videos watched. Sometimes things just don’t gel.

I believe it is fair to say that I’m heading to this years NFAS championships with less conference than ever before in both myself and my shooting. I’m feeling very low and racked with doubts about my ability and capabilities. It’s not just archery related there are things going on at work which I can’t go into but its all having an effect.

 I really appreciate all the positive comments, advice and support that has been offered me. Thank you. I wish I could convert them all  in to confidence. Good luck to all heading to the national championships.

Thanks for reading.

Question to all archers – How do you overcome a bad shot?

How do you overcome a bad shot or a poor round?
Whether this means a missed target or reduced score.
What do you say to yourself to buck yourself up or doesn’t it effect you?
What coping mechanism or strategies do you apply? 
To be honest I really struggle with this in a big way and with the NFAS national championships in a few days I’m feeling less confident than ever.
Looking forward to your answers.
Thanks for reading,