Dear Reader
This weekend has been a very busy one indeed. I took part in my very first indoor world archery event at Telford International centre. It is the biggest event I have taken part in to date. Over 860 archers of all ages and many nationalities came together to enjoy the 3rd leg of this international event. The top archers competing side by side with many UK club ones.
For me, this was a chance to compete on a world stage, not many times you get to do that. The event was held over three days starting Friday at 2pm. There were 4 qualification groups, over 200 archers each time. I was shooting in the first group along side well known archers Brady Ellison and Jake Kaminski from the US and top archers in the UK, Larry Godfrey, Alan Wills, Naomi Folkard, Dannielle Brown, Becky Martin and Pip Taylor to name just a very small amount. It really had a true international field, yet for me it was not scary as I thought it could have been. Maybe that is my age or the fact I had nothing to prove to anyone. Either way it attracted good competitors. Something else to mention was the number of juniors pushing themselves in such a competition. It really is not easy to put yourself under such pressure without good support which from what I saw all juniors had. It will take time to understand the mental skills required to just shoot and ignore everything else. Many GB juniors took part and did well. For me they all did well.
I knew it was a tough competition but that was not the point for me. It was the expereince, just being at the event was different then normal shoots. Yet in many ways it was just like any other. That for me is the core of archery. Archers don't seem to compete against anyone except themselves and the target. They will help each other, offer support and even find the odd spare part if needed.
I met up with a few familar people as you do. Everyone was in the same boat, a 3-spot target 18 meters distance. Sounds easy? For the top archer who practice every day over 1000 arrows a week its still tough. Top score 592 out of 600. I finished in the top 30 in my group but knew with 3 more I hoped to finish mid table which I did.
At one point I did hit three 10's something many strive for. That was very uplifting.
After the shoot I spent some time looking around the stands and stalls. Now that was dangerous, so many new bits. I kept my nerve just about. I also did one more thing which will make one person very happy and me very rich - maybe.
I did get the chance to shoot again on Sunday morning. A early start 5.30am, drive to Telford ready to shoot at 7.30am on one of the smallest targets I have seen. Again another good shoot, a personal best as well.
Archer folk are a friendly lot and once more I enjoyed another good time. If I ever get the chance to do this again I would. Take the opportuties when you can.
One last thing, the event well organised, the staff friendly and many were archers themselves. It was well attended, well run and a credit to UK archery.
Tagline: 'Brilliant'
