If you are new to Archery and want an explanation of what an Indoor Archery Competition is, go to the bottom of this post first!
2004 Indoor Season Kicks Off:
I know what you are thinking... it isn't 2004! No worries, all of the archery tournaments that start in the fall of 2003 are all for the sole purpose of building up to the 2004 US Indoor Nationals this coming March. Last year, after only 3 months of training I placed 44th out of 86 at the 2003 US Indoor Nationals. This year I'm looking to win the regional tournament and place in the top 3 on the national level.
October 17th, the 2004 season was kicked off by the Bay State Indoor Championship held at ArcheryUSA in Dedham, Ma. It was my first tournament since the Outdoor Nationals and although I was the reigning 2003 Bay State Outdoor Champion, I felt a little shaky. The advantage to doing lots of small tournaments is that you start to learn what to do and what not to do. What not to do lesson #1: Don't change arrows the day before you shoot a tournament.
BAY STATE INDOOR RESULTS OCTOBER 17th, 2003:
Although I shot well, I was 10 points below my average and was in second place after the qualification round. Mind you, I had also rowed the single in Head of The Charles that same weekend (the HOCR is the world's largest long distance rowing race in the world, held annually in Boston, Ma). Another good lesson learned, don't try to do too much in one weekend. Anyhow, I didn't stay in second for very long, during the Olympic round (similar to a tennis bracket system), I won the Gold Medal Match by coming back from a 2-point deficit after 6 arrows to win by 5 points. In a Gold Medal Match you only get 12 arrows (4 ends of 3 arrows). Whoever has the highest score wins.
HALL'S WARM-UP TOURNAMENT NOVEMBER 11TH, 2003:
The first weekend in November, I decided to take some of the kids that I coach on a road trip to Connecticut to shoot in the Hall's Warm-Up tournament. I was hoping to go head to head against National Team member, Roxanne Reinmann, however she wasn't able to shoot as she was running the tournament instead. So, with the pressure off, I beat my previous tournament's score, shooting a 272 average. There are two pictures from this tournament included in this E-Newsletter, the first is of me, Vic Wunderle (the Silver and Bronze Medalist from the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia), and some of the members of my team at the tournament. The second picture is of all of us again as we stand with the Tow truck guys... by accident, I locked the keys in the car when we returned to the archery shop that night. We had a good laugh about it though as you can see from the smiles on our faces!
BAY STATE BOXER SHOOTOUT NOVEMBER 9TH, 2003:
It is what it sounds like... in order to have your score count, you must wear boxers on the extremity of your clothing. Those snoopy-raking-leaves-silk boxers must have been really lucky because I shot my personal best in a tournament at the 2004 Bay State Boxer Shootout. My first game was a 278 and my second game was a 276... a 277 average for a total of 554 points (at nationals last year, that would have put me in 6th place after the first day. Needless to say, I was thrilled...) too bad they don't allow you to wear boxers to all the tournaments!!
CTAA DUAL DISTANCE SHOOT NOVEMBER 26TH, 2003:
This was my final tournament of November... phew! On the 18 meter distance, I shot a 274 out of 300. This month was really a success performance-wise. To give you an idea of what these type of scores mean to me, all you have to do is look back at my scores from 11 months ago when I picked up a bow for the first time. In December of last year I was shooting a 229 average. So it is a great accomplishment for me to be performing consistently above a 270 (41 points higher in just one year). The dual-distance shoot also included 30 arrows shot at 25 meters... I found out very fast that my arrows are way too heavy to shoot much further than 18 meters... I only shot a 240 out of 300 on a 3-spot target. Good thing 25 meters is not longer the National distance!!
What is Indoor Archery and what do Indoor Competitions Entail?
The indoor season is a time to focus on form and fine-tuning. In case you are new to archery, Indoor tournaments are shot at a distance of 18 meters (the Olympics is shot at a distance of 70 meters). Indoor tournaments are also shot on smaller targets (40cm versus 120 cm).
Adult Recurve shooters shoot on a target called a 3-spot. It looks similar to an inverted Mickey Mouse, with two circles on the bottom and one on the top center. This type of target is used for advanced shooters for many different reasons. The first is that often, advanced shooters will hit the same spot on the target multiple times thus hitting their own arrows. In many cases, arrows can cost up to $50 an arrow, so the prospect of willingly killing your own arrows usually leaves a bitter feeling in an archer’s stomach. The second reason is that it eliminates the 5,4,3,2, and 1 point rings that you typically find on a single spot, making it a little bit more challenging because if you miss one of the targets on a 3-spot you get 0 points for that arrow.
If you are unfamiliar with how games are scored in archery, here is a brief explanation: A single spot target has 10 rings, 2 white, 2 black, 2 blue, 2 red, and 2 yellow (3-spots as I have said before only have the 6 rings). Most people have heard of the Bulls-eye. The Bulls-eye refers to the center of the target, the yellow 10 ring. As I mentioned earlier, each ring is allotted a certain point value. The center ring is worth 10 points, the second ring out is worth 9 points, the third ring out is worth 8 points, and so on... In a game, an archer shoots 30 arrows for a maximum point total of 300 points.
Indoor archery tournaments usually consist of 2 games with a 10 minute break and can take up to 4 hours to complete depending on the amount of people shooting. Archers typically get 2 minutes (40 seconds an arrow) to shoot 3 arrows, and then they walk down to the target and score. The entire act of shooting 3 arrows and then retrieving those arrows is called an end. In archery-speak, an indoor tournament consists of 60 arrows for a maximum of 600 points over 4 hours broken down into 20 ends of 3 arrows with a 40 second time allotment for each arrow. Have I lost you yet?
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