Tuesday, June 2, 2009

3/4ths of a Point

So after shooting in Hotlanta for the week before trials and shooting several more PB's during that time and averaging a 1325 FITA, I was mentally prepared for the shoot down for the team. Here was the rundown of what happened the week;

Monday I tuned my bow real quick at 30M, just adjusting my tiller a little bit to get the bare-shaft hitting where it should be. I also shot about 18 arrows at each distance getting sight-marks for the rest of the week.

Tuesday Brady and myself paired up and shot a FITA. I shot a very strong FITA starting off with a PB at 90M, 315 then 332 at 70M 333 at 50M (PB) and a 350 at 30M for a 1330 FITA which in itself was a PB.

Wednesday me and Brady again shot a FITA. Starting with a 296 at 90M 339 at 70M 334 at 50M (PB) and 351 at 30M for a 1320 FITA.

Thursday I shot about 100 arrows at 70M and about 70 at 50M just working on making good shots.

Friday was official practice, I got my sight-marks at every distance on the competition field, which was slightly higher then the practice field.

Saturday was the FITA part of the trials, I opened up with a 319 at 90M (PB) and backed it up with a slightly lower 70M then normal shooting 3 good ends and 3 bad ends I ended up with a 325 for the distance. Next was 50M, I knew I could shoot strong there with my great scores there recently, I popped out a 333 a new PB for in competition. 30M was a struggle for me I think I was trying too hard to shoot well and squeaked out a 343 for a new PB by 30 points! 1320 FITA. That put me in third, one point behind Butch Johnson. Although that rank is good, its not really that important as far as the trials process goes as there was no bonus points for score on the FITA and only .25 points difference in points for the trials.

Sunday was basically for the Team, Round Robins. The day started off slow for me, my scores just weren't there and I was starting to get frustrated with the result of my arrows. I did needed to keep fighting to shoot good shots and ignore where they landed. After 3 matches that were sub-par for my standards. But the last 4 matches I finished rather strong, finishing with a solid 114 match. After the first 4 matches I slipped from 3rd to 5th over 3.5 points from the third spot. After the last 3 matches I knew I still had a chance if I finished strong. I did exactly what I wanted to do, but not quite to the degree that I needed. I ended up .75 points from the team. I only needed to shoot less then a handful of arrows just slightly different to take that third spot and going to worlds. 

I did shoot well and did accomplish a couple goals this week shooting my first 1300 in competition and bettering my Rolling Rank again. Despite not making the team, I am happy with my performance but not yet satisfied with my shooting. Its one of those things that I don't think I will ever be happy as once I am then there will be no progression in my performances.


Thanks for reading.