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There is only one word I can use for the weekend, CHANGE !

On Friday a collected a pair of single vision spectacles, I had these made as I was not able to use my multi-focal specs when shooting and contact lenses don’t seem to be compatible with me. So single vision Specs were the last choice.

I’m quite pleased to say that I can see the target now, it’s amazing how clear all the colours are now, instead of blur of rainbow colours.

So that was the first change for the weekend.

On Saturday Noel Robinson from Elite Archery Experience who has assisted me with coaching and equipment was visiting from JHB and spent quite a bit of time setting up my bow along with some additional coaching, He also brought down a couple of new sets of arrows for me to try out. A big thank you for Bowtime to accommodate us whilst we worked on equipment and my shooting.

I’m happy to say that only a few small adjustments are needed in my form and those will take a few weeks to re-program my muscle memory and subconscious.

Due to the rain we were not able to spend enough time tuning the bow, it would have been great if we could have shot outside and tuned the bow at 30m and 70m. That will be something I need to do on my own at another time in the very near future.

I’m going to work through the new arrows and select the ones that group the best and use them to tune the bow as best I can indoors before moving outdoors.

I had a good weekend of shooting, some great practice time and a good Indoor shoot.

I’ve shot a few indoor rounds for the FITA Indoor but this weekend was my first official Tournament/Qualifier.  This took place @bowtimearchery .Things started off a little shaky even before the first scoring arrows started, had a moment of mild to server panic. After i had set my bow up for the shoot, i forgot to tighten the smallest little grub screw after i finished the setup.

So whilst warming up and sighting in i noticed my arrow grouping was a little off and not improving at all. After a quick glance i noticed that a grub screw was missing from my Plunger (small device that helps improve arrow flight) so i quickly replaces it with one from a spare Plunger, Ideally i should have set the spare to match the one i was using after the set up. Lesson learned.

The vibration from the bow when shooting caused the adjustment screw to move, the grub screw would have held it in place.

So in the last 15 mins of practice arrows whilst a little panicked i tried to set the plunger as close to the previous days settings.

Once the scoring arrows started i moved my focus away from the panic i had been in to concentrating on shooting the best arrows that i could with my setup, now was not the time to play around with too many adjustments

I felt pretty good, had a few moments when I would not get my back muscles to activate and work, but that just something that i need to work on.

So after the shoot ended i scored a new Personal best score of 544 out of 600. Not what i had planned for the day but  can you really complain if you shoot your personal best.

This shoot was the first of about 4 which give archers the opportunity to shoot a qualifying score, unfortunately the Western Cape archery Federation have still to provide me with the required scores for qualifying for provincial colours for the 1440, 720 and indoor rounds.

My score for the Shoot have been lodged with the province and then with the National association as new Indoor records for my Disability class, So once these are ratified i will hold all the current records for RMO (Recurve Men Open) class.

I’d like to thank the team @bowtimearchery for a very well organised event, the music was great and it was nice to see some familiar faces.

Bowtime. 3rd June 2018 544/600 RMO first Place

So today is somewhat the official launch of my archery website. i will use this site to keep whoever care updated on my shooting, and how close i am getting towards my goal of attending the Paralympic games in Tokyo 2020.

I’ll try to get regular update on what happening in and around my shooting life, but i’ll also provide updates on whats happening the archery world too.

I’ve had a few sponsors thus far, these companies and people will be featured under the support team page, so you can see who has been assisting me in my Journey.

After each competition i will upload my scores  and achievements for all to see.

so  lets take this journey together………..