Comm Games results

Well it has been a while since I last posted here.... the Commonwealth Games has come and gone and unfortunately I did not come home with a medal. We got very close to a medal in the team event as we finished 4th. We did manage on our way to the semi finals to set a new Australian Tournament Record and Comm Games Record of 234 out of 240. The old Australian record was 233.

I finished equal 9th in the individual event.

Congrats to the Australian Recurve Mens Team as they won the GOLD and congrats to Cassie for taking the BRONZE in the Compound Ladies event

COMMONWEALTH GAMES... HERE I COME

I am happy to advise that I have made the Commonwealth Games Team to compete in India during October.

For preparation, I will now be competing at World Cup #4 in China which starts the first week of September. The team will also come together a week before Comm Games up in Darwin for a training camp.

50MTR TRAINING - 352

Went to the club this evening to get the bow all set for 50 meters in preparation for World Cup #3 in Ogden(USA) where will once again be trying out the new compound 50mtr round and the hit/miss system.

Practice went well and the bow is feeling great.... happy with it all at this stage.

I shot 59-59-59-58-58-59 = 352

NAMED IN COMM GAMES TOP 4 MENS COMPOUND SQUAD

Received the email today naming me in the next stage for selection into the Comm Games Team.

Now I head to Canberra for a camp before the entire squad goes to the USA for World Cup #3 from which they will select the top 3 shooters from each division to compete at the Commonwealth Games.

There are 4 parts to the next selection... each part will have each archer ranked 1 to 4, so at the end of the 4 part selection the 3 archers with the lowest points totals will be selected for the Comm Games.

This will be exciting, looking forward to it.

COMM GAMES TRIAL - AIS CANBERRA 02-04 JULY

This trial was the second part of stage two in the selection process. The selectors will now make their judgements as to who will proceed to the next stage by selecting the top 4 from the top 5 that attended camps #1 and #2.... archers will be notified on wednesday 6th July

Before camp #2, I had spent the last two weeks working on my structure changes from camp #1... even though this change had improved my shooting, I was still getting body movement as if too much tension was running through my muscles. For camp #2, Jim Park had offered to take some photos so I could get a better understanding of how things looked from different angles... it was one of these angles that showed that my draw arm elbow was situated behind the line of the arrow. This was saying that the draw length was a fraction long (on the release end, not the bows draw length).... so from this, I reduced the length of the d-loop from 18mm to 10.5mm but when Jim had looked once again it was still showing my elbow being slightly behind the arrow line. Now going back 8 years, my elbow was slightly in front on the arrow line... the only difference from then to now was that back then I was shooting with the release aid(Carter Atension-4 finger) up in the webbing past the second knuckle and now I was shooting the release between the 1st and 2nd knuckles. The reason I changed was that I started shooting a different model release aid(Scott-4 finger and 2 finger) and I could not shoot that model up in the webbing as it would dig into the side of my finger causing a lot of discomfort and eventually blood. Now however since going back to the Carter Atension(2 finger) at the start of the year I had kept the positioning between 1st and 2nd knuckles as I was using with the other model...... anyways, after Jim saying I was still slightly behind, I made the change back to holding the Atension up near the webbing and straight away I noticed less tension through my muscles and my aiming had improved.
The only thing now I have to work on is the refining of the release timing as by changing the holding position in the hand has changed the head position of the release and made it a fraction too long to activate the shot.....

Its all very exciting and it is great being able to hold steady once again..... hopefully big scores will follow

70MTR PRACTICE

Took some time today to continue working on my form change while shooting at 70 meters... all went pretty well and the change is starting to feel more natural. I scored 117-117-117-118... pretty happy with the consistency but still think things can improve.

COMM GAMES TRIAL - AIS CANBERRA 18-20 JUNE

Headed up to Canberra for the next stage in team selection for the Commonwealth Games.

All scores below were shot at 70mtrs

Day1(Friday) we all took part in a 36 arrow ranking round and I ranked 2nd with 346, I then had a shoot off with 1st place and lost the match with a 108.... condition were very cold but it was good experience with the conditions.

Day2(Saturday) We had 3 ranking rounds followed by match practice.
Each ranking round was 3 ends of 6 arrows and I scored 171-171-175(perfect score being 180)
The matches that followed each ranking were all slightly different it started with 3 arrow matches, then 6 arrow matches and finally 1 arrow matches... this simulated the set structure shot at World Cups and for the Comm Games.
My 3 arrow scores were 29-29-29-30-29-30(perfect score being 30)
My 6 arrow scores were 59-59-59(perfect score being 60)
My 1 arrow scores were 10-10-10-9-10-10(perfect score being 10)

Day3(Sunday) We had a fun day competing in a multi mixed team event with each team having a mens and ladies recurve and a mens and ladies compound. We shot two competitions and for each competition each team member shot 18 arrows ranking to form a qualification score. The teams I participated in both went through to the bronze medal match where each member shot 4 ends of 1 arrow each member.
For my rankings I shot 172 and 173(perfect score being 180)
For my match arrows I shot 39-39-39(perfect score being 40)

At the end of the day while the recurvers were having a tuning session, I decided to shoot and score 36 while working of my technique/structure changes and I scored 355(60-60-60-58-58-59)

Next camp in 2 weeks and then they will name the top 4 shooters for each division

NAMED IN COMM GAMES TOP 5 MENS COMPOUND SQUAD

I received notification on the last day of the Turkey World Cup that I was to be apart of the next stage of the Comm Games selection..... very happy with this. Now all squad members were to meet up again the following weekend in Canberra for another trial.

Other compound members are

Guy Phillips
Rob Timms
Marcel Verstegen
Pat Coghlan

WORLD CUP #2 - TURKEY

I was once again looking forward to competing at the second World Cup. We had a team shoot off on the unofficial practice day to select the mens team for the team event... unfortunately I finished 4th which meant I would be supporting the team rather than competing in it.
Another unfortunate thing was that I was starting to feel the effects of a cold coming on.... the official practice was the next day, so in an attempt to save some energy/strength, I decided to shoot only a limited number on ends. Practice went well and I was working on getting my shots off quicker as when I held on to shots too long I lost strength quickly.... so that was going to be the plan for the qualification round, be efficient by executing quicker shots.
Qualification day turned out to be a little windy, but still I had my plan and I was looking forward to competing. The first half went well with only a few shots that I took too long to execute(resulting in poor scoring) and I finished with 347, the second half did not go so well as I started to feel more tired as the each end went on but I still managed to shoot a 338 and qualify in 35th place.
Elimination day conditions were much the same as qualification, slightly windy but still shootable. I again wanted to get my shots off quicker and be positive with my shooting. Unfortunately I did not make it into the second round as I was knocked out in 3sets.. my opponent won each set by scoring a perfect 3 hits for each set, I scored 1-3-2.... oh well, win some/lose some. It was disappointing in getting a cold during the tournament but some times these things are unavoidable.

HIT/MISS TARGETS

I made up a hit/miss face target face today so that the gold was only 100mm in size. I needed to see if the dot I have been using was still small enough for use with this new face. It turned out I did not have to change a things and I could just concentrate on shooting and fine tuning things. Once I had settled in with a few practice ends, I scored 6 ends(36 shots) and ended up with 33 hits and 3 misses and it scored a 352... pretty happy with it, just need to fine tune the draw length now and play around with the B-Stinger stabilizers some more and the click in the releases.

GETTING READY FOR WORLD CUP #2 - TURKEY

Again it seems a spot has become available but this time due to an injury. I have accepted the spot and I am looking forward at having another crack at the worlds best.
This time however, it will be the first time that compounds will be trying the new compound round at 50mtrs and also the new hit/miss system.
Going to be a busy week with testing new equipment and getting ready.

B-STINGER STABILIZERS ARRIVE

The posty dropped off a package this morning and in side were the NEW B-STINGER stabilizers to try and test out.
There has been a lot of talk about these rods and I chatted with several archers at World Cup #1 who were using them.... all said they found an improvement with their aiming and less vibration.... they had even done testing to see the vibration that runs through the body after the shot and found that using these rods, the body was having to deal with less shock/vibration.

Anyway, I will test it out and see how it all goes and feels.

RELEASE AIDS - USING THE CLICK

I have been getting very frustrated lately with the inconsistent timing of my shots, I feel that I have been losing a lot of points due to some shots taking longer than others to go off. While I was in Croatia, I had a chat to a few archers that were using a back tension and how they were getting consistent timing or if it was something they cared about. One archer I wanted to speak to was Peter Elzinger of the Netherlands... the current World Record holder for the fita round(1419) and both 70mtr and 50mtrs(358 for each). Peter has always been great to talk with and is very open to questions. I watched Peter for a while to see how he was using the release and I could hear very a distinctive click once Peter had got into anchor. I spoke with Peter and conveyed that I had always found it off putting when aiming to hear and feel the click go off. Peter said that he set the release to click so that it was in position as he got into anchor and just before he started his aiming... that way it kept the timing very close for each shot and he could just focus on aiming. He said it took a couple of weeks to get used to the click but now it is just part of his shot routine.
I will definitely be trying this out in the coming weeks. I am waiting on a NEW model of the 2 finger "ONLY" that has a click incorporated into it and also the 2 finger "ATENSION" with a click..... both by CARTER RELEASES

AUSTRALIAN FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS

The field event was the first time in 3 years that I had been on a field course and the first time that I had shot the new 6 ring scoring system. It got off to a rocky start as I arrived to the venue with what I thought was plenty of time to set up and have a practice but to find out that the groups were mustering to head out on the course.... the scheduled time had changed and not all archers had been notified.... oh well. I headed out in my grouping with Dennis Carson and Craig Tyson and we slowly made our way around the 24 targets spread throughout the field. I ended up scoring 400 points for the round and that gave me a 4 point lead heading into day 2.
Day 2 started much better and I arrived in time to have a practice and settle in a bit, the day went well again but I was frustrated with the time that it was taking for my shot to go off as they seemed to taking longer than normal, I tried relaxing into the shots more as I thought I might have been trying to hard to score well. I kept trying to make good shots and at the end of the day I finished with another 400 points but my fello group shooter Dennis shot a 409 points to take the lead and the gold medal. I was very happy to finish with the silver medal. Craig Tyson finished with the bronze.

Congrats to Dennis and Craig... good shooting with you guys

AUSTRALIAN TARGET CHAMPIONSHIPS

The national champs were being held in Brisbane at mount petrie bowman with the target event being over the first two days and the field event held over day 3 and 4.
The conditions for the target event were challenging with having to deal with a shifty wind and after the first day I ended up with 1383 and a 4 point lead. Day 2 was much the same as day 1 for conditions but maybe a little more tricky but I managed to shoot a 1378 with gave me a win by 18 points.
This gave me my 10th National Target Championships and my 30th overall..... very pleased

WORLD CUP #1 - CROATIA

Aside for taking forever to get there.... some 44 1/2 hours, it was great to finally arrive and get settled in for the tournament.
I had a chance to practice on the unofficial field(which was a hockey field) for 3 days before the official practice day. This gave me the time to get over the flight there and relax into my shooting. I was happy with my shooting for all of the practice days and I was looking forward to getting into the tournament.
Qualification: The tournament started and although I was a little nervous, I had my focus for the tournament for what I wanted to achieve and I set about shooting for those goals. Aside from my first end where I got caught by the wind on one and shot a 7, all other ends in the first 36 arrows were great and I finished with 347 with a 54 start. The second lot of 36 was a little more windier than the first but I tried to be more patient with my shooting to wait for the breaks in wind and execute the shots a bit quicker. I managed a 345 for the second 36 arrows and that gave me a ranking of 11th heading into the eliminations.
Eliminations: I had a goal of at least winning my first round match and to achieve this I wanted to keep my same focus as I had in qualification and shoot the best shots I could. Not only did I win my first match but I won my second match also... I was feeling pretty good at this time and I was disappointed to not progress past the 3rd round. It just so happened that the guy to knock me out went on to win the event. My final placing was equal 9th
I was included into the team event and we won our first match against Sweden but were knocked out by Denmark in the next round. I was happy with my shooting in this event also and in the second round I shot 79 points out of a possible 80 point.

I managed to pick up 5 world cup points due to my 9th placing, hopefully I will get the chance to earn some more points with the other 3 world cups and gain a spot in the world cup final.

OFF TO WORLD CUP #1

I was notified this week that a spot had become available on the team to compete at the first World Cup in Croatia. I accepted the spot and since then I have been busy organising a passport, setting up a second bow and putting together some new X10ProTours. I am looking forward to getting back on the international circuit and competing again plus to catch up with old friends and meet new archers.

I will keep updates coming with how things go during the practice and competition days.

COMM GAMES TRIAL-AIS 16-18 APRIL

I arrived at Canberra around 9:30ish and to my surprise, my equipment followed me up this time... This was great as it meant I could take in some extra practice before the trial started on Saturday. Practice went well at 70mtrs and I had two nice rounds of 354 and 354. Conditions were great and the weather for the weekend was looking promising.
We were not let down and Canberra really turned on the best weather I have seen in a long time... Both day were perfect for shooting. I was very happy with my results and over the two days I shot 19 matches of which 17 were wins and 2 were ties.
My match scores are listed below
Saturday
tie 58-58-58 (Lyndon 56-58-59)
tie 60-58-60 (Sten 60-60-59)
win 58-60-58 (Marcel 58-54-57)
win 59-57-59 (Dennis 59-56-59)
win 58-59 (James 56-55)
win 60-58 (Derek 56-56)
win 57-59-60 (Bryce 59-57-58)
win 59-57-59 (Guy 58-60-57)
win 58-58 (Jack 56-55)
win 58-59-60 (Rob Timms 60-58-59)
win 58-58 (Craig 56-56)
win 57-60 (Brendan 55-57)
Sunday
win 58-58 (Lyndon 56-55)
win 57-58 (Bryce 55-57)
win 59-59-60 (Marcel 59-56-58)
win 59-60 (Dennis 58-58)
win 58-56-59 (James 55-56-59)
win 58-59 (Derek 56-58)
win 60-60 (Bryce 58-59)

over all average: 58.575 (47 ends)
Saturday average: 58.548 (31 ends)
Sunday average: 58.625 (16 ends)

PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE

With yet another Comm Games Trial this weekend, I went to the club to get a few arrows away at 70mtrs. Pretty happy with how it went and after a couple of practice ends I shot 355 (118-119-118)

COMM GAMES TRIAL - AIS CANBERRA 9-11 APRIL

Another early start for the friday morning and off to the airport, I arrived in Canberra around 10:30 but once again no gear... that turned up around 8pm. Had a bit of a practice that night under lights to get ready for saturday and sunday.
I was pretty happy with how things went all weekend, the sunday was very hard with trying to shoot in the wind. I managed to get most shots off without being caught out too badly, but every now and then a shot went off when a gust came or the wind suddenly stopped.
My results for saturday were
win 57-57-58 (Lyndon 57-56-58)
win 58-59 (Pat 57-55)
win 58-59 (Sten 57-57)
win 59-59 (Dennis 57-57)
win 57-57 (James Hirth 55-54)
loss 58-54-58 (Derek 58-57-58)
win 58-57 (Bryce 54-52)
win 56-60 (Guy 51-54)
loss 58-55 (Rob Timms 60-58)
win 59-56-59 (Rob Turner 58-57-55)
win 60-57-58 (Craig 53-59-57)
My result for sunday were
loss 57-56-54 (Brendan 57-58-57)
win 57-54 (Marcel 54-53)
win 52-52 (Lyndon 50-50)
loss 56-55-57 (Pat 56-56-57)
loss 51-54-49 (Sten 56-53-56)
tie 54-48-56 (Dennis 54-52-53)

AVERAGES
OVERALL:56.28
SATURDAY:57.73
SUNDAY:53.88

TAYLAH MAKES IT 3 GOLD FROM THREE EVENTS

Today was the matchplay event for each division and Taylah won her way into the final where she defeted a Singapore archer to take the GOLD medal..... 3 from 3 Tay, does not get any better than that. Well done again sweety

DAUGHTER WINS AUSTRALIAN CADET FIELD CHAMPIONSHIP

The first day of the field event started on Tuesday and after day Taylah was place second with 359pts just 2pts off the leader with 361pts but on day2 Taylah shot a National Championship Record of 375pts to win the GOLD medal by 18pts.... congrats once again sweety, great shooting.

CONTENDER ELITE XT2000 ARRIVES

I was again very excited today coming home from work to find another parcel. This bow is the shorter axle to axle in the Contender Elite line..38". With the XT3000 model I will most likely shoot it with just a long rod but with this XT2000 model I will try it with the keel aswell as the long rod.

The bow looks great, it is the orange with black pockets and cams..... very nice

DAUGHTER WINS AUSTRALIAN CADET TARGET CHAMPIONSHIP

The second day of the Target event at the Australian Junior Championships concluded today. My daughter (Taylah) was tied after day1 for the lead on 1240 points after battling through some tough conditions all day but today in much better conditions for shooting, Taylah shot 4 National/Tournaments records and finished with a 1363 to win the cadet division by 49 points.
Great shooting sweety... well done on the gold medal.

Taylah's records were
60 meters - 339 (old record-338) National Championship Record
60 meters - 339 (old record-338) Tournament Record
40 meters - 338 (old record-337) National Championship Record
Fita60 - 1363 (old record-1361) National Championship Record

More practice with the Matrix

Took the Carbon Matrix up the club for a bit of practice and had a couple of practice ends before shooting 6 ends at 90mtrs and 6 ends at 70mtrs. I was happy with 90mtrs other than 1 end where I shot a 55 but I still ened up with 344. 70mtrs was ok and I ended up with 350 (118-117-115) but until I finished I never really thought about where my misses were or where my group center was situated. For all six ends at 70mtrs my group center was high in the 10 ring and eight out of the ten shots that missed the 10 were high... next time I will more attention as to where the arrows are landing and give away free points.

CONTENDER ELITE XT3000 ARRIVES

Another new toy arrived today, a XT3000 Contender Elite, blue, with black pockets and cams.... very nice looking bow.

I will be trying it out in the next few days, will post photo's soon

TRYING THE MATRIX AT 90MTRS

Went to the club this afternoon after work just to try the Carbon Matrix at 90mtrs to see how it was grouping. Even though I was feeling a little tired from the big weekend of shooting, I had a few practice ends and then scored 6 ends and I ended up with a 344... I was happy with this as most arrows out of the 10 were only just out. Might have to shoot a fita soon with this bow to see what it can do.

COMM GAMES TRIAL - AIS CANBERRA 26-28 MARCH

I headed up to Canberra early Friday morning, the flight out of Launceston was delayed due to the late arrival the night before of the last flight. This made for an interesting day as this meant I missed my connecting flight from Melbourne to Canberra... Nothing too serious, just meant I had to sit in the airport for an extra 2 hours and that is always fun. Got to Canberra eventually but my bow case did not, it arrived some 4 hours later... Better late than never. Had time for some practice during the afternoon between the nutritionist and sport psych.
Saturday and Sunday was all about shooting and matches against each of the other male compounders. In total I had 20 matches with 14 wins, 3 ties and 3 losses... Pretty happy with shooting and results. My scores and results against each apponent are listed below.
Each end is a set and the best of 3 sets
Saturday's match results were:
Win 57-59 (Lyndon May 56-56)
Loss 55-57 (Pat Coghlan 58-58)
Win 59-56-59 (Sten Nigol 58-57-56)
Win 59-59-59 (Dennis Carson 58-59-56)
Tie 58-58-58 (James Hirth 59-53-58)
Win 59-58-58 (Derek Jacobs 56-59-56)
Win 57-59 (Bryce Lee 55-57)
Win 59-57-59 (Guy Phillips 174)
Win 59-57-59 (Jack Salmon 57-57-57)
Win 56-58-60 (RobTimms 57-57-56)
Tie 57-59-58 (Rob Turner 60-58-58)
Win 56-59-59 (Craig Tyson 59-58-56)
Sunday's match results were
Win 60-59 (Duane Coates 59-57)
Loss 57-58-58 (Marcel Verstegen 58-58-59)
Win 60-58-59 (Lyndon May 58-58-57)
Loss 58-57-59 (Pat Coghlan 58-58-59)
Win 60-58 (Sten Nigol 59-55)
Tie 57-58-60 (Dennis Carson 57-59-57)
Win 56-59 (James Hirth 54-54)

AVERAGES
OVER ALL:58.18
SATURDAY:58.06
SUNDAY:58.39

Conditions were pretty close to perfect with only a shifty breeze late morning and afternoon.

GETTING READY FOR THE AIS CAMP

Off tomorrow morning for the next AIS training camp where we all shoot against each other for match practice. I took a trip to the club this morning to get some extra shooting in before having to pack all the gear up. I am very happy with how my shooting is feeling at the moment, I feel very strong but very relaxed when at full draw. I ended up shooting 352 at 70mtrs and my match passes were 118-118-116.

Looking forward to catching up with everyone at the AIS

70MTR - 353 WITH CARBON MATRIX

Finished work and wanted to get some arrows shot at the club. I had made up some new strings and cables for the matrix and I wanted to make sure the draw length was feeling where it should be. I took the first 3 ends to make some minor changes to the draw length and then I scored 6 ends. There was a little bit of wind about but in the end I finished with 353 and my 12 arrow match scores were 118-117-118

70MTR - 351 & 356 WITH CARBON MATRIX

Today was great, I was very happy with my shooting and the shots that missed the 10 were only just off.

My match scores today were: 117-117-117/117-119-120

Lovin the Matrix

70MTR - 350 & 351 WITH CARBON MATRIX

Took another trip to the club this morning as I adjusted the draw length slightly and wanted to shoot another 72 arrow 70 mtr round. The draw length now feels perfect and the shooting went ok. When I say "ok", I mean I am happy that I achieved 350 or better both times as 350 is what I need at 70mtr during a fita round to obtain a 1400 fita (340-350-350-360)...but, I was frustrated today with that I had a lot of shots (more than normal) go off at the wrong time and they were all the 9's... so I am feeling good that when my timing is better that my 70mtr scores will be very nice.

Scores today were: 117-116-117/117-118-116

Feeling very excited about this bow.

THE "BRENDAN WALLACE" REST EXTENSION

This is the extension I have been shooting on my bows now for a while. Brendan Wallace form Canberra whipped me up a couple. The trophy rest slides straight in for a perfect fit. It allows me to get the contact point of the arrow/launcher blade right over my wrist position. As long as it does not exceed 60mm from the bolt hole to the contact point with the arrow.

THE KEEL

This is the keel looking along the limb and also how it looks on the Carbon Matrix and Maxxis 35. As you can see it is set up directly under the center of the bow. The rod here is 12" with 3 weights.

MY MAXXIS 35

MY CARBON MATRIX

70mtr - 352 & 351 WITH CARBON MATRIX

Went to the club this morning to give the bow a longer run at 70mrs. It was a hot day and very humid for Tassy... so it was good to see how I and the bow handled the conditions. The bow is feeling great, felt a little short in the draw length but it still shot well.

I score 352 and 351 for my 6 match passes.. 117-120-115/118-116-117

Pretty happy with how it is going at this stage

CARBON MATRIX IS STARTING TO SHOOT WELL

I went up to the club yesterday and shot 350 at 70mtrs (118-115-117) but the bow still did not feel quite right, so I have been playing around today with the draw length slowly getting it feeling comfortable. Today toward the end felt great and the grouping really tightened up. Even though there was a slight right to left breeze, I still manage to shoot 178 out of 180 for the last 3 ends... 60-59-59. The two 9's were both only just out of the 10 to the left hand side and ten of the sixteen 10's were X's.

The bow is very quiet, possibly the quietest bow I have ever shot.... I have made some adjustments with the cables to help with the holding weight (will go into that later on) and with the keel attached, this bow feels great.... still work to do though but I am feeling very positive with this set up.

MAXXIS 35 ARRIVES

VERY surprised when the Hoyt box was dropped off yesterday afternoon, I was not expecting it for another week or two. This will be great as I will now be able to have the Carbon Matrix and the Maxxis 35 running and comparing how each one performs.

The only real difference between the two to look at them is the throat of the grip (I dont have the wooden grip on either bow) on the Maxxis 35 is in a more reflex position... it is set back about 13-14mm extra than the Carbon Matrix.

It also looks great, it is blue with black pockets and black wheels

Will posts photos soon and also how they compare to each other

CARBON MATRIX ARRIVES

So happy when the delivery lady came knocking on the door today, I could not sign for the parcel quick enough.... ripped the bow out of the box and had it set up ready to shoot in no time.

The bow feels great and even though I am still to make some minor adjustments to the draw length and holding weight, I am already impressed with how this bow aims and feels. I shot 344(115-114-115) straight out of the box.... ok, not super high score but just wanted to shoot it.

I will be weighing the whole mass weight of the set up tomorrow to compare it with the Vantage Elite I have been shooting.

Will post photo's soon and give feed back on how it perform at the longer ranges.

EXCITING

DAUGHTER BREAKS CADET AND JUNIOR AUSTRALIAN TOURNAMENT RECORD

This weekend is the Northern Fita Star Event and the weather was turned on today with perfect conditions for all to take advantage, unfortunately I was unable to shoot due to work but my daughter (Taylah) took full advantage of the conditions and broke 4 Australian Tournament Records today... very well done sweety

Her scores for the day were 337-344-345-353=1379

The records Taylah broke were the:

40meter-345(old record-337)cadet

30meter-353(old record-350)cadet

30meter-353(old record-352)junior

fita60-1379(old record-1361)cadet

She was very close to the 60meter-337(record-338) and the 50meter-344(record-345) Australian records also.

Day 2 of competition and Taylah decided to shoot the full fita70 round and even though she had a mishap by setting her sight on the wrong mark and missing with her first arrow on the second distance she still managed to break the junior fita70 record by 2 points and broke the 70meter record by 3 points.

Her scores for the day were 328-320-323-348=1319

The records Taylah broke were

70meter-328(old record-325)junior

fita70-1319(old record-1317)

I only gave her 1 thing to work on during the two days and that was to keep squeezing the release.

Well Tay, great shooting

Dad

HOYT CARBON MATRIX IS ON THE WAY

Received word that the Hoyt Carbon Matrix has been shipped and on its way here. Really looking forward to putting this bow through its paces and getting set up for the coming tournaments. Bit of luck it will be here for the fita star tournament next week.

LEUPOLD RANGE FINDER SPONSORSHIP

Just received news that LEUPOLD have offered sponsorship with their range finder line. I will soon be receiving their latest range finder the RX-1000TBR. I will post photo's and write a review on how it performs once I get out onto the field range.

Very exciting, thank you Leupold

#2 Comm Games Squad Camp

Camp #2 was held once again at the AIS in Canberra, I arrived there just before lunch on the friday... settled in, had lunch and then we all started on the camp schedule of shooting and seminars to better prepare ourselves for the big event.

The seminars covered topics such as time management, skill training and sports psychology... and its all secret squirrel stuff so don't ask.

The shooting side of things was to give us all practice at the new set system for the elimination rounds... so now instead of shooting 12 and higher score goes through, we now shoot 6 arrow set and the winner of best of 3 sets goes into the next round... very interesting and I enjoyed it a lot. We all shot 1 match against everyone, just practice, nothing to do with team selection at this point. Even though I lost 3 matches, I was very happy with my shooting at this point in time.

NOW AN EASTON STAFF SHOOTER

I am very pleased to say that I will be shooting for Easton Archery for 2010 and my shooting kit turned up today.... new toys to play with :)

The quivers look great, both the field and hip quiver have plenty of pockets for all of necessities or junk that we archer need to carry plus they have four arrow compartments for keeping the shafts separated.

The Easton bow bag is a big improvement over the skb I have been using and will make traveling that much easier.

Now I have the fun time of setting up all the arrows before the AIS camp this coming weekend... busy busy busy.

Time to play... bye