Squad training, and the WFAA Welsh Indoor Championships

On January 5^th and 6^th, the WFAA Squad had training led by our coach Ray Howells. It was a really productive session, focussing on correct use of back tension through the shot and placing a lot of emphasis on developing a solid shot routine based on the BEST method developed by Korean coach Kisik Lee.

I found this really helpful because I am my own worst enemy. I will come to draw, aim and something doesn’t feel right. Instead of letting down and starting again, I will power through it and make a poor shot – then kick myself for not coming down! It’s a surprisingly hard thing to do and most people do the same, so by using a solid shot routine there is a set sequence to follow and if anything deviates from this then you know something isn’t right, reset and start again.

On the Sunday, Ray had a little betting going on to try this under pressure! Everybody who wants to shoot chucks 10p on the floor. You all shoot and score 3 arrows and the highest score gets the pot. If there is a tie, it rolls over and you need to put 10p more in to stay in. It was amazing how much fun this was and knowing that you are shooting to win the pot, even though it’s a matter of a few £ made it very interesting to see how the pressure affected everyone!  We did it for a few rounds, and after about 4 ends of tying I won the final pot with a 10 10 10. Put in about £1.50 across the morning and picked up a fiver, my first prize money – it’s a start haha!

Ahhh, smug mode :)

I adopted the new shot sequence during the following weeks practice session to start to drill it into my head, and had a great opportunity to test it in the field as the 13^th of January was the WFAA Welsh Indoor Championships. It’s an IFAA indoor round, 60 arrows at a 5 spot target. I was on the same target as the top WFAA archers so the pressure was on.

We were matched for about 2 dozen, until my opponent dropped one into the 4 ring and I took the lead by 1 point. There were still 3 dozen to go, the door was open so it was a case of staying cool and making strong shots. I was very nervous, especially towards the end but stayed in the spot and was on course to win. The final end of arrows were a bit nerve wracking, but after a few recent experiences I am getting a little more confident shooting under pressure. I focussed on calming my breathing, and on the shot sequence to make sure every arrow was as strong as the last and put down the last end - 5 X’s, finishing on a clean score of 300/300 with 46 X! 

The afternoon session followed, and all of the compound archers dropped a point or 2 during the round, so I had the only clean score and when we were all finished, the award ceremony was held and I received the gold medal as WFAA Indoor Champion for 2013! The award ceremony was also held for the WFAA Welsh Field Masters Tour stage 5 and final awards, as it was rained off on the day. I received 1^st place for stage 5, and 1^st place overall awards so I was also announced as WFAA Field Master in Freestyle Unlimited for 2012!

Not a bad way to start the season, WFAA Field Master & Indoor Champion going into the new year! I was absolutely thrilled with this result, and hope I have done my sponsor Wales Archery Specialists proud so far. Mat Symmonds who is also sponsored by WAS took gold in Recurve so it was good to see the Wales Archery shooters at the top on the day!