Personal best in NFAA Nationals (USA Championships)

I had a lovely day out shooting today, I had taken a couple days off during the NFAA National Championships. I shot as a guest, yet could post scores and compare my efforts against the Americans. I was finally grouped with Sandy McCain (second from right), the most experienced and skilled bowhunter female shooter in the world. She holds world records in both the field and hunter rounds, and she lives and breathes archery. I shot again with Lana (second from left) and Christine (far left). Our group was very relaxed, and we chatted the whole way around the animal round.

Animal round shoot group

I shot extremely well in the Animal round, posting a career high 516 points. I couldn’t do much wrong, the arrows were flowing off my bow and hitting the places I wanted them to go. Funny how things work when you’re not trying too hard, much like how my best rock-climbing has been done while relaxed and totally in the moment.

Here are a couple more photographs from the day out:

Hitting the pro ring!

Lana looking happy, she’s always smiling and enjoying her archery. This photo of her came out super good.

All first arrow kill shots @ 60 yards. Nice work team.

At the conclusion of the shoot everyone got together in the Easton NFAA National Complex for the presentation ceremony. I received a guest medal for my performance, with my score bringing me in second in their National Championships, which I was really happy with. A good practice for the world championships tomorrow! Immediately following the presentation, the opening ceremony for the World Field Archery Championships followed. We were treated to some Native American dances and flute playing, and a BBQ where everyone mingled and chatted about good times before and good times to come. A couple of excerpts follow:

Day Two NFAA

Day two of the NFAA National Championships was a hunter round; another 28 targets and 4 arrows per target. Today I was shooting with Lana and Melissa. I met and shot with Lana in 2012 in Argentina. She is here with her sister, Lyn, and they’re a great couple of ladies. We had a lovely relaxed day of shooting, with lots of chatting and laughing. Melissa is from Pennsylvania, and she was shooting really, really well.

Lana, Melissa and I

Before we started shooting we noticed some rustling in the bushes, caused by a pair of fawns! Both ladies said they were twins, and they spent the day running and leaping around the course. We never saw their mother, but they appeared to be having a lot of fun, and were very safe at a target archery range, provided they didn’t leap in front of a target at an inopportune moment. I had tried to capture some still shots of these little guys all day, without any real success . . . they were very quick and by the time I got my camera trained on them, they had passed by.

Later in the day, I did capture them on video. One ran out right in front of us, and we knew the other fawn was soon to follow, so I grabbed my phone and started the recording. If you look in the middle of this video you can make out the head of the little thing peering at me through the grass. Towards the end of the short video you’ll see him more clearly:

After the day of shooting I grabbed some lunch with Bea, and had a relatively early night.

First day of competition in the NFAA National Championships

I am the lone Aussie shooting with all the Americans for the NFAA National Field Championships. Most of the Aussie team think that it is too much archery, to shoot five days of a national championship and then follow that immediately with another five days of the World Championship. They may be right; but I don’t have to shoot all the five days, I can post a score made up of three total days out of the five, so I will decide in a few days if I can fit in a rest day.

There are a handful of other foreign competitors taking part in the NFAA event, and we are classed as ‘guest’ shooters; which means we are ineligible for medals, but can participate anyway. I see it as great practice for the upcoming world event, where Australia has around 15-20 participating archers.

The first day was a ‘field round’; 28 targets with 4 arrows per target at distances varying from 11 yards to 80 yards. My shoot group was made up of a Namibian woman – Bea, and two Austrian men, Herwig and Klement. I had shot with Herwig in Argentina in 2012. Here is a short video of us all together, getting ready for the starting signal to commence the round:

This was a very friendly group, and I had a great time shooting with these guys. We all shot pretty well, I shot an above average score and was very happy. I did feel some nerves, as it is the first day of competition and I tend to place a lot of pressure on myself to shoot well; but I am learning to let that go and just enjoy the flow of the moment – ironically performance is best when I am relaxed and it feels easy to do. Bea took a short video of four shots I made on a 55 yard target, which is a target of 65cm diameter at that range.

Weather was superb, a little humid but no higher than about 28 Celsius, ideal weather really. We had a lot of fun chatting during the round, and making new friends with each other. I’ve included a few shots to indicate the lovely scenery here at the Yankton range.

The 80 yard shot, from a large platform, the toughest shot of the day.

Score of 16 on the 65 yard shot, my four arrows were a nice group, and this is tough to do at this range.

Shameless selfie. Bea is shooting in the background

Once all the shooting was over with, I went to greet the rest of the Australian team, who had arrived around midday. We’re all holed up in the Best Western Kelly Inn, which is right next to the archery range. Many of the Aussies were pretty tired and jetlagged, but all were in good spirits and pleased to be in the USA. I was invited to eat with a couple of Americans; Vince and Paul – great fellas (father and son) I had met in Argentina. Afterwards I sat and had some wine with the Aussies, who had come down for an early dinner. Good times!

Vince & Paul and I

Joy Wood (hard core longbow shooter) and I

Steve & Rod & I

Heading to Yankton, South Dakota

I left Dan’s place in good time, his little Honda all packed up. The drive from Wisconsin to Yankton South Dakota took me right across the southern part of Minnesota, which was a relaxing drive via Interstate 90.

I spent plenty of time checking out the scenery, endless swathes of corn fields and more wind generators than you can imagine. A couple of stops on the way for snacks etc, and I made excellent time to Yankton, the 650km drive felt easy and I arrived at my motel around 3pm. Once settled in to my room, I set up my bow and made a short walk to the archery range. (The ‘Kelly Inn’ is ideally located, I’m literally 200m from where the competition starts.)

The rest of the Australian team were to arrive today, but they were held up and wouldn’t arrive until the 30th. I had decide to shoot both the NFAA National Championships, as a lead-up to the world championships. Ten days of archery, and I think the body and mind will hold up.

The facilities here are amazing, and I made my way to the practice range for a few shots to loosen up for the coming competition.