| Name: | John Kearney |
| Nickname: | John K |
| E-mail: | john@goshawk.clara.co.uk |
| Newsgroups: | rec.sport.archery, alt.archery |
| Type of user: | Browsing and the occasional post |
|
| I've finally got round to getting someone with a digital camera to take a photo of me while I'm shooting, so here it is. |
I like to browse the groups and have a look at the problems and ideas that are aired there. Back when I had my Samick, I posted a question to rec.sport.archery about how to measure bow height, and I had at least 20 replies via e-mail! They are easily the most helpful groups I have read. Unfortunately, they do suffer from spam and the occasional moron. Then again, life's like that.
Bow:
PSE Intrepid (Red) with red/black Loesch grip.
Border XP10 Evolution limbs - 70in, approx 42lbs on the fingers, 9 1/8in bracing height.
Dynaflight 97 string, 14 strands, Beiter nocking point.
Arrows:
Outdoor - 31" ACE 520s, 110gr points, orange Beiter In/Out nocks, orange Kurly vanes.
Indoor - 31.5" XX75 Platinum 2114s, 7% points, red Beiter insert nocks, 4 inch plastic vanes (two orange, one black).
Stabilisation:
33in Beiter centraliser with 5 tuners, with 4in extender and 14in side rods. No weights.
Cartel K.L. 4in damper in the top limb bolt, Sims stabiliser enhancer in the bottom.
Other gear:
Large A&F tab (modified)
Wrist sling.
Shibuya Standard Dual Click Sight.
Shibuya button.
Spigarelli Magnetico rest.
Beiter clicker.
Arrowhead quiver and custom made bag.
I first shot a bow when I was around 9 years old, I would guess. The father of a friend of mine was a coach, and I went into their back garden one day and shot at a big pile of leaves for an hour or so with my friend.
A couple of years later, a coach started teaching at the school I was going to. I had a few lessons, but for some reason I lost interest. I think it was my lack of co-ordination, and generalised dislike of most sports (more on that later) that made me stop.
I didn't shoot again until I was 22. I came to Bangor University to take a Master of Arts degree in the English department in September 1995, and one of the people I became friends with dragged me to the archery club. I still remember my first day shooting quite clearly. Although I was only shooting at 10 yards, I couldn't actually see where the arrows had struck the target!
I was hooked. I had to use club equipment, as I was just too poor to buy my own gear. After using one bow for a couple of months, somebody came over and took it away from me. It was a 66" bow, and the arrows I was using were over 30 inches in length! They found a 70 inch bow for me, and I carried on.
After that academic year had finished, I decided to stay in Bangor. My long quest for employment or academic funding began then, and as I was so poor, I ended up not joining the university archery club.
Then in the summer of 97 I was lucky enough to come into some money, courtesy of the Halifax building society. I managed to find the phone number of one of the club members, and found that he only lived a couple of minutes up the road from me. I went round to see him to discuss buying some beginner's gear, and he has continued to be a great help to me, just as he was when I first joined the club. His name is Henry Roberts, and sadly he died early in 2002. Although he wasn't a qualified coach, and never claimed to be, he has helped me and dozens of other beginners get a solid grounding in target archery. He will be sadly missed.
My first bow was a Samick Progress 1, 70" and 36lbs at 28 inches. Henry and I guessed my draw length was 31 inches, and got it more or less right. The bow had an attractive gold and burgundy riser, and shot very well. I really do recommend it for beginners.
However, only a few weeks later, Henry discovered that the captain of Gwynedd Bowmen, David Pritchard, was selling his old bow: a KG 1 in just the right size and weight for me. I didn't intend to buy it, but I asked David if I could have a look at it. When we went to his club, David handed it over and told me to take it away and have a look over it.
The next day I went round to Henry's place, and we set up the KG1. He put up his target in his backyard, and after the first shot, the Progress I was forgotten.
Once more I dug into my savings, and I bought the KG1. For the rest of the summer, I shot whenever I could with Henry and a couple of others, and started to work on my technique.
I had a lot of fun with the University club, but I moved to Malvern in September 1998 to start a job. Luckily there was an archery club in Malvern, which I joined. Now I'm the club secretary, and I'm enjoying my shooting more than ever.
I have been plagued with injury problems, for example RSI in mid-2000. However, things are much better now and the archery is going well. I bought the PSE set up in March 2000, and it's a terrific bow.
From early 2000 to late 2001, I was plagued with problems - RSI from work caused me to take a couple of breaks from archery, and I was too keen to try new techniques and pieces of euipment to increase my score.
Towards the end of 2001, I committed to an exercise program of reversals and stretches. I also took a short holiday from archery (5 weeks) and came back very keen to enjoy the sport and keep it simple. This really began to pay off in early 2002. After some changes in kit, my scores are climbing again, even at competition, and (more importantly) I'm enjoying every arrow.
Some personal bests (nothing spectacular - but they made me happy at the time 8-):
Indoor
------------ Competition ----- Practice
Portsmouth - 566, Jan 02 ----- 569, Feb 02
Stafford --- 607, Nov 00
FITA 25 ---- 516, Jan 01
FITA 18 ---- 526, March 02 --- 532, Jan 02
Bray I ----------------------- 273, Jan 02
Outdoor
--------------- Competition ------ Practice
American ------ 714, May 00
National ------ 530, April 02 ---- 556, April 02
New National --------------------- 425, June 02
Long National -------------------- 560, June 02
Long Western -- 733, Jun 02
Western ------- 760, Sept 99
Windsor ------- 808, Oct 01
York ---------- 874, July 02
FITA ---------- 1026, May 02
Long Metric ---------------------- 500, May 02
Short Metric --------------------- 577, May 00
Archery is one of those sports that seems to offer a contradiction - to achieve a controlled and consistent accuracy you must first learn to relax. I love the challenge this represents.
Happy shooting all.
