| Name: | Marcel van Apeldoorn |
| E-mail: | mvapldrn@nlr.nl |
| Newsgroups: | rec.sport.archery, alt.archery |
| Type of user: | Read them every day |
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Note the string! I used a Minolta 7000 which I wired up to my clicker. You might note the two wires coming down from my bowarm, and the piece of tape next to the button. Each time the clicker clicked, a picture was taken. I assumed that the delay in the camera would be the same (almost) as my reaction-time. A lot pictures got wasted because the camera was too fast, but I've got two of these, and some nice ones where you can just see the arrow. |
I can read both groups, but only reply to rec.sport.archery. I've learned A LOT from these groups, the technical info is sometimes better than we (=Dutch team) get. What I miss in these groups are some of the discussions on mental aspects of archery.
I'm glad such knowledgeable people are participating in these groups (Mr. GT for example!)
YAMAHA:
You might find some of my tuning-ideas interesting, I've not been able to write them all down, but I've made a start here (of hier voor de nederlandse versie.)
Since I'm only shooting for just over 6 years now, so I can keep this very short.
I started shooting 17th March 1991. That day I joined a club in the Netherlands called "de Waert" in Heerhugowaard (about 40km north of amsterdam.) I was a student back then and had all the time in the world to practice. In two months time I had shot a 258 at 25m with a club-bow, so it was time to buy my own.
I bought a second-hand Greenhorn at Giel van Roy's shop (Dutch Archery Specialist in Roggel) and very soon (that same year) shot a 9 average.
I got a shoulderinjury (didn't have anything to do with archery) and couldn't shoot the summer of 1992.
My first FITA (Schijndel 1993) was an 1128 and the 4th and last one that year was an 1150.
That indoor season Cor Visser gave me one of his bows (a YAMAHA A-EX but with new Ceramic limbs, the bow you see in the picture) which was quite a bit heavier approx. 40# instead of the 34# of my Greenhorn. It was 1 week before the club-championship (him being a strong contender you could think he did this on purpose, and indeed he did: he wanted me to win) Within a week I increased my 25m PB from 287 to 290 (shot several in a row). My first FITA that year (and 5th time I ever shot a FITA) was a 1208!
Marcelo Müuller and I went to England that year (1994, Church Stretton and Andover) where I met some very nice people who gave me some valuable tips (Thanks Mr. Priestman!) and made me shoot a 1258 in Andover.
That indoorseason (end 1994/1995) I worked hard on my technique. Still being a student I devoted all my time to archery and probably trained for an average of 20 hours/week. This resulted in winning the club-championships the third time in a row and that outdoor-season I wanted to get selected for the Dutch team. I started with a 1278 FITA and averaged 1250 that year. Based on these results I got selected for the Dutch team for 1996. I bought an EOLLA handle (the psychedelic rainbow colored one!) to match the ceramic llimbs I had.
I'm proud to say that I shot the Face-to-Face in 1995, which in my opinion is THE BEST and MOST EXCITING indoor tournament there is. I got through to the second round on score (577, which was the lowest score of the remaining 24 contenders, can you imagine!)
The outdoor season 1996 started a bit dissapointing perhaps due to some minor technique changes I made during the winter. But they did pay off a bit in the long run. I changed to the Super Ceramic limbs which were VERY fast and accurate and also shot some nice scores with them (1260's). Again I got selected for the Dutch team for 1997.
In December? of 1996 I first tried the new Emerald star from Carbofast, and it felt realy good: Absolute guaranteed quietness while being fast, accurate and stable (Oh, please Mr. Webmaster can I promote it a bit? :-)
So, I switched to ALL Carbofast and it performed fine. I did shoot the 1996 Face-to-Face, but it was a disappointment. Got kicked out in the first round :-(
The outdoor season (1997) didn't start very well, and I was kind of spiralling down to the point where I shot an incredible 1187 in June. It was a trial for the WC-outdoor, so my chances of making the 1998 team were almost zero.
I decided to go back to the Yamaha, and realy focus on technique the rest of the season. The Dutch Coach (Carry van Gool) gave some very good advice on keeping my head in the same position and this worked very well. From then on, I got it back together, shot a 1230 and 1258 FITA and after 2 months shot a 2563!!! (1283+1280) With these scores I managed to just make the team for 1998.
| round | # arrows | score | # arrows | score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FITA | 144 | 1287 | 288 | 2563 |
| 18m | 30 | 294 | 60 | 579 |
| 25m | 30 | 294 | 60 | 577 |
| 30m | 36 | 349 | ||
| 50m | 36 | 328 | ||
| 70m | 36 | 328 | ||
| 90m | 36 | 312 |
Just to fill this space, here are some of my thoughts:
On Archery
On winning tournaments and score
On technique
On tuning
