1200 Round + PBs(personal bests)

Now the 1200 rounds.  Called 1200 rounds only because the max amount of points you can get is 1200.  Coincidence, I think not.  Most round names are made by the max number of points you can achieve.  But unlike all the outdoor tournaments shooting at long distances.  Every archer shoots the same distance no matter the age.  Also unlike the outdoor tournaments shot on 122cm targets, the indoor target faces are 40cm.  1200 rounds are shot with three arrows an end and ten ends.  that equals max points of 300 so you repeat that scoring process four times.  My pb (personal best) at this distance is 1107.  That's an average of 277 per 300 arrow scoring, and an average of 9.2 per arrow.  This is the score that got me third in indoor nationals for cub.  My pb for only one 300 round is 295.  That's only missing the bulls eye five times.  If I shoot like that every time, that guarantees me a spot on the USAA World Archery Team.  That's my dream, making the USAA World Teams and going to the Olympics.

Preparation

This week I have been preparing for a very special event.  This event will take place from November 17-21st.  I was selected to go and shoot at the Olympic Training Center (OTC) to try out to make the JDT team.  This JDT team is the Junior Dream Team, where the national and Olympic coaches watch and train the kids.  Head coach Kisik Lee has selected 50 of the top archers to participate and compete for the open spots.  To be eligible you have to shoot a minimum qualifying score (1250 out of 1440) at the distances required (50, 60, 70 meters).  With that you have to have attended at least 4 national tournaments and write an essay.  Once you have met these requirements and you are selected, you will go a week to Chula Vista the Olympic Training Center and train.  You will have to run, essay writing, SPT's (standard-physical-training), do push-ups ( 60+ in 2 minutes), sit-ups (80+ in 2 minutes), and most of all shoot.  I have been training hard and want to accomplish my goal of becoming a JDT member.  Come back next week to see how it went and my experience at the camp.

Fita Rounds

Sorry for the delay, now I will finally tell you about the regular fita round.  For this round you shoot 72 arrows for the day, and the next day is a different type of round like ORs, or Elimination.  These rounds are normally used for big national events so you can do all the different events in one week.  This part is usually for the placing in the second part so it doesn't count toward your rank as much.   You shoot two rounds the day of the fita, both consisting of 36 arrows, and there is a lunch break in between.  This event usually takes between 6-8 hours depending on the archers speed.  This is including the hour lunch break.  During this lunch break archers like to talk to each other and find each others score.  Knowing each others score shows the archers where they are placed and how much better they have to do so they can rank up.  This tournament is not really for the placing but more so you can strategically place yourself for the next days event. 

Halloween Special

Sorry again for not being able to talk about the fita Rounds, but this week has a very special event.  Halloween,  so my club "Vanguard Archers" decided to host a special event.  All the participants had to wear there costume to shoot.  It was a three in one event, best target decorator, best score, and best costume.  All my friends we there and the costumes and food was amazing.  I dressed as Dracula and ended up getting 2nd for best costume.  Me and my partner also got fourth for target decorating, but we didn't get a prize for that. Once the Halloween part was all settled it was time for scoring.  We had 10 ends of three arrows.  Since I wore a costume I got to shoot a mulligan arrow.  A mulligan arrow is an arrow you can make up if you shoot a low score.  I ended in first place, but in the end it was more for fun than for score. 

My Experience

Last week I talked about the archery competition double fitas.  This week I was supposed to talk about the regular Fita but this weekend I competed in long beach called the duel in the desert.  This tournament was a mix of the fita and the 900 round.  This weekend (10/24/15) California's top 6 picked archers competed against Arizona and Baja California (Mexico).  During the tournament I shot a score of 306 out of 360 on the first round, which put me in second place.  Then on the second round I shot a 314 which is a total of 620.  This put me in first to bring California's victory for day 1 of the tournament.

Compatitions

There are six basic types of tournaments.  The double fita, fita, 1200 round, and the 900 round.  These types of tournaments are the tournament where its the archer vs. every other archer.  The other two types of tournaments are team rounds and OR's (Olympic Rounds).   These are the tournaments where one or a group archers go head to head with another.  Lets start with the one vs. all tournaments.  The double fita is a scoring system where each archer shoots six arrows six times, each once at one of the four distances you shoot.  Lets break this down a little more.  Each arrow has a max value of 10 points, which after six arrows accumulates to 60 points.  There are then six ends in every round so you can get a max score of 360.  You shoot this at your to farthest distances the first day.  The second day, you shoot three arrows twelve time, which accumulates also to 360.  Again you shoot this twice the second day.  If you do the math or 360 times four is 1440.  This double fita round is also referred to as a fourteen forty round, because of the max possible score.  Come back next week to learn about the next type of tournament the regular fita. 

Barebows

This week I will be telling you all about the Barebow.  While the Recurve and Compounds have sights and stability systems, Barebow shooters aren't allowed to have accessories.  Barebow means bare with no attachments, It's the kind of bow you think Indians use, and the one where people say, "archery is easy its a stick and a string." 

The old fashion bow, a stick and a string, now people use it for traditional shooting.  But you can still use a Barebow in a competitions.  The bow has to fit between a 12" ring unstrung (without the string).  Why the 12" ring, well if u put the accessory that stabilizes the bow it can only be 5" or the bow is considered Recurve. If u have a sight marking anywhere on the bow then it is also considered Recurve.  If you want to shoot traditionally this is the bow for you. 

P.S. Archery is not as easy as it looks.