Camping With a Side of Archery - Part 2
Age: 13 years old
From: Elyria, OH
This weekend I shot my second ever United States Archery Team (USAT) qualifying event, it was The Buckeye Classic in Dublin Ohio. We shoot this event because it's a big challenge since I don't compete at this distance, and I have to shoot up a class to compete in it. But the main reason is because it's only two hours away and my dad travels for work and is able to schedule jobs during the trip in the same area. We stayed at a campground again because it is cheaper than a hotel room, and because it's more fun. At some campgrounds I can go fishing, ride my bike around, go swimming, have campfires and other stuff that you can't do in a hotel room.
We came down Thursday to check stuff out at the tournament field and setup our canopy. There was a morning practice and an afternoon practice. I was the afternoon one and didn't know so I shot half of the morning one which was good because we only got two practice ends in before it started storming in the afternoon practice. Since they stopped practice and cleared the field because of the storms, me and my dad drove around the area to waste time and decided to look for a new pop-up canopy since ours won't last much longer. If the storms were to stop we were going to go back to practice, but since it didn't we headed back to the camp ground.
When we got to the campground my dad surprised me with RC boats, we put the batteries on the charger so we could play with them at the pond at the camp ground While we waited we watched the Olympics and talked about what we are going to do for the 2022 season; like bows, sponsors, tournaments, jersey designs and more. Once the batteries where done charging we went out and played with them. The RC boats were very surprisingly really fast for how little and cheap they were. They turned really sharp going to the right, but sucked turning to the left and they would end up getting stuck in the weeds. So I had to go out in a boat and get them out of the weeds, I stayed out there in the boat so I could get them when they got stuck again. After playing with the boats we watched the Olympics till bed time, and my dad packed up the boats to return them since they didn't turn correctly.
Friday we woke up at 530 for qualifications, my mom came with us and that made me happy since she doesn't come to many of my tournaments because she works 6 days a week. When we got to the field the weather was perfect for open practice but when we started scoring the wind started swirling and pushing me all over the place. It really sucked to shoot in, I had some good ends when the wind stopped but bad ends when it was windy. When I was done we packed up our stuff and headed back to the camper. On the way back we stopped at Competitors Edge Custom Bow Strings and talked to Jason McCormic about new strings for my new bow I ordered a couple weeks ago from Archery World USA. When we left there we stopped at a house near the campground because my mom saw driving to it that they had kittens. We got two kittens which surprised me, but I was happy because I liked how tiny and fluffy they were. We brought the kittens back to the camper to wash them and pick the fleas off them. There was ALOT of fleas on them because the kittens were kept outside. We named them Shelby and Rio because those are two archers names that my mom said would work as cat names. When we were done cleaning the kittens we went fishing and we all caught a couple fish. Then it got dark and my mom went home with the kittens and me and my dad watched the Olympics till we fell asleep again. On Saturday it was eliminations, me and my dad got to the field early so I could go to the Lancaster trailer and buy stuff I need for my new bow, but they didn't have everything I needed so I will get what I still need at IBO Worlds. I still had time to waste so I watched the pros shoot with some friends like Leann and Dewey. When the pros were done I saw Andre Shelby and went up to him and thanked him for the jersey he sent me after reading my story "Does Size Really Matter?". Then I saw Keith Trail and I talked to him about the new PSE bows and hunting. After that it was time for me to shoot eliminations. My practice ends were good but when it was time for eliminations I got really nervous and shot really bad and lost my match. So we packed all of our stuff up, I got to sleep all the way back to the camper.
Overall the weekend was a good experience and I am very happy I decided to shoot it again, even though I shot really bad. I am happy we stayed at a campground because it's more fun than a hotel room and I got two new kittens, caught some fish and made pizza pies in the campfire. This tournament we went there knowing I wouldn't do good since I was shooting up a class. So the main thing was to have fun camping with my mom and dad, and just shoot to shoot with no pressure of where I placed, even though I still put pressure on myself.
We came down Thursday to check stuff out at the tournament field and setup our canopy. There was a morning practice and an afternoon practice. I was the afternoon one and didn't know so I shot half of the morning one which was good because we only got two practice ends in before it started storming in the afternoon practice. Since they stopped practice and cleared the field because of the storms, me and my dad drove around the area to waste time and decided to look for a new pop-up canopy since ours won't last much longer. If the storms were to stop we were going to go back to practice, but since it didn't we headed back to the camp ground.
When we got to the campground my dad surprised me with RC boats, we put the batteries on the charger so we could play with them at the pond at the camp ground While we waited we watched the Olympics and talked about what we are going to do for the 2022 season; like bows, sponsors, tournaments, jersey designs and more. Once the batteries where done charging we went out and played with them. The RC boats were very surprisingly really fast for how little and cheap they were. They turned really sharp going to the right, but sucked turning to the left and they would end up getting stuck in the weeds. So I had to go out in a boat and get them out of the weeds, I stayed out there in the boat so I could get them when they got stuck again. After playing with the boats we watched the Olympics till bed time, and my dad packed up the boats to return them since they didn't turn correctly.
Friday we woke up at 530 for qualifications, my mom came with us and that made me happy since she doesn't come to many of my tournaments because she works 6 days a week. When we got to the field the weather was perfect for open practice but when we started scoring the wind started swirling and pushing me all over the place. It really sucked to shoot in, I had some good ends when the wind stopped but bad ends when it was windy. When I was done we packed up our stuff and headed back to the camper. On the way back we stopped at Competitors Edge Custom Bow Strings and talked to Jason McCormic about new strings for my new bow I ordered a couple weeks ago from Archery World USA. When we left there we stopped at a house near the campground because my mom saw driving to it that they had kittens. We got two kittens which surprised me, but I was happy because I liked how tiny and fluffy they were. We brought the kittens back to the camper to wash them and pick the fleas off them. There was ALOT of fleas on them because the kittens were kept outside. We named them Shelby and Rio because those are two archers names that my mom said would work as cat names. When we were done cleaning the kittens we went fishing and we all caught a couple fish. Then it got dark and my mom went home with the kittens and me and my dad watched the Olympics till we fell asleep again. On Saturday it was eliminations, me and my dad got to the field early so I could go to the Lancaster trailer and buy stuff I need for my new bow, but they didn't have everything I needed so I will get what I still need at IBO Worlds. I still had time to waste so I watched the pros shoot with some friends like Leann and Dewey. When the pros were done I saw Andre Shelby and went up to him and thanked him for the jersey he sent me after reading my story "Does Size Really Matter?". Then I saw Keith Trail and I talked to him about the new PSE bows and hunting. After that it was time for me to shoot eliminations. My practice ends were good but when it was time for eliminations I got really nervous and shot really bad and lost my match. So we packed all of our stuff up, I got to sleep all the way back to the camper.
Overall the weekend was a good experience and I am very happy I decided to shoot it again, even though I shot really bad. I am happy we stayed at a campground because it's more fun than a hotel room and I got two new kittens, caught some fish and made pizza pies in the campfire. This tournament we went there knowing I wouldn't do good since I was shooting up a class. So the main thing was to have fun camping with my mom and dad, and just shoot to shoot with no pressure of where I placed, even though I still put pressure on myself.
Originally published in the August 2021 edition of The Young Archers of BowJunky Media