Post Indoor-shoot ponderances.

For some reason, indoor is always more fun to set up than outdoor. Weiquan thinks it's because with outdoor, everyone just gets burnt under the hot sun and it makes everyone tired and cranky. Which is probably true.

It was even semi-fun doing all the prep, hanging up the nets with Nic, Weiquan, James and Henry. Taping down the lanes, moving boards and pinning up targets. Although as usual, things got messy and slightly irritating after the judges came down to inspect the venue.

I wish I'd taken more pictures of our setting up and stuff.



Nic and Weiquan bolting together the iron girders which we attached the nets to. The nets are meant to stop any arrows which somehow manage to go all the way through the target boards. Yes, there are bows which have sufficiently high poundage. The distance for this shoot is only 18m after all.


Just Weiquan being silly. This was after we'd just about finished setting up everything; as you can see, the windows in the background are dark.


Shiling, Janice and Sylvia cutting up number tags for the competitors.


Got a lift to school from Weiquan on both days. Day one, it was the bike; day two it was the car. Is it possible that a slight fear of riding on motorbikes can be dissipated after three rides? Haha. I don't know. But it was kinda fun I guess. Although my ears always get squished by the helmet. I think my head is just too big or something. Even my optician used to say that I have a very wide face, so he had to bend the arms of my specs outwards so they wouldn't bite into the sides of my face.


Helping with registration, giving out collar pins. Slow start to the Recurve Standard Individual events. Was kinda fun walking around without much to do. Took a nap, woke up just in time to help calculate scores from the first round. The pace of things picked up in the second round, but by the time the Recurve Open Individual events started, I still didn't particularly feel like shooting. Just wanted to go home and sleep.

But when my first end landed a score of 10, 8, 8, I knew something was working. I didn't know *what* was working, but something in me figured that my semi-stoned, almost-Zen state of mind was a good state to be in for making me focus. I can't really remember feeling that way for a very long time.

Maybe the last time was during the AAS Shoot last year. And I remember talking to Vincent while waiting for the knockout round to start, and talking about how sometimes, the only place in the world that seems to make sense is the shooting line.


230 for the first round and 213 for the second. Started getting tired in the second round, but 230 is my highest score for one round at the moment at 18m distance. Combined score of 443 is also the highest I've achieved for a full shoot at 18m. Ranking improved by 11 places. I was ranked 22nd last year when I'd just started shooting in Open class; so now I'm 11.

Semi-wasted though; if Weiquan and Harry and I had been put in the same team, our combined score would've been enough to get us into the Open Mixed Team event. Although that would've meant that we'd be pitted against the 1st-ranked team in the very first knockout round, so it probably wouldn't have made much of a difference anyway. Lol.

But I realised later that it might still have been worth it to shoot in the team event. Even if only to have the chance to shoot with all the damn experienced people.


Day two was something I'll remember for a long time. It seems this competition is a time for a lot of "finallys" to happen. Huiting finally won gold in Standard Women's Individual. Shiling finally won a medal. We finally won a Standard Men's event.

Looks like my exco is stepping down on a high note. :)

I think our juniors are really proving their mettle. After seeing the team event and from what the others are telling me, I think our girls especially are made of tougher stuff than a few of the other competing teams'.

We won third place for Standard Women's team, as it seems we're wont to do, and this time, Connor, James and Henry brought back the bronze for Standard Men's team as well. Finally. :D

We haven't won anything in Standard Men's for a long time it seems. In fact, I think the last time we won something in Standard Men's was when Vincent got second place in the Individual event in last year's IVP.


It's always nice to know that you're appreciated, I guess. But I suppose appreciation can be something that comes around so rarely in this world that most of us don't expect it. I know I'm definitely one of them.

So when someone tells you that you made them love the sport and that it was your patience that made a difference, and when they say thank you for everything that you've done from the very beginning-- it's one of the best feelings in the world. :)

I just had this brief moment when I found out what teachers probably feel like when they see past students who've done well and such; you never really feel like it's your effort that's got them this far. And you wonder why they're thanking you, because it seems like so long ago since that time when they really didn't know much.

You've come a long way on your own; maybe I taught you all the basics in the beginning, but you're the one who made it count for something. It's through your own effort that you got that medal, and will get many more.

But thank you for remembering anyway, James. :)


Stepping down, handing over, whatever you wanna call it. It's the end, finally. Now I can just shoot and not be bothered with the running of the club, haha. :P I know some people won't be shooting anymore; I know for a fact that it's likely that Nic and me are the only ones from our year who're gonna carry on shooting. And I hope that lots of the juniors end up staying on too. This year's juniors have achieved a better medal haul than my year did while we were junior comm, and I hope this just keeps getting better.

So now... who else wants to go for the NJ shoot? :D