December 2004

Club Shirts

Several people have indicated they are interested in purchasing club shirts.  We are considering getting a collared polo type shirt with the KAC logo embroried on the front.  If you are interested in buying one or more, please contact Theri Braun and provide your shirt size.  The cost will be around $30 each.  Please contact Theri by December 31. 

New Level II Instructors

The Level II certification for archery instructors requires at least 30 hours of classroom and hands on activity.  Jake Veit of Peach State Archers recently held a Level II course over a period of four days. It goes into more detail than the Level I class which lasts only eight hours.  It covers more information on setting up and tuning of equipment, Identifying shooting form errors and how to correct them and even how to conduct a Level I workshop.

Congratulations to Jefflyne Potter, John Whitney, Don Edwards, Louis McClure and Richard Braun on completing the class and earning their Level II certification.

KAC Volunteer of the Year

The Cobb County Parks and Recreation Department recently held their annual volunteer dinner at the Waverly Rennasiance Hotel to formally recognize the various sports and cultural affairs organizations in the county for their volunteer work during the past year.  The county plays a large part in the activities of each organization by providing facilities, maintenance and organizational help.  However, if not for the volunteers providing their personal time, none of the activities would take place. 

Each organization nominated one volunteer from their organization to be recognized at the dinner and be awarded a placque for their involvement during the year.  Our nominee this year is Jefflyne Potter, JOAD Director.  Jefflyne has done a great job with our JOAD program.  She made positive changes that has increased participation and raised the skill level of our young shooters.  Her organization skills have also made the program much more efficient.  Jefflyne has worked hard to increase her own knowledge of archery as well as her shooting skill.  She is truly an asset to our club.  Please convey your congratulations to her for a job well done.

In addition,  I would like to thank Don Edwards, Mike Sullivan, Richard Braun and and Louis McClure for their volunteer efforts this year as well.  We couldn't have handled the infux of new shooters this year without you.

And last , but certainly not least,  I want to thank our Vice President Eric Cero and our Secretary/Treasurer Theri Brawn for their tireless contribution this year as well.  These are two jobs that go pretty much unnoticed until something doesn't get done when it should.  Because you haven't noticed them that much obviously means they are certainly getting the job done!  The behind the scenes tasks is what makes the club successful more often than not and thanks to Eric and Theri they make the difference. 

Shooting Tip

While winning tournaments still requires you to have excellent shooting form, sometimes your equipment can make the final difference in that extra point ot two needed to win.  Most of the top level tournaments are won or lost by a single point or two, many times in a shoot-off after a tie in regulation. " If only I had shot just a little bit better on one or two arrows".... sound familiar? It does to me! 

"Maybe if I hadn't shot my skinny outdoor arrows at that indoor shoot and used some "fat shafts" instead, I would have done better."  After giving this last statement some thought one day, I decided to test the theory.  I shot an indoor round with my A/C/E arrows which are "skinny" and made for shooting long distances outdoors so the wind doesn't affect them very much.  I carefully recorded where each arrow hit on the target face and then tracked how many times I would have scored one point higher if I had used a fatter shaft lilke my X-7 Eclipse aluminum arrows. 

My A/C/E shafts are 14/64ths of an inch outside diameter and My X-7 shafts are 18/64ths of an inch outside diameter.  That's one sixteenth of an inch difference! Doesn't sound like much, huh?  However, that small amount made an eight point difference over the course of sixty arrows.  Eight of my shots were within one sixteenth of an inch of the nest higher scoring area! If only I had been shooting my "fatboys"!

Of course you could also say that if I practiced more I wouldn't need them....but why not take advantage of what's available?  I only did this for one round so I don't know if it was a valid test , but it certainly was for this test.  I would lilke to do this over several rounds to see the average, which will probably be lower, but knowing even one point could make a big difference, I will stick with my X-7s for indoor shooting.

Try this experiment for yourself and see what it can do for you.  You might be pleasantly surprised!

Good Shooting,

Jim White