To assist young archers on that journey, the Kennesaw Archery Club now has a program in place to further the education and skills of JOAD archers who want to get serious with their shooting.   We announced today the KAC JOAD Sponsorship Program .   This program will send at least two archers each summer to a JOAD Training Camp at one of the Olympic Training Centers.   ( Chula Vista , CA   / Colorado Springs , CO / Lake Placid , NY ).   The $400 camp fee will be paid by the Kennesaw Archery Club.   The transportation or other fees will be paid by the JOAD student.

To be eligible for the KAC JOAD Sponsorship Program the archer must:

Dates for the Open and Bronze Camps can be found on the NAA web site at:

http://usarchery.myicontrol.com/html/2005JOADCamps.html

The letters can be brought to the Saturday JOAD class at the outdoor range or mailed to:

Jim White

560 Old Path Crossing

Roswell , GA 30075

United States Intercollegiate Archery Championships (USIAC)

The USIAC tournament was held at the campus of Georgia College and State University (GC&SU) in Milledgeville , GA from May 19 -22, 2005.   It was hosted by the GC&SU Archery team and their coach, Dr. Pat Madison.   The tournament had over 170 competitors from universities and colleges from across the nation.

The competition was tight, especially in the women’s recurve division which was won by Kate Anderson from UCLA.   She is coached by former Olympic Archery Team Coach Lloyd Brown.

Texas A&M took home the school championship followed closely by James Madison University from Harrisonburg , VA.  

The tournament experienced some rough weather on Friday afternoon just after the first round.   We lost some tents and the field was pretty muddy on Saturday morning.   However, the staff did some scrambling and the shooting started ion time on Saturday.   The Olympic Round finals on Sunday were a highlight as the archers went head to head for the gold, silver and bronze medals.

Check out the final results at:   http://gaarchery.org/usiac2005/

U.S Senior Olympic Games

  Eric Cero, Mike Sullivan and I will be traveling to Pittsburgh to compete in the U.S. Senior Olympic Games that is being held June 3-18, 2005 .   The archery portion will be held June 7-8 at Schenley Park with a practice day on June 7.  

We qualified for the National Games by winning medals at the Georgia Senior Games last September.   The National Games are held every two years and you must qualify in a State Games to participate in the Nationals.   The Games are similar to the Olympic Games in that the same kinds of sports are represented.   Things like track & field, swimming, badminton, basketball, cycling, softball, golf, tennis, racquetball and, of course, archery.   We hope to have fun, meet some new people and maybe Mike will win a medal…he’s shooting really well right now.   As for Eric and me, we’re going for the partying!   Wish us luck!

Thanks for the Help

Our club is really doing well right now.   We have a lot of new shooters and some of our experienced shooters are starting to come along very well too.   I’m pleased to see the enthusiasm in our club and hope it continues.   A very large part of this success is due to the volunteers who make it happen every week.   I want to thank Eric Cero, our Range Captain, for all the hard labor (especially his war on the poison ivy!).   He also does a great job in coaching too.   Jefflyne Potter has done a great job in pumping up the JOAD program.   What a difference she has made!   Lots of thank you’s for her! Rich Brawn has really stepped up to the plate too with this help in JOAD and range maintenance.   Thanks for everything, Rich.   Mike Sullivan is one of our most improved archers over the past year.   He has worked very hard on his game and recently shot a personal best FITA Round (just over 1100!)   Atta Boy, Mike!   He has done a great job in helping with the coaching duties as well.   Theri Braun has probably the most thankless job, that of Secretary/ Treasurer.   She has volunteered her time for over two years and I have done that job and I can tell you it’s not really a lot of fun.   Theri, you have my undying gratitude for the work you do!   Other members have volunteered time as well, the Rendini family, the Hagerty family, Don Edwards, Louis and Clayton McClure, (who help to maintain the equipment), and Lordy, I know I’ve probably forgotten some, but thanks to them too.   When you see these people, please say “thank you” to them,   for that’s all the pay they will get and a little recognition goes a long way.

Shooting Tip

Have you ever noticed that it doesn’t take much sight adjustment up and down to make a big difference in where your arrows are hitting down at the target?   And the further away from the target you are, the adjustment is less and less to make a bigger and bigger difference?  

Well, the same thing applies to your rear sight too!   What? You say you don’t have a rear sight? Of course you do, it’s your full draw position or what we used to call the anchor point.   Where you place your drawing hand on your face is just as important as where you set you sight that’s attached to your bow.   Think of your sighting system as being identical to a rifle’s sights, BECAUSE THEY ARE!

If you vary the placement of your drawing hand by just a sixteenth of an inch, it’s just like moving your front sight a sixteenth of an inch.   At seventy meters, an adjustment of a sixteenth of an inch on your front sight will move your arrow impact at least two scoring rings!   The same thing will happen if you vary the drawing hand position on your face.   That’s why it is critical to find a spot that you can draw to every time.... EXACTLY!

On a rifle, you line up the front and rear sight exactly the same way for each shot to have a consistent group.   You must do the same in archery.   Some years back, I was having problems with high and low shots.   I thought the problem was a lazy bow arm and I worked very hard to correct the problem, but to no improvement.   I asked a friend who was a qualified coach to check me out and he saw the problem right away.   On some shots I had my mouth completely closed and on occasion I had my mouth slightly open.   He suggested I add an item to shot routine checklist...check to be sure my teeth were touching top and bottom, on every shot.   Voila! The problem disappeared.   I was adjusting my rear sight about a quarter inch every time I opened my mouth.   Every since then, my checklist includes a “shut it, stupid” reminder!

You can also have left and right misses because you don’t come to the same position on your face each time.   Check the string alignment on each shot and that will help eliminate that problem. When you get to full draw, check to make sure you can see the string and where it lines up on the bow handle.   Just make sure its there every time.

Consistency is the key to good scores.   Quality practice (not just flinging arrows!) is   the key to consistency.   Now go do some good practice!

Good Shooting,

Jim White