[Ansteorra-archery] A Look Back at 2002

[Bob Dewart]

Only beer with attitude, my good sir.  And no matter what it is, we could do
it better, we could do more.

Every year, there will be personal and group triumphs to cheer about.  As
the years move on, more things will attach themselves to us because it is a
good thing to do, because it is a right thing to do.  Don't get me wrong.
We have some very strong supporters out there, God bless everyone of them.
But for all their support, "we" still have to pull the string.

More titles won't make better archers.  Better archers get more titles.  In
fact, titles make it more difficult to acknowledge those that are good.  It
seems strange, I wouldn't have believed it either, but I'm living it.

We've had AoB for 12 years, some have been better than others.   That last
one may be the last one because of Kingdom Academy.

To win war points with archery you must be the better archers.  BTW, this is
where we normally get our collective butt kicked.  The only way I know to
become a better archer is to shoot better archery and more of it.

Archery is a very personal sport.  On the line it's just you, that stick and
that string.  I'm very happy for all those who have had a new personal best.
I don't wish to detract from their efforts.  I know the joyous feeling
bettering one's performance brings.  I wish for them that feeling often.
However, on a collective scale, there is still "much" left to be done.

How does one quantify the number of archers we have out there?

All of the things that have been mentioned are admin tweaks of one kind or
another.  No where did you say the quality of our archery has improved.

No amount of shoulda, coulda, woulda or finger pointing is going to improve
last year's scores.  In the mist of a tourney or battle is not the place to
think, "Boy, I wish I had more practice.  However, some after action
"lessoned learned" type of things can be derived that, if taken to heart,
might improve next year's performance; both on the range and at the WAR.
These things aren't new and I doubt that they'll go away.  Now before anyone
says I'm just ranting and belittling folks, all of the following applies to
ME too.

1. Archery is what they call a perishable skill; meaning if you don't use
it, you loose it.  All 3 of the Kingdom high OPEN div scores were shot at
Drangonsfire Tor's event.  Much time was left for those scores to be
bettered by those that shot them or beaten by others.

2. A general lack of discipline.  While fun shoots are just that, "fun",
they do little to improve one's skill.  You either do the task and progress
to the next round or go have a seat and watch.  Relatively few folks will go
through the effort to shoot a full IKAC or IKCAC.  It's like any other type
of exercise, you have to build up to it.  They are good practice for the
WAR.  If you can't hit it standing still, only a luck shot is going to hit
it in combat.  And guess what, there's a WAR POINT for archery-it uses the
IKAC not a RR.

3. A general lack of commitment.  Granted life will get in the way from time
to time and must be dealt with.  However, only shooting once in a while
doesn't help anyone.  While I hate to compare us to the heavy and light
communities, there is much that can be learned by doing so.  And that
something is commitment to their sport.  They'll, in some cases and places,
will have one or two practices a week and still go to an event.  That's why
the fighters in this Kingdom are the most FEARED in the known world.  We use
to be feared because we had numbers.  But as we've heard on this list,
that's not the case any more.

4. Won't happen in one day.  This goes along with #1.  Don't expect to shoot
great scores by only shooting on the last weekend of the season.

5. Causing undue hardships on ourselves.  By this I mean reading "intent"
and what not into the rules of the IKAC and IKCAC.  The rules allow a
shooter to stop and restart as needed as long as the score is finished on
the day started.  They also allow one to shoot as many scores in a day per
division as they want, but only keep one for score.  Folks, you don't have
to keep a bad start when you're shooting for score.  In fact, you don't have
to actually finish a score.  If it sucks and you want to start over, call
the rest of it zeros, and try again.  No, you can't reshoot each round till
you get one that you like to go along with previous rounds.  But you can
start "all" over as many times as you want.  Now sometimes, if there's a lot
of folks shooting, this may might be that practical.  But for small groups
it works fine.

Now, what do we do about this??  These problems, or as I would like to call
them, opportunities to excel can only be fixed on the individual level.

So, on my individual level, here's what I'm going to do.  Starting in
February 2003, I will, as schedules permit, schedule Camp Finlayson at least
once a month.  I will post that schedule in the BlackStar.  I will try to
schedule so that it is against non archery events.  If, however, I schedule
against your event and you "are" going to have a full IKAC or IKCAC, please
tell me as soon as possible so I can change it in the Black Star.  Also, at
some point, there will be a money challenge that I'll do.  Since the site is
pretty big, it will be available on request when I have it scheduled for War
Practices of all types

The best I can do is to provide a line to shoot from, I can't force anyone
to shoot.

I'll show any one who wants to see, where the King's Archers grow.

Gilli

Shoot more arrows.  You're bound to hit something.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Timothy Rayburn" <timothy at elfsea.net>
To: <ansteorra-archery at ansteorra.org>
Sent: Tuesday, December 03, 2002 11:17 AM
Subject: [Ansteorra-archery] A Look Back at 2002


>I'd hoped we'd be further along then this.  I'm very disappointed.
>
>Gilli
>Shoot more arrows.  You're bound to hit something.

With all due respect, Gilli, are you on crack?

The Archery community in Ansteorra made such strides this year that I am in
awe.  Shall we review the year 2002?

First, and foremost, the Archery community has accomplished a goal it has
been struggling to get for years!  The Arcus Majoris, instituted in January
of 2002 by TRM Aaron I & Britta I has raised our kingdom's greatest archers
to equal precedence with those greatest warriors of Rapier.  This is no
small feat, and was in fact the FIRST discussion that this list ever took
up, in it's early days.

Second, the Royal Huntsman is not struggling to be held, but rather there
are now arguements about if the Tourney was widely advertised enough.  The
community has made many of the moves necessary to ingrain this into the
expectations of incoming Crowns.

Third, a successful and fairly well attended Academy of the Bow was held as
an independent event.  The Crown Prince of the time attended and watched,
truly watched, his Huntsman shoot that occured there.  His own son made the
finals, obviously a man who encourages archery.

Fourth, the Order of the Rose held an Archery tournament to choose their own
Archery champion!  The attention of this Order, who's very purpose is to
forward genteel arts and behvaior, is not something to be taken lightly.
Their champion, Lord Ulrich, comported himself very well upon the range and
wears that medallion with pride, and rightly so.

Fifth, there will be an Archery War Point at Gulf Wars!  This is incredible,
and beyound what even the most ambitous archery advocate might have expected
at the start of the year.

Sixth, the archery community has grown!  More people are shooting!  More
people are having fun!  This is perhaps the most important step of all!

We have not made great strides, and perhaps taken steps back in the IKAC and
IKCAC.  But I doubt very much that if I promised you all of the above on Jan
1, 2002, at the cost of not being ranked at ALL in the IKAC and IKCAC that
there is a single archer that would have turned down that deal.

Rejoice, good archers, you are a growing force!  And while you are doing so,
think hard about what you'd like to be on the list of accomplishments at the
end of 2003!

Timothy of Glastinbury