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Fun in Vegas 2007

A JOAD Shooter’s Perspective of the

World Archery Festival

by Nick Carlisle

 

Feb. 9 - 10, 2007

Las Vegas, Nevada


 

Thursday: 

It all started Thursday morning when we headed off in the car to Vegas for the 2007 World Archery Festival (WAF).  We stopped for lunch at a Subway and then drove on towards the Hoover Dam.  Once we got to Vegas, 4 hours later, we set our stuff in the Circus Circus hotel room and headed off to practice in the Rivera’s WAF Shooter’s Hall. 

I could not wait to start shooting.  Once I got to my designated shooting area, I caught up with some of my friends and talked with them for awhile.  As soon as I got my target, I found an open lane and started practicing.  Overall practice went well, I had to make some sight adjustments, but after that, I shot great.  After practice, we found a good place for dinner and then headed back to our hotel for a good night’s sleep.


Friday: 

We got up early and found a nice place for breakfast. Then we went back to our room, got my archery gear and packed it into the car.  On the way back to the WAF, we stopped to buy tickets for Blue Man Group later that night – they are supposed to be really good! Once we got our tickets, we headed off to the Riviera.  In the Shooter’s Hall, we found the rest of the Straight N Arrow (SNA) team; everyone was excited and only a little nervous.  We had to wait till the 10 am archers finished before we started practice, so we only got two ends of practice in before scoring.  I didn’t shoot as well as I had been in practice.  I finally figured out halfway through the round, that my sight was too high.  Once I fixed my sight, I was able to start shooting much better.

Once the day’s shooting was completed, we headed back to the hotel to get ready for a nice dinner and Blue Man Group!  We decided to go to a Benihana’s for dinner for the first time.  It was a lot of fun and the food was excellent.  The chef can sure make the food fly!  After dinner, we had to rush off to make the show in time and we made it with only a few minutes to spare.  The show was amazing, loud, exciting and very funny.  Once the show ended, two hours later, we went back to our hotel to “sleep fast”; I had to shoot at 7:30 am Saturday morning.


Saturday: 

That morning I got up at 5 am since I had to start shooting at 7:30 am.  After we got ready, we stopped for a quick breakfast at McDonald’s and quickly went back to the WAF for my last day of shooting.  Once I got set up, I got my target and started practice.  I was very happy with how I was shooting, and was eager to start scoring.  I shot very well the second day, no big mistakes, and I got a higher score.  After the shooting was over, I went over to the high speed video room and had them tape me shooting from different viewpoints.  We were able to learn a lot from that video and I would recommend it to every archer.  Watching yourself let go, watching an arrow fly, watching your bow hand – each of the different view shoots taught me something about my shooting technique.  I think that is one reason why I love archery so much – I can always learn something new.

After the high speed video taping, I took a look at my standings, I took fifth place individually.  Our team took first place in the AZ State JOAD Team Competition and I was ecstatic.  After I looked at the scores and relaxed a bit, we headed back into the Shooter’s Hall for the awards ceremony.  It great was seeing all the archers who placed 1st, 2nd or 3rd individually and then being part myself of a team that won 1st place.  After the awards, a professional photographer took our team picture.  All the winners at the WAF will have their photos in the next USA Archery magazine.

That night our whole team went over to Circus Circus to the Adventuredome Theme park.  I had a great time and rode my first roller coaster!  We enjoyed some more rides, played in the arcade, had some great food and just had a blast with all of our friends!  We stayed there until about 11:30 pm and then figured we had better get some sleep for the ride home tomorrow.  


Sunday:

 

            We got up late, packed up all of our stuff, checked out and then went to a late breakfast - more like brunch actually.  After that, we headed back home and stopped to go on the Hoover Dam Tour and had some ice cream; both of which were a nice break from sitting in the car.  I had a great time on this trip; I had even more fun than last year.  I am really looking forward to next year and I hope we will be able to bring even more kids so they can enjoy it just as much as I did!