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!
