Over the past year I have been heavily involved in the search for a new facility for our archery club and in December 2011, I finalized the lease agreement for our club's new home. After 2 months of rennovations and planning, we finally made the big move over this past weekend. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw all the stuff that we crammed into what will be the new range. We certainly accumulated a lot of garbage and now useless stuff over the past 12 years and we definately need to cull a lot of in order to get the new facility set-up.
The physical move to the new facility was preceeded by a couple of memorable moments of shooting for me. On the evening before the move, I was heavily engaged in a Kyudo practice session that saw some signficant improvement in my shooting. Outside of a couple of missed steps that I consciously caught and corrected myself on during one set of coordinations, I shot well. In previous practices, I either had the ya (arrow) fall off the tsuru (bow string) while drawing the yumi (bow) or had the ya "bounce" off the tsuru and fly a few feet from the shooting line and land on the floor. This time; however, I managed to get all of my shots down range to the marikawa (blank bale). The other nice improvement was a slight rotation of the yumi in my hand which tells me that my grip has also improved.
The next day, I got the opportunity to shoot with my students during the club's end of term fun shoot. Incidentally, it was also the final shoot at our old facility and therefore a momentous occasion. Since it was a fun shoot, I dusted off my traditional recurve and traditional arrows. I was pleasantly surprised to see that I was able to draw this bow since it the draw weight is heavier than my compounds and the yumi I shoot regularly and considering it has been a year or so since I shot this bow. My shot placements weren't too bad all things considered but I would like to take some time to practice with this bow this summer to get back up to speed with it. There is a lot of romanticism involved with shooting these bows and it certainly takes me back to a much less complicated time in my life when my archery tackle consisted of bows and arrows made from branches hacked off willow trees and hay bale twine.
At the end of the shoot, we had a draw for the first shot that will take place at our new facility in mid-May. Part of me was hoping that my name was drawn because of all the work that I did in this facility; however, I really wanted the winner of the draw to be one of the kids in our Junior Program. It was an absolute pleasure to see the look of utter surprise and joy on the face of one of our young stars, a young female archer who has won every tournament she has entered. She represents the future of our sport and it truly fitting that the ceremonial first shot representing the future of our club be taken by this gifted archer.
I am not disappointed for not getting the opportunity for the first shot as I will be participating in a Kyudo demonstration that will take place shortly afterward. So either way, I will be taking one of the first shots in our new home.
