It has been quite a while since I last wrote, but I am still doing lots of fun stuff. Mainly archery. This year, I have been much more active in the competition scene and I have been to all of the league matches here in Scotland.
The league matches are put on for university students by a group that I am pretty sure is called the SSS or SSA... Not really sure, but they are fun and that is the most important part. Last term, there were two league matches and this term there were three (there will also be the championships, but I won't be going to that one). During each league match, you get points based on how well you placed, then at the end of all five league matches, you are given prizes based on how many points you have.
The first match was in Dundee towards the end of October, and the whole way there, I was thinking of the kids’ book The Lazy Young Duke of Dundee. The hall was quite crowded, and we had to put our bags in a little closet because there was absolutely no space for them in the hall. All the traditional archers were very happy to see another traditionalist since the clubs in the area do almost exclusively recurve and barebow.
Unlike the Italian competitions, these LM (league matches) are held indoors (there is also an outdoor championship- but that is for another day). When you sign up for the competition, you are assigned a number and a letter. The number tells you which large boss you will be shooting on (there will be 3 or 4 other archers shooting at it with you) and the letter tells you which target face and in what order you have to shoot. So if I were assigned 1A, I would shoot at the first target on the left-hand side, before the other archers shooting at the left target face. Which letters shot first was switched each end (an end consists of shooting whatever number of arrows you are supposed to shoot, scoring and collecting them). The target faces for almost all of the LM look like you would think they would: Portsmouth target faces (two gold rings, two red rings, two blue rings, two black rings and two white rings- of decreasing value). You never change bosses or targets. I think that the Italian competitions are much more creative.
The next LM was held in November at St. Andrews. They have a real rabbit-warren of a gym. It is an absolute labyrinth and it is hilarious. I was very sad though, because I didn't get to see any of my traditionalist buddies (the LM was held in two locations because there wasn't enough space for all of us in one gym).
LM3 was held on January 19th in the Heriot-Watt university's gym. This is where the LM all start blending together because they came one after another (I have been to a competition close on every weekend since then). I decided that it would be a LOT of fun to wear my costume to the competition (and with the permission of the organizer, I did). Everyone LOVED it. It was great. On the way to the competition, I was stopped three times just so that people could ask if I always dressed like that. It was amazing. Apart from the dress, cape and shoes, I also had my leather flask that Daddy got me for Christmas (thank you, Daddy!) and I had tied my hair back with a small piece of leather that had broken off of my cape (a happy little accident). The whole thing was great. Plus I REALLY amused people by actually drinking out of my flask (it did taste mildly of beeswax though). Plus I had a bottle of candy, so that made the competition extra fun.
LM4 was a bit special. It was a Worcester round. That means that the target faces are smaller and there are four of them per boss. You switch whether you are shooting at the top one or the bottom one halfway through the competition and you shoot five arrows at a time (you shoot three for Portsmouth). I did HORRIBLY on that competition. I was not in the swing of things. I got 97 out of the possible 300 (usually I get a little less than half the potential points at a competition). But it's all good.
LM5 happened just last weekend and we still don't have the results. The organizers are trying to build suspense before they announce the final results at the end of the championships, which are held on the 24th. I didn't do horribly, but I didn't do particularly well. But I did wear my costume again! It was awesome!
This Sunday, I will be heading to the BUCS, which is an archery competition open to any archers in Scotland, provided you have shot a certain score, depending on your bow type. There was a bit of a problem with my bow because it has an arrow rest on it, which isn't allowed on a traditional bow, under BUCS rules. However, the judges decided that I didn't mess up intentionally and that they would let me shoot as a barebow since I had met the requirements for that category anyway. That was very nice of them and we will see how it goes.
Photos are directly from friends and from the archery club's twitter account, and they are used with permission.
Ciao,
Florence
The league matches are put on for university students by a group that I am pretty sure is called the SSS or SSA... Not really sure, but they are fun and that is the most important part. Last term, there were two league matches and this term there were three (there will also be the championships, but I won't be going to that one). During each league match, you get points based on how well you placed, then at the end of all five league matches, you are given prizes based on how many points you have.
The first match was in Dundee towards the end of October, and the whole way there, I was thinking of the kids’ book The Lazy Young Duke of Dundee. The hall was quite crowded, and we had to put our bags in a little closet because there was absolutely no space for them in the hall. All the traditional archers were very happy to see another traditionalist since the clubs in the area do almost exclusively recurve and barebow.
Unlike the Italian competitions, these LM (league matches) are held indoors (there is also an outdoor championship- but that is for another day). When you sign up for the competition, you are assigned a number and a letter. The number tells you which large boss you will be shooting on (there will be 3 or 4 other archers shooting at it with you) and the letter tells you which target face and in what order you have to shoot. So if I were assigned 1A, I would shoot at the first target on the left-hand side, before the other archers shooting at the left target face. Which letters shot first was switched each end (an end consists of shooting whatever number of arrows you are supposed to shoot, scoring and collecting them). The target faces for almost all of the LM look like you would think they would: Portsmouth target faces (two gold rings, two red rings, two blue rings, two black rings and two white rings- of decreasing value). You never change bosses or targets. I think that the Italian competitions are much more creative.
The next LM was held in November at St. Andrews. They have a real rabbit-warren of a gym. It is an absolute labyrinth and it is hilarious. I was very sad though, because I didn't get to see any of my traditionalist buddies (the LM was held in two locations because there wasn't enough space for all of us in one gym).
LM3 was held on January 19th in the Heriot-Watt university's gym. This is where the LM all start blending together because they came one after another (I have been to a competition close on every weekend since then). I decided that it would be a LOT of fun to wear my costume to the competition (and with the permission of the organizer, I did). Everyone LOVED it. It was great. On the way to the competition, I was stopped three times just so that people could ask if I always dressed like that. It was amazing. Apart from the dress, cape and shoes, I also had my leather flask that Daddy got me for Christmas (thank you, Daddy!) and I had tied my hair back with a small piece of leather that had broken off of my cape (a happy little accident). The whole thing was great. Plus I REALLY amused people by actually drinking out of my flask (it did taste mildly of beeswax though). Plus I had a bottle of candy, so that made the competition extra fun.
LM4 was a bit special. It was a Worcester round. That means that the target faces are smaller and there are four of them per boss. You switch whether you are shooting at the top one or the bottom one halfway through the competition and you shoot five arrows at a time (you shoot three for Portsmouth). I did HORRIBLY on that competition. I was not in the swing of things. I got 97 out of the possible 300 (usually I get a little less than half the potential points at a competition). But it's all good.
LM5 happened just last weekend and we still don't have the results. The organizers are trying to build suspense before they announce the final results at the end of the championships, which are held on the 24th. I didn't do horribly, but I didn't do particularly well. But I did wear my costume again! It was awesome!
 |
| AWESOME OUTFIT!!!! |
 |
| Team photo- but we have an extra team member: the guy with his arms out isn't in our team, he just wanted in on the photo because we are nice and well-liked |
This Sunday, I will be heading to the BUCS, which is an archery competition open to any archers in Scotland, provided you have shot a certain score, depending on your bow type. There was a bit of a problem with my bow because it has an arrow rest on it, which isn't allowed on a traditional bow, under BUCS rules. However, the judges decided that I didn't mess up intentionally and that they would let me shoot as a barebow since I had met the requirements for that category anyway. That was very nice of them and we will see how it goes.
Photos are directly from friends and from the archery club's twitter account, and they are used with permission.
Ciao,
Florence
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