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WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO 3D ARCHERY? By William E. Tell I started shooting indoor, outdoor, and 3D archery a long time ago. I shot, and enjoyed it for a very long time. I dropped out of archery for a few years due to a work schedule that did not coincide with competition travel. Back in those days there was an etiquette which everyone followed pretty well, and that etiquette was, that when a shooter went to the shooting stake everyone in the group, or in any group watching would stop talking. I mean stop completely. No whispering even . There have always been those people who didn't follow that etiquette, but at that time they were the minority, and frowned upon by the archery community as a whole. Now that I have been able to rejoined the 3D competition trail, I immediately noticed, the etiquette of old has all but disappeared, and has been replaced by especially among the Traditional Shooters a loud , disrespectful , rambunctious crowd, who insist on horse playing , telling jokes , laughing , and even talking directly to a shooter when he is at full draw . I mean come on, give me a break! This kind of stuff is absolutely outrageous! Hey I love to laugh. I love to tell jokes, I LOVE TO HAVE FUN , but I have respect for the other shooters, and that respect keeps me from doing it while they are shooting. The talking is one thing, but some of the stuff you people do is absolutely embarrassing to me, and I am not the one doing it. Dropping out was probably a big mistake, because if I had stayed at it, maybe I would have been able to grow to accept things the way they have become today. On second thought, No I wouldn't have. I was raised to conduct myself in a respectful way toward others, but to also call a spade a spade when the time called for it. This is that time! Don't get me wrong. There are still a few dinosaurs like me, who try their best not to be distracting to a shooter when he is at the stake, but it is obvious we are in the minority, and a dying breed. The attitude is so bad, that you will be ridiculed , and criticized for trying to take your shooting too serious, and Katy Bar The Door if you even politely ask for quiet while you are shooting! I have even had people call me an Ahole for doing just that. Meeting my friends at the shoots, and catching up with them on the latest is always a joy. Meeting, and making new friends is always a plus, and I like to have fun at tournaments just as much as the next guy. I do have fun, but I do it between the shooting stakes, and leave the horse play at the trail head before the stake when the shooting is about to begin. Don't faint over this , but some of us actually also find it fun to strive for excellence at what we are doing . Hmmm, go figure. Another thing you might want to think about is, when talking to someone next to you in your group, it is highly unlikely that the other people scattered out over the range care to hear what you have to say. Some of you are intent on letting everyone in the next county hear what you have to say. Trust me, it isn't that important. I fully understand there are certain types of shoots where they are not considered competition , and just for fun, and lets whoop and holler all we want at those, but come on people, when a score card is handed out to the shooters, and they are throwing down $20.00, or more of their hard earned money to enter, and often having the expense of traveling many miles to get there, well hey guess what, it then becomes a competition, and there are those of us who really want to try to shoot our best. There are a few iron nerved individuals who it does not affect, and my hat is off to those people , but for many of us, probably most , your annoying practices are nothing but a HUGE distraction, not only to other shooters, but to yourself . I cannot count the number of times I have heard one of these annoying shooters say Man I just don't know what is wrong with my shooting . Hey guy, the answer is simple. You are more interested in making a spectacle of yourself, than you are in shooting , and my observation has been, most of you that conduct yourself this way couldn't hit the inside of the barn if you were closed up in it , and that is with rare exception.
Then there are those of you who shoot so badly, that you purposely act in such a manner to try to bring down the better shooter to your level. Yea and you call me an Ahole ? Sour grapes you say? Yes I have heard that one too, but guess again. My stance on this has nothing to do with my shooting ability, which is pretty darn good most of the time, but instead has everything to do with respect, and politeness . OK now. I am going to leave you disrespectful shooters alone . I am now going to start on you tournament officials , and coordinators . What in the world is up with you people ? Yea, let's start all of our shoots with a prayer , but then allow everyone there to act as unsavory as they want, without even the slightest word of caution . Has it become so important to bring in the big money that you have decided to turn a blind eye to how people conduct themselves? Not even once have I heard during the preceding announcement, and discussion, a suggestion that we all conduct ourselves with respect toward our fellow shooters by doing our best to not be a distraction to them while they shoot . Let me tell you this. I know lots of respectful polite people who have completely stopped going to these shoots for all of the above mentioned reasons . It appears to me, that the question I asked about the big money hits the nail right on the head. You have thrown away the expectation of a higher standard, and replaced it with free for all attitudes in order to increase your numbers . Hey some of these shoots even have a dress code, but still allow all the hoopla to continue. Do you really think our shooters are more concerned with how someone looks, than they are of how they conduct themselves ? Come on now! The funny thing is I don't see the numbers increasing. I have noticed the numbers decreasing, and watched a lot of good folks give up something they love, so they do not have to be exposed to such rabble rousing . I remember a time when a simple open invitational shoot would draw 200 shooters plus or minus a few, but now days it seems that the only shoots drawing anywhere near those numbers are the ones holding some sort of prestige , like a State Championship. I really do think it is time to bring back the etiquette of old , and demand our shooters to treat each other with respect, and dignity . What do you think? I love archery. It has been a huge part of my life for well over ¾ of my life, and I have quite a few years behind me. Archery was a positive . It was a way of honing a discipline , and it was joy to participate in. I took pride in the expectations of the higher standards . I was thrilled by watching someone shoot good, as much so as I was with myself for shooting good. It turns my stomach to see the things allowed to go on in today's archery, but I am not going to allow it to run me off, as I have seen happen to others. You're not going to get rid of me, and I am going to continue to point out the fallacies of your conduct! I will also be the first to congratulate you on, and show my appreciation for your hard work, and integrity where our shoots are concerned. Let's bring back those days to this sport we love . Let's bring back those good people we love, to the sport they love . You want to increase the numbers, and see this GREAT SPORT grow? Well then lend an ear. Talk to folks, and you will find, I am not the only one out there that feels this way . Yours Truly Willy Tell About the author: Other than the articles sent to the editing staff at Tradarchers Gazette, we have no further information on Mr. Tell. Regardless of this, we do state in our submit an article section. "IF" your article is good and worth publishing, we will publish it. Of the three articles submitted by Mr. Tell, we found this one to be of particular interest.
Disclaimer - We try to maintain a high level of accuracy of each article we publish, but the views expressed within are those of the author of each article. The Traditional Archer's Gazette, nor any of it's owners, or representatives necessarily reflect, or agree with those views. ©2009 The Traditional Archer |
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