The Stupid continues to mess up our lives and we continue to adapt. Back in the stone ages (it seems but it was only last year), the archery season always ended the weekend before baseball season started; it was a beautiful balance. Since The Stupid, balance went out the window and now we have had six weeks of overlap, which was hectic to say the least, but we worked through it. Actually, at this point we are happy the USA Archery State/National combined tournament was even able to happen, finding a venue was a big challenge. Notice I said "State AND National". State is usually in January(one day) and National in February (two to three days, to spread JOAD and Regular out, Jared always shoots in both categories). As a result, Jared had to shoot 120 arrows in one day (plus practice arrows). Jared decided it was better to shoot everything back to back rather than have a gap and ice himself. That decision meant we didn't have to get to Winton-Salem till 11:30, so we didn't need to stay over-night to compete in the 7:30am line (its a two hour drive from our house). This choice allowed us to have a normal morning. We left the house on time, dropped Titus and Amber off at the T Family for the day and started our journey. Half way there the Beast started to act up, but thinking we had extra time, we drafted behind a moving van most of the way and thought we made it with time to spare. We were wrong, we had made it just by the skin of our teeth, I had missed an email about the times moving up 30 min. Thankfully, Jared doesn't like to warm up much, it wears him out for the competition, so the three warm-up ends were fine. Thankfully also, Jared doesn't not get easily rattled anymore either so it was no big deal for him.
My job for the day was to keep Jared hydrated and fueled up shuttling back and forth to the car to bring in contraband (We actually had an exemption and were allowed to bring in food but it was easier for me to carry things a couple at a time vs bringing in the big cooler). I like my job as butler/score-keeper/fan. Jared made an instant friend with his bale mate (only one instead of three this year) and he had his own seat next to the wall so it was easy to hand "contraband" down to him.
Jared had a great day! State was first and he did awesome. Apparently, Jared's thespian nature even comes out on the archery field. I couldn't go down on the floor to take pictures so I asked his coach to take a couple for me. Jared loved the paparazzi and shot his first Perfect End (3 Xs)! I told his coach he needed to run around him shooting the rest of the day, he laughed and said he's thought about getting cut outs of himself to place beside the team because all the kids shoot better when he stands next to them. Next he almost had a Six Gold, he got at Five Gold instead (that's 5 10s in a row); he'd never shot more than two in a row before. His first round for State was 263 (his evil nemesis), but second round was a big jump to 274 (which is the first time he had broke 270 in USA). For JOAD, he scored a 264 (killed the nemesis) and a 261 (was running a little out of steam but still never scored below 260 which was a new record for him).
Jared's goal was to break the Top Ten this year. His hard work paid off and he placed 7th in State (Nationals is TBD). I must admit to being sad this archery season is at an end. Jared and I had so much fun talking and jamming the last couple weeks, I'm sorry its done for a bit. But I'm looking forward to him doing even better next season as he grows in his talents and we'll be jamming again soon.
Not only was it a great day for Jared it was a great day for the team. Look at all the medal they pulled in.
We didn't get home till after 9pm. It was a super long day, thankfully our friends were understanding about keeping their kids up late. Amber and Titus had so much fun they couldn't stop telling us all the great parts of their day on the ride home.
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