Robin Hood

Okay, so I am no where near the level of accuracy that Robin possesses when it comes to archery. What? Archery? Yep archery. I use to think it was a lost and dying past-time but much to my surprise it is very much still in practice and people's interest in this forgotten sport is on the rise. How did I end up here you ask? No? Well I'm gonna tell you anyways. The other day the B-I-L (brother-in-law) and Sister K mentioned that they were interested in taking archery lessons so I volunteered to seek out a location to take such lessons. Turns out it was not as easy as I had hoped. I mean, archery is making a come back but I failed to mention that the come back is slow going. That only means that there are not a whole lot of places to go to take archery lessons. The other constraints was that the BIL asked for the lessons to be on a Sunday. Most places hold lessons either during the week or on Saturdays only.

So while doing all this research, I actually came across a location close to my work. I decided to go ahead and check it out and maybe take a short lesson to see if I am even interested in continuing with my search. I went to the OC Archery off of Brookhurst.

I was really disturbed when I first walked in because there were these hunting gears everywhere. I am wholeheartedly against the hunting of animals in any shape or form. Seeing all that stuff really brought me down. After-all, I was there to take archery lessons in the event that I had to kill some Zombies and all I had was a bow and arrow. That can happen!

After we paid a small fee, we were taken to the indoor range. I tried to forget that people come here to practice aiming arrows at animals. I tried to pretend that this was a training camp for taking out Zombies right between the eyes.

Interestingly enough there are a lot of guidelines and form involved with archery. From stance, to the stringing of your arrows, to grip, to aiming, and even the release. So many rules!

I felt "official" once they put this arm guard on me.

Is that a manly looking pink/green bow or what? He was deadly accurate. Probably from spending time at the shoot range. I will be behind him when the Zombies come.

At first the instructor gave me this 20 lb bow. I asked if that was indeed the right weight and size for me and he said yes but I was already having a hard time holding it up for more than a few seconds. He gave me a lighter one (16 lbs), probably for fear that I would injury someone should my wimpy arm give out.

Here's my freshly un-punctured target sheet...

...to hang on these giant Styrofoam blocks about 20 yards away. I am number 2. LOL!

We shot 3 arrows at a time and then had to retrieve said arrows and repeat about 10 times. It was actually quite exhausting or I'm out of shape! Meanwhile, the instructor would come by every so often to tell me all the ways that I am giving archery a bad name.

But it was all worth it in the end because I shot a bull's eye! Now my left bicep is killing me! I really need to lift weights more often. I really enjoyed this and will try to go again soon. Those Zombies better watch out!