"Bastid Yards"
by Troy Knoll
I will never forget my first trip to the IBO worlds. It was the first trip I had ever had to travel and stay away from home to participate in, and I was excited. Tom Jarels and I had been tearing up the local 3D courses in our respective classes. Tom was shooting MBO. (Who knew he would go on to be a the IBO World Camp and Triple Crown Champ a few years later?) I was shooting MBR and my bow was basically set up the same as my hunting rig. We were nervous but riding high because of our recent successes. I wouldn’t say that I had any aspirations of winning the thing, but I had no clue of the butt kicking I was about to receive.
We had no idea what to expect as we pulled up in the fog that morning. Walking from the car to the practice butts we were blown away by the amount of shooters. Just about every bow you could imagine with every class of shooter. We found an empty spot and picked a dot to fling a few arrows before start time. I was shooting like a champ and Tom was too. We even remarked to each other about some of the pitiful groups we were seeing on either side of us. We even picked out a few of the big names and watched them for a while. Some were just as incredible as we had heard while others had Tom and I scratching our heads. I had an immediate rush of confidence as Tom and I wished each other luck and parted company for the start of the shoot.
My confidence quickly turned to a severe case of pucker factor as I made my way to the target I had been assigned. I stepped to the first stake and gazed at the McKenzie Whitetail that seemed to be 50 plus yards. I kept pondering the max yardage rule as I introduced myself to the competitors in my foursome. After all the introductions and handshakes were out of the way, it was time to draw cards for shooting order. Guess who was picked first? Unbelievable, my luck.
Knowing that there was a 50 yard max rule in the IBO I already knew which pin I was going to use. I had a 20, 30, 40, 50 yard pin to choose from. No brainer. I remember thinking something that has helped me through a ton of tough shots. “With all these people watching, it would be a bad time to look like a chump so remember your form.” I drew the bow, settled in, placed the pin on the 10 ring and squeezed… Pinwheel!!! I think my eyes were closed when I heard a couple of my new friends say, “great shot,” and, “center10!!!” They were saying how I must have not been nervous and looked like I had been doing this a while. They had no idea. I was a complete disaster inside but had somehow just pulled off a flawless shot.
That shot was not the only good one I made throughout the next few days, but it definitely wasn’t the norm. I chalked a lot of the poor showing on my part up to the excitement of the tournament experience. After all, it was my first time at a major. There was one thing that was brought to light during the weekend though. If you already have an issue or flaw in your setup or your form, It WILL be magnified by excitement or nervousness.