I realized this month is my one-year archery anniversary

Earlier this week, I logged into my old bank website and, just out of curiosity, looked up the first transaction I made at Viking Archery, an archery pro shop/indoor range in Houston Texas.  June 8th.  That's first day I picked up a bow and arrow!

Looking back, I know I really made a ton of progress.  This was pretty typical of my shooting a year ago (taken June 23rd, probably the nth time I had ever been shooting, where 1 < n < 10):

That's a single-spot standard NFAA target from 20 yards.  I couldn't even consistently hit that one target!  And now, look what I can do to a 5-spot NFAA target!  To be fair, in the picture above, I was using a crummy rental bow with crummy arrows, BUT STILL!

Another before-after comparison I was delighted to find is the distribution in my accuracy: these data sets are just ~5 months apart, but look at the difference!  (This is also for an NFAA single-spot target).

While I was capable of hitting 5s in January, it's much more of a regular occurrence now.  In fact, I was surprised to find that I'm now more likely to hit a 5 than a 3!

I really feel like I'm on a second archery growth spurt now.  The first was after I took a private lesson with Clint at Texas Archery Academy - he taught me a lot of useful exercises, essentially how I should practice.  Even though my actual shooting consistency wasn't too great, I began to understand what a good shot felt like.  By experimentation, I eventually realized how much little things like the slight pressure differences in my fingers (against the string) matter in affecting the arrow's flight.  This second growth spurt I'm on is more of a mental one.  Now that I know what a good shot feels like, and now that I know most of the physical movements I need to do to make that happen, it's such a mind game from here.  The hardest part about shooting the 5-spot target above is keeping my mental focus, especially when having to acquire a new target/aiming point after each shot.  

Anyways, it's been an amazing year as far as archery goes.  I feel like I can actually call myself an archer now - a novice archer, but an archer nonetheless.  Even just six months ago, I wouldn't have been comfortable with calling myself that.  I've learned a lot since then but understand there is an entire lifetime of learning to be done in this art.  I know a top priority I will have this coming year will be to work on my mental endurance.  Plus, I'm also hoping to compete in my first indoor tournament later in 2013 (and maybe early 2014 if I qualify for a state competition?).  Can't wait.  Here we go, year two!