My seasons goals were to qualify for the European Youth Championships, The World Field Champs in Italy and for the senior 3D squad for the European 3D Championships in Sweden. The start of the season was a little strange. I had problems with getting my arrows to fly straight, and in the end it seemed that I was in between spines. This made things pretty tricky and unfortunately for me it was happening around the selection shoot for the European Youth Champs. Needless to say it didn't go particularly well which was frustrating to say the least.

In late April/early May I got my new bows from KG Archery which were a little heavier poundage and hey presto, everything started coming together. I began to shoot like I know I can, winning the All British Field Champs (u18's) and gained my qualification scores and selection for the World Fields. It was also very satisfying to come fourth overall in the first leg of the National Tour, narrowly losing out to Patrick Huston for the Bronze. I also shot a competition PB for 70m In the qualification round and my other target rounds have also given me the required scores for the selection shoots next year as I turn junior.

My next challenge was to qualify for the 3D team! My preparations began by shooting the EFAA Bowhunter Championships at Woodend. It was the first time I'd shot this kind of round since the 2015 IFAA World Championships in Hungary, but this time I was shooting Instinctive style (no sights, a bare bow, wooden riser & carbon arrows). It was pleasing to know that I hadn't lost my ability to gauge distance and I came out the winner of the junior category. This gave me confidence going into the 3D selection shoot for the senior GB team which was held at Avalon Archers. I eventually came 3rd over the 2 days, and it meant a nervous wait until the other selection shoot in Northern Ireland was completed later in June. Luckily for me, I managed to hold on to the 3rd selection place, so booked my place on the plane to Sweden.

I am now in full practice mode for the World Fields and the 3D's and I am looking forward to seeing how my season finishes.Huge thanks to all my sponsors and supporters, and of course my coach Kath Fitzpatrick
KG Archery
Carbofast Archery
Vapor Trail Archery
Artebo
Active Tense UK
Opticron
AAE
Xs Wings archery vanes
Pilla Archery
Astra Archery
Arrow Socks
Vlbb tabs for my instinctive archery
Lale Krivacevic and Silver Archery limited for my instinctive archery
Ashley Howard
The Bramhope Trust
Bramhope Youth Development Trust
Cookridge Hall Health and Fitness
Pro Boss Archery
Leeds Sports Federation
Prince Henry's Grammar School, Otley

Well, it's half way through the year so I thought it about time I did a catch up blog.

It's been an interesting year so far.
​In March I decided to refocus my training and left the Archery GB Academy in favour of the competition route. This decision was not taken lightly and was due to circumstances beyond my control and which I won't go into here. Anyway, I teamed up with my personal coach Kath Fitzpatrick again (not that we had ever 'un-teamed up!').

​In early April I went out to Arizona to shoot in the AZ Cup. We stayed with our good friends out there and enjoyed some gorgeous weather. In terms of the archery, I didn't shoot brilliantly but still managed to scrape a 9th place - which considering how I shot was pleasing.

March, April & May were very busy months with field archery and consolidating my scores for selection for the European Championships in Slovenia in August.
​May also saw the beginning of the selection shoots for the World  Junior Target Championships in Argentina. I didn't have the best of starts for various technical reasons, and as the later selection shoot clashed with the European Field Champs I made the difficult decision to focus on field for this year as far as my international focus was concerned. It was a decision that paid immediate benefits. Later in May I shot my best ever field scores ever at the All British Field Championships breaking Patrick Huston's national record for the age category. I then continued my good form into target archery shooting my best ever 70m 720 score (638) at the National Series in Evesham.

​In early June I was selected to represent Great Britain in Slovenia in August which I was really please with. Later in the month I also broke 2 national records in target archery.
​I also picked up my new NX-55 limbs from KG Archery, and they are AWESOME. So quick and of superb quality.

​July has seen my good form continue at the Junior National Outdoor Championships where I won the National Championships breaking another national record in the process. I have just returned from the National Series weekend in Surrey where I shot well and my scores are progressing nicely.

As you can see it's been a busy half year!

The first thing I noticed about Phoenix Arizona was how neat and tidy it was. I was expecting a bit of a dust bowl but actually it was anything but that. The weather was a lot hotter than in the UK obviously, with the temperature between 79F and 101F in the shade.
During practice it was really hot - so hot in fact that I could feel the heat coming up through my training shoes!

They have a great practice range near where we stayed. it's open to the public and has targets already set out to shoot, although these were mainly layered foam and well used, so our friends took their own stand and target to shoot at.​ We were practising at the same time as the Canadian team that were here for the cup too

It took me a couple of days to get used to the heat and to get over jet lag, but after that I was OK. The KG XCR riser and NEXGEN limbs showed no signs of being affected by the weather and shot just the same as they do at home. the Vaportrail strings also performed flawlessly. The air was a lot drier though and my sight needed to be adjusted to take account of that.

Practice went pretty well given the heat and by the time qualification came around I felt pretty confident.​​

Before I travelled to the competition everyone who had been there before told me that it was windy. They were right!
The Ben Avery range is a huge (and I mean huge) complex​ dedicated to shooting (mainly) guns but also has its own dedicated archery area and its own weather.

Official practice and the qualification round were windy and hot. The wind on qualification day was very variable and very tricky to shoot in. My new Carbofast Slim Jim stabilisers were fantastic and allowed me to hold on the gold easily. I scored 629 which was a personal best competition score and this placed me 9th going into the head to heads against some tough opposition.

The first two rounds of the head to heads went well, with me only dropping 2 points. My 1/8th round was against someone who I met in Alabama last year, so we had a good friendly rivalry - his qualification score was only one point higher than mine so we knew it was going to be close. The scores went: 1-1, 2-2, 2-4, 4-4, 5-5. This meant that we had to go into a one arrow shoot off. I scored a good 9, but he scored an even better 10 so he won and progressed through (eventually winning the silver medal). It was such a close contest that even our total scores only differed by 1 point in the end! I was really pleased with how I shot and managed myself through the whole competition, and whist I am disappointed I didn't get further, I achieved my aim of a top 10 finish by finishing 9th overall.

I had a great time in Phoenix and really enjoyed the whole experience. I learned a lot and I am sure that it will help me in my shooting in the future. Our hosts were fantastic people and so was everyone we met. They were so kind to us and I can't wait to go back again.
I would just like to thank all my sponsors - your respective equipment never let me down once​!
​KG Archery
Carbofast Archery
Vapor Trail Archery
Victory Archery
Beiter
Artebo
Opticron
Titan
Pro Boss Archery
Rayjus Outdoors
Master Archery
Arrow Socks
Class Energy Ltd
Xs Wings archery vanes
Kath Fitzpatrick Archery Coaching
Clear Properties
Lale Krivacevic Silver Archery limited
SportsAid
Ashley Howard
Cookridge Hall Health & Fitness
TopHat Archery
The Bramhope Trust
Mum
Dad
Friends and Family
and all my new American friends who were there cheering me on

As 2015 comes to a close I would just like to take this opportunity to thank all of my sponsors and supporters for helping me make this the best year yet for me. I have met some great people, travelled to some fantastic places and achieved a lot. All the messages of support from my friends on Facebook and Twitter throughout the year have helped to drive me on and they have really been appreciated - especially when I have been abroad shooting. They make a BIG difference.

2016 is looking to be another great year - Arizona Cup in April, GB selection shoot in June with the possibility of the European Youth Championships in Romania in July and the World Field Archery Championships in Ireland in September. It's going to be a very busy year and I am sure that with the help of my coach Kath Fitzpatrick and all my support network (including my school Prince Henry's Grammar, who have been really supportive) I can achieve what I want to. Once again thank you everyone!

What a fantastic time I had over in the USA when I travelled for the 2015 Easton JOAD Championships which form part of the whole US National Championships with almost 1000 archers of all ages taking part. 

Travel wise I think I experienced pretty much everything that could go wrong! We got kicked off a flight because KLM hadn't paid Delta for our leg of the trip (so much for their alliance!), got delayed due to technical problems and missed our connecting flight back to Amsterdam, and our luggage was lost on the way home - still waiting for our suitcase as I write this.

However, the tournament more than made up for all the hassles.

We arrived on the Sunday and had 2 days before official practice on the Wednesday so we went to the Space and Rocket Centre in Huntsville which was brilliant, and saw lots of the Apollo rockets and modules as well as lots of other interesting stuff. I then went and shot a handgun on an indoor range. My dad had to go to Wal-Mart to get a hunting licence so that I could shoot!

We then went to the venue to suss it out - wow what a fantastic place. A purpose built soccer venue which had been divided into 4 separate shooting fields and a finals field. Whilst there we were interviewed and filmed for the local TV!

The weather was hot and humid, and it rarely dropped below 86F (30C) and often was well into the 90's. We has lots of rain and the ground was permanently sodden. There were also lots of thunderstorms and lightning strikes too, which delayed the start of the qualification rounds, which meant that on day 2 we ended up shooting under floodlights - a first for most people including Brady Ellison!

I met some great people and made lots of new friends from as far north as Alaska and as far south as Mexico. There were archers from all over the USA including a large group of Korean americans, archers from Chinese Taipei, Mexico, Canada and me from GB! Everyone was so friendly and helpful. and the tournament was so well organised and the judges were brilliant (and funny).

In qualification I shot 1306 which was joint second (but I was ranked 4th as it went down to X's), and there was only 12 points separating 3 of us on 1306 and the leader. On the second day of qualification I shot a PB score of 660 which was the highest of the day which was pleasing.

I came away with the gold medal for the highest qualification score by a visitor, and an individual bronze medal for the elimination round.

On the Sunday was the team event which was great fun. All the archers in each category were assigned two team mates selected according to qualification so that in theory we were all pretty equal. One of my team had gone home the night before so we were drafted in a Barebow archer!!! Anyhow he was pretty good and had it not been for the wind getting up in our semi final match and blowing one of his fletched arrows off to the left we would have been shooting for gold. The semi went to a one arrow shoot off and our arrows were just a little bit further away from the cross. The bronze medal match was close but we just lost out - but it was fun all the same.

I had a brilliant time in the USA and had I been a US citizen I would have been awarded the title of JOAD Supreme Champion for my age category (under 15), so I came home really pleased with my performance.

Great shoot at Netherwitton in Northumberland this weekend.
Broke two national records and came very close to two Junior Master Bowman scores but just missed them!
I was the highest recurve scorer of the day in all categories from the red pegs so really pleased with that.
roll on Dearne Valley at the end of October.

24th August - Came 3rd in the cup - not bad - felt I could have done better, but fought back from 4-0 down to win so pretty pleased with that.
18th August - The Academies Cup tournament on at the weekend at Lilleshall - not sure how I will get on with this growth spurt I'm having.
9th/10th August - Fantastic weekend at Fort Purbrook for the English Field Champs - I won the under 18 recurve so very happy!
19/20th July - Hot wet and humid weekend at Kendal - Hard work winning the under 18  National Championship!
17th July - Looking forward to the Junior National Field Archery Championships this weekend in Kendal
17th July - Thank you to Bowslings.co.uk for agreeing to sponsor me - it is very much appreciated!
5th/6th July - Junior National Championships weekend - I won both u14 Metric & Imperial titles - 1308 & 1254 scores!
26th June - Got my final Junior Master Bowman score today - very happy
16th June - Great field shoot at Daventry this weekend, 2 national records too!
2nd June - Now need to re focus on field archery and get practising for my next field shoot in Daventry
1st June- Won the county title for my age group and overall junior gents - a good weekend's work
31st May - Broke the county record on a Metric 3 (1440) round with 1258
24th May - Came second in my first double 720 at 60m tournament - with 1128- very happy
20th May - Practice going really well - shot a 604 720 at 60m a new PB
5th May - Just recovering from a great weekend at the Kendal field shoot - 3 national records, 2 arrowhead scores and a JMB score.
14th April - Broke 2 national records and equalled one at Pentref field shoot last weekend - really happy.
30th March - My sight broke today! Now got a Shibuya Ultima Carbon 520 so happy with that!
29th March - Just shot a PB of 567 for a Portsmouth round - a great way to end the indoor season.
18th March - All set for the coming outdoor season. Next field shoot is Pentref in April.
10th March - 565 on a Portsmouth round at the Academy this weekend - a new PB!
15th February - Training going well, really enjoying the Academy weekends!
26th January - Came joint 17th in the Junior Men at the European leg of the Indoor World Cup - really pleased!
23 January - last bit of serious practice tonight  before Telford- shooting in the school hall.
23 January - Really looking forward to the European Archery Festival - only 2 days to go!
2nd January - KG presented me with a wonderful set of Nexgen limbs - Thank you so much!!!
2013
12th December - Many thanks to Vapor Trail Archery for supplying me with my new strings
12th December - Thanks to Simon Cornell Building & Joinery for their kind sponsorship
8th December - Just become a member of the Carobfast Prostaff team!
8th December - Very busy weekend at the Academy - shot a 553 Portsmouth round, my best yet!
27th November - Took possession of my new Spigarelli Carbon 30 sight  & McKinney II arrows today!
26th November - Came second (u14's) in the National Barebow Champs last weekend
3rd November - Came second in my first competition as a senior - dead chuffed!
27th October - I won the u15 English Field Champs & the Yorkshire Field Champs today - my first u15 titles!
17th October - It's my birthday and ive just got a brand new KG XCR All Carbon Riser!!!!
9th October - Looking forward to my Academy weekend in a few days time.
5th October - I won the Northern Counties under 12 Recurve title today at penrith in Cumbria!
23 Sep - Had a fab weekend at the NFAS National Championships this weekend. I won my category - Freestyle with a score of 1622 and 34 spots over the 2 days.
16 Sep - Appearing in the Yorkshire Evening Post tomorrow with Catherine Dales in an article about the Archery GB Northern Academy
11 Sep - Thanks to KG Archery for the loan of my training limbs!
6/7/8 Sep - Spent my first weekend at the Northern Academy at Bishop Burton - great fun with lots of hard work!