DISA 5 of 6, 2017
Held at Paarl Valley Archery Club
Sunday 10 September 2017
This was the second DISA to be held at this venue for this club. Their original venue had become unavailable as a result of issues and events at their prior host venue, that were not of their own making. A real pity as the site had all the potential to host a nationals. Also the club equipment was no longer secure and thus made the move an imperative. The current venue is one of stunning beauty. I was most pleased that the club did not fold under the pressure of the loss of their venue and found the alternative well in time to continue with their event hosting responsibilities.
Tea, coffee and snacks created the happy participants that arrived for the day’s shooting. A smile on every face even before the first arrow was shot. Good going Paarl. May there be many more.
At first we thought we were going to have a range issue with the resident dog of the property owner. It ran to where we were standing, have a good check of all the archers and then after a few minutes – it went back home and in a very safe way, did not cross the range at all. Nice.
This great opportunity was grabbed with great gusto by all. There was a lovely spirit present. While one or two were playing with settings and testing in a relaxed atmosphere, we all learned and prepared for the sanctioned events. Young Ben asked his coach to stand behind him for and end or two, but even he was not discouraged when some arrows clearly did not listen to the team talk. And as this is a training event, his coach was afforded the opportunity to shoot his 6 arrows and not loose out on the shooting opportunity. (Any case – it gave the others more chat time.)
While this was test under competition type conditions, no equipment issues surfaced. I trust that the lessons learnt will be made permanent members of their shooting preparedness.
The only point of sadness for the day was that not more people made use of this opportunity to hang out with other archers in their neck of the woods. We expect them to travel to where we are, we can travel there once in awhile. Next time. It was a blast, I will be back there when the next event is scheduled for that venue. What a view in these lovely surroundings, with some pretty legit people, doing what we love – shooting arrows.
Thank you once again to everyone at Paarl Valley Archery Club that made all of us so welcome. It was good fun with good people.
Till the next time we meet on a line somewhere, golden arrows to all.
Download a copy of these results
Alfredo Lobo das Neves