SANAA October Indoor Qualifier (WA), 2017
held at Protea Sports Club, Indoor Archery range
Monday 02 October 2017
This is a difficult report to write as it has a lot of personal emotion in it, or at least leading up to the event taking place. Fortunately most of the pre planning took care of what could have affected the shoot in a very real way and jeopardized the chances of it event taking place. Earlier that day I got the message that my sister had succumbed to injuries suffered as a result of a car accident. She had been on the way to Pretoria for a medical appointment when another vehicle overtook a truck incorrectly and hit them head on. Her husband survived the incident. Nothing after news like that is normal. I decided for my own sake to keep my commitment to judge and I did. Not a lot of people picked up on the black tape on my sleeve.
We had some out of town visitors, which was great. Hope you all enjoyed the shoot. One group had traffic issues getting to site, but made it in time and still had practice rounds prior to scoring arrows. There was a general upbeat feel in the hall, and after the normal teething matters, the event happened without much incident.
The event lent itself to giving some instruction on rules as incident provided those opportunities. Especially valuable with indoor nationals coming up in a few weeks. So instead of a person being reprimanded or warned, we all learnt something. We learn, we grow – archery wins!
George Kunz, one of our candidate judges, did duty with me and made everything flow even smoother. Thank you George – and thank you archers for treating him with the respect that is due any judge that offers their time on the line.
Bowtime brought their portable bell to ring when you hit those 3 tens in one end. It was used often that night and again it was great to celebrate good shooting together. At the end of the evening Bowtime’s club chair handed the bell over to me to become a permanent feature here at Protea. Thank you Luther and Bowtime. We hope to use it well – and often.
While the shooting went well, it being a night shoot, everyone was most eager to get themselves home after the conclusion of the event. It was great to see new faces and know that we enjoy one thing together, irrespective of our background and that is shooting arrows.
It was a happy crowd that completed their score sheets and handed them in. The little memento that was meant to be completed for the night, was not ready for all and those that traveled far had first pick at those that had been completed. Thank you for your understanding, it was unusual circumstance.
Thank you to Protea for the venue and those who made sure that everything got packed away speedily and it did not fall just to the faithful few.
Till the next time we meet on the shooting line – Golden Arrows to all!
Download a copy of these results
Alfredo Lobo das Neves
Our thoughts and wishes are with you Alfredo