Vicki’s Accomplishment at 2014 Nationals
What a great time at the 26th NSCA National Tournament.
At the Hall of Fame Banquet, we found out that I was the only one that had been to all 26 years of tournaments. Who knew?
Fun Times in the RV
We got there on the Saturday before the tournament and moved into our RV for the week. The Beverly Hillbillies have nothing on us. My car was packed high with sheets, blankets, towels, etc. for our stay.
On Sunday, we went dove hunting. It was a hunt, not necessarily a kill. It was the last day of the season and the birds were gone, so we had an early dinner and went back to RV slot #62.
Monday and Tuesday were full of meetings and giving our neighbors in slots #63-65 a chance to “pimp” our ride for the week. Photos can be found on Facebook. Just a hint – Gil and I look good in leopard. We did get them when I found a leopard shirt that matched the leopard steering-wheel cover, seat cover, and fuzzy dice that adorned our ride.
Oh, we had a fun week. That is, until we were going out to one of the courses and our “pimpmobile” had a flat tire. So Pete came to the rescue and got us to the course on time to shoot. The targets were great as usual and we got to see old friends and meet a lot of new ones. This being our only tournament and with no practice at all, we had no expectations and could just have fun. And we did.
Watching Shooters React at Nationals
We got to see a lot of different styles of shooting. Some were working, some were not.
We tell everyone that when they go to Nationals, especially for the first time, they will lose 10 birds off their average when they come into the complex and another 10 when they go to the first station. We had a lot of folks come by and see us and talk about how they were doing and how much they were enjoying the targets, at least most of the time.
By now, people who have been to Nationals before know the target setters’ style. They come by and say “Neil got me on that one” or “Brian did this to me.”
Gil and I found ourselves shooting a lot of targets too far in front. We had been shooting long birds in Argentina the month before and with no practice, we were in front of most of our missed targets. We saw how people would submarine themselves as they would go into the stand without a plan and no pre-load and only hope for a break. Hope is not a plan.
We also saw how people reacted to a miss by throwing shells and talking to themselves then sulking around after not doing well. Rather than looking at the miss as something to learn, they looked at it as a failure. Surely everyone was watching them and saw the miss, they think. They don’t realize that no one cares what you did. They only want to know how they are doing and how to hit the target.
Saturday, I got a text that I had won a shotgun in a random drawing. Yay! So I went and picked it up on Sunday. Our Sunday morning began with us getting ready to go out for our rotation at 10:30 and the tire on my new Tahoe had a big screw in it and was flat. Our plans changed from shooting to getting the tire fixed on a Sunday when nothing is open. Pete once again came to our rescue and we put the spare on the car and loaded it up and came home hoping that the third flat tire would not happen.
We made it home safe and sound and spent Monday at the tire shop. Great time again, and we’re looking forward to 2015.
