Thursday, March 6, 2014

Archery 101: Gandiva Café and Archery Range

I am a big fan of The Hunger Games and I fell in love with Jennifer Lawrence when she portrayed Katniss way better than I have imagined. (Oh and as a LOTR fan, I get googly eyes whenever I see Legolas and his oh so smooth long blonde hair.) And just like about more than half of the girls who watched the movie, I wanted to throw some arrows and be just like Katniss Everdeen. Luckily, two of my friends were feeling adventurous and wanted to try archery too. So off to Gandiva Café and Archery Range.
 
Okay, it wasn't exactly my first time to visit Gandiva. My first time was with T1 and T2 but given that we're collectively named T3 (The Takaw Trio), we just ate. This time around though, it was time to unleash the Katniss/Legolas in me.
We had to sign a waiver and pay PHP980 (which covers the use of equipment and instructor's fee) before we could enter the archery range. (Note: You have to call to reserve your slots and you also have to be there 15 minutes before your schedule.) 

When we got in, we were given arm protectors and fanny bags for our 4 arrows. Then we can choose which bow we want.
First 5 to 10 minutes is for short briefing such as right stance, where our hands and arms should be and basically how to shoot an arrow. (To make it short, we need to have one foot behind the shooting line while in a parallel stance then we have to stretch one arm straight while the other arm/hand tugging the string and the hand should be right below the chin with the elbow pointing up then... let go of the string with the arrow.)

Oh, and we have to close one eye! K had a hard time doing the serious wink so the friendly instructors made a little eye patch for her. 
The target is a few feet away but people with poor vision will find it hard to see it. I did. So I wore my glasses during the first 30 minutes. But it didn't really help so I removed it afterwards.

Our first few tries were quite bad. Mine flew beyond the target! So did K's. T though got a few hits on the bull's eye! 
We all have to wait for everyone to finish shooting before we could retrieve our 4 arrows. 
 
While waiting, we posed a lot with the bow. (What? We were just maximizing our PHP980!)
One time though I missed to lock my arrow to the string (there's a gap on the end of the arrow which you have to lock to the string) which ended up moving wild. I ended up having a big bruise. But that didn't stop me from pretending to be Katniss.
The hour passed by really fast and I had no idea that this sport could be so much fun and quite a work out for the arms as the string sure was hard to pull. 

Out of frustration for not hitting the bull's eye, I did something...

Look! A perfect hit!
Okay fine, this was the best shot I did.
It was such a fun experience and I'd love to do it again. Lessons learned? To let go and trust one's instincts and self. But for now, I'll try boxing or Krav Maga. *road to manliness* :D
Gandiva Café and Archery Range is located at 704 One Corporate Center, Julia Vargas Avenue, Ortigas Center, Pasig City. Call them at 638 8771 for slot reservations.

1 comment:

  1. Archery is actually definitely the filming activity. I want to find out that. It requires concentration as well as best training and then train. ArcheryLessons.info

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