2009 BC Provincial Handgun Championships starts tomorrow!

I'll be travelling to Campbell River, BC tomorrow morning to shoot at the 2009 BC Handgun Championships. My first competition back since recovering from a shoulder injury nearly a year ago!

Mobile device usage temporarily affecting eye sharpness

I'm a huge fan of mobile devices... I've got a Sony PSP, Apple iTouch, and Nintendo DS which were gifts from previous employers and currently use a BlackBerry Bold and an HTC Google G1 phone which I unlocked to use here in Canada. The great thing about devices with built in wireless Internet is how connected you always are to things.

The other night after a busy work day I was at practice, and like many others I'm usually never really disconnected from the office. I was busy reading and writing emails on my phone and noticed when I got back to the line to practice my eye's weren't focusing on the front sights as easily. I didn't think much of it at the time... heck... the same thing can happen from eating really spicy food. Hah.

rest your eyes while shooting... turn the mobile devices off

What I found is that it's not actually the mobile device that causes any blurriness, it's that I'm targetting visual focus to such a small area for prolonged amounts of time. Eyes get tired. So the combination of practice and focusing on a small area (front sight), coming off the line to rest and picking up a phone to focus on a small area puts a huge strain on one's eyes. The actual difference in sharpness is minimal and not quite on par with Guitar Hero vision, but it's enough that it can make it difficult to focus; especially when trying to hit an area smaller than a dime at 30'.

What I have started to do with more discipline while I'm at the range is to turn the phone off. Disconnect. I'm there to shoot 10s not extend my office hours any longer than I need to. I'll need to find someone to send out Tweets during Finals at Nationals on my behalf. ;)

2 weeks until the 2009 BC Handgun Provincials in Campbell River, BC!

Registered for 2009 BC Provincials and 2009 Canadian Nationals

I've sent my registration in for Provincials in Campbell River, BC next month and for the 2009 Canadian National Handgun Championships in Calgary, Alberta in August. The 2009 Provincials next month will be my first competition back since last summer when I injured my shoulder.

It will be busy weeks leading up to both events. Next month I might be going down to San Francisco for a few days for a conference and I'll be volunteering at the 2009 World Police & Fire Games right before flying to Calgary. I've signed up for 10M and 50M pistol events for Calgary and will only be shooting 10M at Provincials.

2009 BC ISSF Handgun Championships

I just returned home from a 5 week business/vacation trip and will likely post up a few photos in the coming weeks.

Back to shooting...

The 2009 BC Handgun Championships will be in Campbell River, BC on May 29, 30, and 31. I'm definitely looking forward to this one and it's going to be great timing before Nationals in early August. The registration form can be found on the BC Target Sports Association website.

This will be my first event since my shoulder injury at Nationals '08!

2009 Canadian Nationals Pistol Championship details...

Updated information for the 2009 Canadian National Pistol Championships is now available at pistolcanada.ca.. it's going to be in Calgary again and I will definitely be attending.

Also... results from the 2009 Canadian Airgun Grand Prix! Congrats to my fellow BC team mate Tyler Johnson who had the top Canadian score going into the Finals!

2009 BC Airgun Championships - XBOX 360 Giveaway!!

The registration form for the 2009 BC Airgun Championship is available on the BC Target Sports Association website.

xbox 360 giveaway at the 2009 bc airgun championships

All registered shooters will be entered into a draw for an XBOX 360! Somebody (in attendance) will take home a brand new XBOX 360 video game console!

Carry the 2010 Olympic Torch

You can sign up to be a Vancouver 2010 Olympic Torchbearer sponsored by RBC here: http://www.carrythetorch.com. I signed up but I think trying to get drawn to carry the torch around downtown will be tough :)

RBC - Carry The Torch Commercial

A few photos from the 2010 Speed Skating Oval

Last week I was out in Richmond, BC and checked out the Richmond Olympic Oval which will be used for the 2010 Olympic and Paralymic Winter Games.

outside the richmond olympic oval

venue ceiling fabricated from pine beetle kill wood

cory fuhr's "the speed skater" on display at the venue

Canadian Airgun GrandPrix is happening next weekend in Toronto. I'm skipping it this year but I'll post up scores as I get them.

Upcoming matches in Western Canada

2009 is here! I've been getting back into training and loving the fact that I can shoot and raise my arm properly again.

Here are a handful of upcoming matches in Western Canada.

Feb
06-08 - Alberta Provincial Air Gun - www.albertahandgun.ca
13-15 - 2009 Canadian Airgun Grand Prix

March
06-08 - 2009 BC Airgun Championships - Registration Form
13-15 - City of Calgary Air Gun Championships - http://www.crpc.ca
27-29 - City of Calgary ISSF Pistol Championships - http://www.crpc.ca

If I've missed any matches, please let me know so I can post up details.

Regrettably, I'm missing the Canadian Airgun Championships this year and a few other matches. I'll be back in Competition mode in April and hope to make it out to Saskatchewan in April and/or May.

I haven't seen any information as to where the 2009 Canadian National Pistol Championships will be held but pistolcanada.ca has recently released information on the 2009 Athelete Selection Criteria for the National Team, Development Team & the Junior Program.

Looks like I will need to be shooting above 573 to make the National "A" Team. That's 10 points above the Olympic Minimum Qualification Score (MQS) or 95.5% perfect.

More to come... I took some photos of the Olympic Speed Skating Oval in Richmond today and will post them up.

2009 Go!

Volunteering at Vancouver 2010 Olympics

A couple weeks ago I was invited to the in-person interview and training sessions for volunteering at the 2010 Olympics. The interview, sessions, etc lasted about 5 hours. It was a neat experience listening and talking with other people to hear their stories about why they were there and why they wanted to volunteer.

If I recall correctly, there were about 50,000 applications from people all over the World wanting to volunteer at the Winter Games in 2010. Of those, they will pick around 25,000 people.

Thanks to my initial phone screen a month ago, they determined I'd be a good fit for the technical / media areas of the Games. I'm hoping I'll get a chance to help out at other events leading up to the Games too. I need to get officially picked though I guess. ;)

I'll find out more soon and will continue to write posts about this journey.

On a side note, practice is going well. It's good to be back at the range training again. My next competition will likely be in Calgary or Toronto in early 2009.

That was longer than expected!

After several months of not being able to practice and going to physiotherapy and trying to get my shoulder rehabilitated I'm finally back.

Tomorrow will be my first day back at practice... I've taken only a single shot since my injury in July. I'll be easing back into it to avoid stressing the shoulder muscles and tendons again. 10 shots tomorrow... and I'll add 10 more every few days while continuing physiotherapy until I'm able to shoot full competition matches again. Still a long way to go, but I'm back in the gym this week able to push around some light weights again, and ramping up the cardio again.

Unfortunately, I'll be skipping the big shooting match held in Richmond, BC in a couple weeks so I won't have another competition to shoot at until February 2009.

Many Thanks go out to friends, family, clients, coworkers, the fine folks at Sport and Spinal for supporting me and helping me get to this point. This has been a long, tedious, and relatively painful experience but ultimately I think it's made me stronger. We'll find out in the new year anyway. ;)

Out for several weeks

For about 4 weeks now I've been dealing with shoulder pain and going to physio to help get my shoulder better. Problems started the week of Nationals and got worse up until 2 weeks ago. Unfortunately, I have to cancel going to the Western Canadian Airgun Championships next month and am unable to practice at all for at least another 3 weeks.

I contemplated getting a left handed grip and start shooting left handed but it would be difficult to be competition ready by September.

For now... I take a break and will build up my shoulder strength and get all the tendons and everything working correctly again before competing in November.