Archery Tournament in Las Vegas Anyone?

I joined my sister at the World Archery Tournament Vegas 2023 at the South Point Hotel & Casino which is located at the southern end of Las Vegas. There are over 3,700 archers participating in this tournament and over 6,000 spectators. From the very young to the elderly, from one person in a family to the entire family, and representatives from every state and 50 countries: this sport includes everyone. As diverse as everyone is, what they shoot is just as diverse. There are bare bows, recurves, compound bows, and cross bows.  Then there are general divisions, specific divisions, professional divisions, collegiate divisions, and competitions you can enter for huge prize money (over $500,000 total in cash & scholarships.) In addition, they offer seminars and 100 venders set up booths in a trade show representing the industry’s top products. My sister shoots a compound bow and entered in a general flight this year. She has been involved in the archery community for over 30 years from being a shop owner, being involved in an archery club, being a sales representative and being very active in archery tournaments all over the country.

While there are 10,000 people here at the tournament, the archery community is a relatively small community. This stems from archers attending competitions all over the country and for some the world. A list given out at the show of National Field Archery Association (NFAA) sponsored events shows six events in the next six months. This is just one of many associations and doesn’t include individual club events around the country. Serious archers attend as many competitions as possible to earn points towards the World Championships and competing towards the Olympics. Yes, my sister has qualified for several World Championships and the competition is intense.

Whether you are a serious contender or just attend several competitions (even as a spectator) you can’t help but get to know several people. As we would walk through the casino people would stop and talk, ask how we shot and how we spent our day. Some my sister has known for years and some for days or hours, it is just the nature of the sport. Even with me not knowing anyone when I got here, sitting in the viewing section it was not long before someone is asking how long I’ve been coming to the Vegas shoot, where I’m from, my favorite binoculars, have I seen any shows, favorite restaurants so far, etc. There was one morning we had more than ten people in the conversation. Once you have sat next to someone and carried on a conversation you are friends forever. You exchange information and look for each other during the rest of the tournament. You may or may not be shooting at the same time and location the next day so you keep and eye out for each other to see how they are doing. Keeping tabs on each other is important, support is vital as shooters may not have many folks there so if it ends up being you so be it.

What each day looks like will depend on what your shooting time is. My sisters first shooting time was 12:30 and she was finished by 2:30 so we planned on heading to the strip and riding a couple of rides. We first wanted to check in on a couple of her friends that had shooting times at 3 to see how they were doing (giving that support!) We then headed to the strip looking to ride the new ZIP line and High Roller by the LINQ Hotel. While we were in line to buy the tickets we were distracted by the Chippendale dancers that were next to us. My sister confessed that there are photos from a previous night of her and some of said dancers. I need to find said photos! We finally made it to the rides and while they were good the Fremont Street Zip Line is a better experience and if you have ever ridden the London Eye, the High Roller, while it gives a great view of the Vegas skyline at night, is no comparison. We then continued walking down the strip and ate at Brick Fire Pizza which was EXCELLENT!  We then headed toward the Bellagio to watch the water show and then it was back to the South Point for us as my sister had a shooting time the next morning of 7:30 am! One thing Melanie learned right away was to get the Starbucks app on her phone. The line at Starbucks was always long but with the app she could put in her order in the room and by the time she got downstairs her order was ready and waiting. I’m not sure why everyone didn’t do that, but we weren’t complaining, especially at 6am!  After she finished shooting on this day we once again walked around and supported friends but then we headed to the Hotel Spa. You could spend the day at the spa and enjoy a whirlpool, sauna, steam room, and treatment rooms. They offered cutting edge treatments for men, women, couples and teens. The menu of options was extensive. We spent the day there relaxing and just enjoying ourselves. My sister finished the day by getting a well deserved massage and by the time we were finished we both felt like limp noodles. While our beds were calling we had dinner reservations and Don Vito’s was waiting so we took advantage of the Spa facilities and cleaned ourselves up (we looked very nice if I do say so!)

I must say that I have eaten so much while I’ve been here that I didn’t think my clothes were going to fit going home. The hotel restaurants have been excellent. Steaks & Shakes is one place we ate that had the best shakes. Melanie had a peppermint shake that was to die for and was the most beautiful pink and green color, plus it was the only place in the hotel that had coke products! Don Vito’s, an Italian restaurant, was also excellent but our favorite was Baja Miquel’s! They had good food, large portions, great deals, and good margaritas! We ate there several times. As always with a group the size of the archery tournament staying at the hotel we needed to time when we did anything or we would run into lines that were outrageous.

While timing was important for meals it was even more important for the elevators! If you tried going to your room right after one of the shooting flights had just finished you would end up waiting in line 30-45 and possibly over and hour for an elevator.  The lines reminded me of waiting for a ride at Disneyland only more fun as it wasn’t hot, most in line had alcohol and the chances of getting stabbed by an arrow were high (just kidding!) The elevators as in any hotel were always questionable. The first night I arrived someone was telling how earlier people had gotten stuck in the elevator when they had been playing “lotto” with the floor numbers. The next day my sister was telling me how she and a kid from South Dakota had gotten stuck on the elevator ( the same one mentioned the night before.) I asked her if they had been playing with the buttons and explained what I had heard. LOL, she said no, but that it had started jerking up and down and then stopped. They freaked out and pushed an emergency button but there was no way to call anyone. A light came on a sign that said help was on the way and then nothing. The elevator kept jerking and they were stuck about 10-15 minutes. Finally, the door opened, and they jumped out. Having worked with elevators in my profession this worries me. What if someone had a medical emergency and there was no way to contact anyone? What if someone started to freak out, hyper ventilate? For us it was always best to have someone there to communicate with whomever was stuck to keep them calm until we were able to get the elevator either operational or at least opened to let the occupants out. By the last day of the tournament, there must have been a major issue with one of the elevators as one of the doors was hanging sideways and the other door was missing completely. My mind was running wild making up stories to go along with that scenario! Maybe someone was not having a good shooting day and was taking there shooting frustrations out on the elevators.

The evening of the second day of shooting had shooters on edge as the shooting times didn’t come out until 9:30. Which was reasonable when you consider the number of archers that they had to place, and they couldn’t start until the last round of shooters had finished. With five shooting areas and four time slots to schedule with almost 4,000 archers, I don’t think I would want the job of placing them in such a short time frame. My sister was placed in a 10am time slot, not too early but not too late. We were up early, ordered our Starbucks breakfast, hit the practice arena, and checked on some friends. Then it was time to show up to her assigned shooting place. We were early so we were able to watch the 7:30 group finish up. We ran into some folks that we shot with the previous two days and checked in on how they were doing. They had been looking for us to see when we were shooting. Like I said, it is a small community! He finished up with a 297 score for that day, which is a great score, only dropping 3 points! This kid received a full ride archery scholarship to college. I wish him the best of luck with his future.  Melanie’s group finally is set up and she realizes that a guy that she met a day before the shoot started (he got his days mixed up and showed up a day early) was in her group (it’s a small community!) What does “setting up” entail?  It means getting your target, pinning it to the bale with your name (some like to have either the top or bottom position first so if they have a preference, they need to be there early to get their target pinned), make sure bows are good, water bottles filled, greeting/meeting your shooting mates and that you are in a good place mentally. For my sister that basically is setting up. For me, setting up is getting a great seat where I can see her shoot and see her target through the binoculars. If I have friendly folks sitting around that is always a plus. The guy I’m sitting next to is there with his son are both shooting in the tournament and are from a small-town in Northern California next to where my uncle and cousins used to live which is cool. As my sister starts to shoot people start coming by to check and see how she is doing, even though some of them have finished their shoot and can head for home they are checking in on fellow archers. It is good to see friends and be able to say goodbye until the next shoot or tournament.

Once she has finished shooting we make another round, eat then try out the roulette table. My sister was playing a bet for a friend from home, so we had been watching the tables off and on all weekend. We finally found a table and started playing, my sister was lucky and was winning. I would win some and lose some.  After a few hours it was time to quit, she was ahead, and I was down a little. We decided margaritas were in our future, so we headed to our favorite restaurant. We didn’t stay long as she had an early morning flight. Saying bye at anytime is sad but watching my sister walk down the hotel hallway with her suitcase, backpack and bow case was one of the saddest sights I’ve seen in a long time. I just wanted more time with my sister! I guess I just have to wait until we meet up in Arizona where more adventures await.

“The system wants you to be either a bow or an arrow; refuse both, because there is a third choice: To be an archer!” Mehmet Murat Ildan