I never thought i'd be writing this down..

But, unfortunately and sadly, it has come to the point in my life where I begin to question my continued involvement in the sport of archery.

I've always dreamt of winning big in archery. Really big. But that's not gonna happen - really. I've never won anything in any local tournament before and that speaks alot of my ability at this sport. Nothing at all. But I have taught several people to achieve medals and trophies at tournaments. I'm not good at actually shooting but only at coaching.

I've always told myself that not everybody has the talent to instantly pickup a recurve bow and shoot well with it, some people have to work hard to be good. I'm one of those that has to work hard. And I've been working hard for the past few years. And nothing seems to improve.

But it's not entirely based on that. It's more about my social circle. In archery, the social circle is rather limited. Look at it this way, for the sport of archery. A person's social circle would only expand if an archer would participate in tournaments and competitions where they would meet archers from different clubs. But what about those none competitive archers? Those that just like the sport as a recreational one. The only way for them then to increase their social circle is when new members join the club.

And with that, the hours spent at archery really is a great committment into someone's life. And it does take away a chunk of it.

The downside to archery is that for any prolonged absence from the sport, it will have a adverse affect on the person's performance. And not everyone is that free.

Already army has taken alot of my time and sometimes it goes over into the weekends. And since archery is mostly done on the weekends. I haven't been going archery for quite some time. In addition to that, the field bookings isn't consistent. Sometimes there's field maintenance and exams where there's no booking but i'm available.

Now I've spent quite some time at paintball.. The atmosphere and company there is just simply awesome. I really like it there. The sport is great too. Is damn fun and the adrenaline rush is phenomenal. Kinda reminds me of soccer. But it's much much more than soccer. It's much more aggressive than that. And the thing is, the aggression is legal. And that ups the intensity of the adrenaline. Making it all more fun.

The thing about paintball is that the social circle is ever growing. I get to meet new people every single time I go down to play. And that's just great. I get to meet people from all walks of life. From upper class businessmen, airline cabin crew, students. accountants ( lol ). All sorts really.

most importantly I get to meet GIRLS..!! okay. it sounds horny and desperate. But hey, i'm a guy.

The reason why i get to meet new people from paintball is precisely the fact that the only tournament field in singapore is the same place where customers come to play paintball.. And the place is not so big. So the tournament players sometimes catch the eye of the customers. Some returning customers recognise you then the approach you and ask more of the sport. making new friends in the process. And these returning customers, they eventually become tournament players joining the ever expanding sport of paintball. The plus point is, there's no need to even go to a tournament to make new friends.

Paintball is a much more athletic and adrenaline rushing sport. Pretty much like my old favourite, soccer. There's running, diving and sliding. Making it much more dynamic than archery. Keeping fit in the process as well. As for archery, it's rather static. Standing on the spot and only working out the upper body. Any other way of keeping fit in archery is to do supplementary running outside of the range.

Financial wise. Both sports are equally expensive. For archery, the costs of the equipment are high, with each component costing the hundreds, well at least for the good quality ones. And a typical set costs at least $2000. My set costs about 2.7k. And as time goes by, with the improvement of technology, new items roll out of the factories and these don't come cheap. Okay. So if you get a set. That's all you ever need.

Paintball requires forking out dollars for every trip down to play. But for that adrenaline rush and the means of keeping fit. I'm okay with it. And it doesn't amount to such big of an expense as compared to archery. Each trip costs about 70bucks. And for now, the SPLAT X package provided by Red Dynasty Paintball Park, provides a good rental programme for paintballers. That's like from 1k to 2.5k for the level of rental programme and 250bucks for renewal. That's a good package. But I have yet to enter the programme.

The things that's really making me think about this is the social circle and the fitness that the different sport provides. And from that, paintball looks like it's up on the plus side now. It's kinda sad to leave archery, I've spent so much time on it. But like everything in life, we must move on.

But I'm leaving time to allow me to decide.

If you, the reader, has any opinion about this matter. Feel free to let me know.