I joined the competition for the first time. Here are my thoughts on what I need to do. if you have never tried the competition, you see it not “magic” but does take some practice to progress.

Important to recognize you are competing firstly with yourself. This competition gives a good gauge of where you are and what you can improve.

My first the goal is just try to hit the target. A good goal is to hit the target 8 out of 10 throws.   My first competition I only hit 7 out of 10…..but later I managed to hit 9 out of 10, so some improvement already.

Once can hit the target and eliminate misses, the next goal is to score more than 10 points. This will require at least one of the throws hitting the diana (bullseye)

The next goal would be to increase the dianas from 1 to 3.   At this point, 3 dianas score 6 plus 7 more from all the other throws scoring 1 points……now am at 13 points.   Now is the time to start thinking about competing with others and moving up in the competition.

To compete with others, just have to have more dianas. A good goal would be increasing my dianas from 3 to 5 Dianas out of 10 throws….which would allow collecting 15 points (75%) out of 20.  This should start to become competitive depending on how others do that month.

Practice round today. Increased Dianna from 2 to 4 and reduced misses from 3 to 1.

Score improved from 9+2 to 13+4.

That is better but still need to work on accuracy.

https://youtu.be/02R7MxbPtQg?is=3v-IIGKzajjCYNRT

Ok….have made improvements in terms of my first goal of reducing misses.

Today I eliminated ALL misses….which is good….but unfortunately I also eliminated all diannas too! 

https://youtu.be/5P-9Cy3firE?is=zLuhuZLiltQ0VQmO

Just a funny result. Need to get better for sure.

In contest entry, improved hit rate from 70% last month to 90% this month.

Did an accuracy test at a different distance and hit target at close to 90%. So looks like an honest improvement for me.

https://youtu.be/kFaycuR3UCs?is=ffpHvpPk9YUm4W7A

My current target is thin plastic tarp bought $11 for a 2-pack sized 48”x48” (which is cut size….after edges are folded and sewn, the tarp is actually only 44”x44”).

I cut a 20” circle from one tarp and sewed it to the center of the second tarp.  It helped one side of the tarp was blue and one silver so center is a different color.

Wanted something inexpensive as was not sure using an “official” target was something I wanted to use much.  Now I find I am using the target a lot.  I would like a new target one day but honestly after 2 months despite being thin, weak plastic tarp material the target is undamaged and has been very durable.  So no hurry make a new target just yet.

The tarp gives great sound when hit which is good but sometimes it is not always obvious I hit the center.  Not the best feedback while slinging of course and I have to review video afterwards to determine center hits.

I like your idea to cut a hole. Perhaps cotton canvas target with a hole cut out. Then the center can be cheap plastic tarp so each will sound different when hit.  The target would still be foldable for transport which is needed. And the cheap plastic tarp could be replaced (via Velcro as you suggested) if it is not as durable as the cotton tarp.

I had an idea to sew 1/2” ID clear plastic tubing (filled with sand??) around the perimeter of the circle. The idea the tennis ball rebound off the tubing should be very noticeably different trajectory and give immediate feedback on “edge” hits to the center without waiting to review video.

Thanks for the suggestion!!   Now I just have to sling harder to wear out/break my cheap target to justify making a better target.

Bit rusty as no time to throw much lately but happy am hitting the target. Weather may be an issue but hope to get some time next week to focus on getting a good round in. That said, today I was at least able to do similar to last month…though need to hit the target center more.

In other words, getting closer to where I want to be.

The video also let me try a new video layout. I like to zoom in and chart each hit on the target to see the grouping but forgot to set the camera focus correctly and the target got too blurry when zoomed in. So had to do the layout differently

https://youtu.be/o-OREtyC9y4?is=Y2475zqhjwb9u86w