The
third article in this series on mastering FITASC is supposed to cover the rules
of the game, but I have changed my plan! I realized that Steve Fischer touched
on the basic rules in his March article in this magazine and he did a fine job
so I’ll refer you to that or if you want to see the rules in their entirety, go
to our website www.woolleyshooting.com
and follow the link to FITASC rules. Instead, this month I actually had a
request for content!!
Recently
someone asked me to explain how they should practice what John had been
teaching them. Thinking back I remember wondering the same thing when I was
just learning to shoot. It even applies to other than novice shooters, everyone
has to practice! Afterall, practice makes perfect, right? Sure we have all
heard that and it is basically true in sporting clays too. The kicker is that
you have to practice the right way or you may be perfecting your mistakes to
the point that they become natural and that is a bad thing! So what is the
right way? It depends on your goals in shooting, whether you want to be World
Champion or just avoid that temptation to wrap your gun around a tree at the
end of each round. Assuming you want to shoot consistently and occasionally
place in the top three at your local events then here are a few basic practice
rules to follow. Make time to practice weekly, practice on a wide variety of
targets, and work on the mental focus aspect of shooting even in practice.
Our
first recommendation is regarding regular practice, weekly or daily or monthly,
whichever you can manage. John is guilty of disregarding this suggestion more
than anyone I know. He has a busy schedule traveling and teaching all over the
place and when he is home he wants to hang out with me and our twin three year
old daughters. We recently moved to a beach town in Florida and there is always
the temptation to spend the day building sand castles and hunting for sharks’
teeth, or by all means FISHING! So more often than not that is exactly what he
does (especially the fishing bit). But he pays the price if he shoots an event
and doesn’t score as well as his capability.
He vows to practice more and the cycle begins again, that’s life!
However, John is a great shot and has been shooting a very long time so his
practice is to maintain his level; the average shooter is probably looking at
practice as opportunity to reach new levels. If that is the case, you MUST
practice regularly and as often as possible, one hundred targets a week is a
good minimum goal.
So
what specifically should you practice? We believe that the novice shooter can
practice on any field, even skeet or trap. The focus is to just spend time
working on the basics such as stance and gun mount, getting comfortable with
the gun. Never mind the score just shoot until it feels right and smooth and
easy, you are working on initial form and building confidence.
The
next level up from novice needs to go out on the course and practice on
specific targets such as teal, rabbits, quartering away, or crossers. Pick
quartering away for example and shoot 50 targets of just quartering away
targets and shoot as many different quartering away presentations as you can
find. Once you have broken it 10-12
times in a row move on to a different target.
On teal, practice breaking it on the way up, at the peak, and on the way
down. Many people don’t think to do that but often in a tournament you
encounter a teal that must be shot somewhere other than the peak, so practice it!
When practicing rabbits hopefully you can have some flexibility to step out of
the box and shoot at it from all different angles. Quartering away rabbits can
be tough so build your confidence while you have the chance. Speaking of
stepping out of the box, do that at every opportunity allowed by the gun club
and build up your repertoire of conquered presentations. Obviously safety is a
huge concern so please stay aware of other shooters on the course.
Once
you have seen everything, shot everything, and still remain confounded by the
game (get used to it) it is time to practice like the pros. You have mastered
the physical aspects, you are comfortable with your gun and you have broken
every target presentation at one time or another, so why can’t you do it
consistently in competition? This is
where the mental practice becomes your primary goal. First you need to just
practice shooting 100 targets at a time, just like in a normal competition. You
can shoot with friends or strangers, just keep score and don’t shoot any extras
at this point. At the end of the round, come back and shoot the stations that
gave you trouble and shoot until you break several pairs in a row, build that
confidence!
The
next level of practice, especially the mental side is actually practicing
competition. Go to as many events as possible. I know that in England it is not
unusual to shoot 2 or 3 separate 100 bird competitions every weekend, but in
this vast spread out country you would be lucky to find one competition near
you each week. If you really want to improve, make shooting a competition a twice
a month goal, even if you have to drive a little bit. There is no substitute
for actual competition when it comes to improving your ability to shoot
consistently under pressure. The abundance
of one day shoots in England may well account for their dominance in most
international competition, as well as the fact that the cream of the crop is at
most of their one day shoots so competition is intense. (Imagine if George
Digweed showed up at every event you went to, you would have to work hard!)
As
mentioned before, when competing remember the presentations that gave you
trouble and go back to your local club and create them and practice on them. If
you don’t have anything like it at your local club, talk to the manager and see
about setting it up, he or she may be looking for new ideas. That is the other
nice thing about traveling and shooting various courses and events, you may
encounter a presentation you haven’t seen before and you can take that
knowledge back to possibly improve your local club.
As
always we hope this helps someone improve. Meanwhile it is John’s birthday here
today so look out fishes of the sea, here we come!
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