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Desire and Winning Shooters that are so intent on winning are at a great disadvantage because these desires create tension and pressure. We become our own best enemy and you tend to lose the joy and fun of the game. Detaching from these external desires reduces tension and improves performance. When you go into a course and you go to shoot a score, your performance will suffer. Your goal becomes not to hit each target, your goal has become not to miss. The difference in attitude makes the conscious mind become more aware of missing not hitting. If you are thinking of missing, what will you get. More misses. Think more about each target and how to hit it. If it doesn't break, there is always another one coming for you to hit. Make your conscious mind think of only one bird at a time and how to hit it. Any time wasted on getting upset with your miss, will only make more misses happen. If you miss, stop and figure out what it takes to hit the target. Don't dwell on where you were if it did not break. That did not work so why be so consumed with it. Make yourself figure out how to correct the miss and make it a success. Failure is a good thing if you will learn from it. That way whenever you see that type of target again, you will know how to hit it. Putting emotion into a miss ensures that you will miss again. Become more focused on hitting and learning from each hit and miss and your performance will go up. Besides, no one wants to shoot with someone that gets angry at himself everytime he/she misses a target. Back to Article Directory Have a specific goal in mind when you go to your practice sessions. If you go out and shoot the whole course, you are not making yourself a better shot, you are just burning powder. There are times when you will go and do that, of course, when you go shoot with your friends, but if you really want to make your practice sessions, helpful- work only on one thing. Today, I'm going to go out and shoot 150 right to left quartering targets. I would shoot them where they were "sweet," then I would change my break point and shoot them in several different places. The goal is to break each target 10 times in a row, then change the break point again. You want to stay with easy targets and get to where each time you change the break point, you shoot it till you have shot it 10 times in a row. Get comfortable with breaking that target in different places 10 times in a row. Why? This is sporting clays, you need to know how to hit targets in all different places. Shooting it 10 times in a row makes you practice staying focused for that length of time. In a tournament you will need to do this, so practice it so it becomes natural. When you see it on a station, you first thought is--Great, I've seen this target break 10 times. The confidence level you have going into this stand is high and you will become more relaxed and the tension will not be a hindrance to your performance. You will need to keep the targets simple and build up your ability level and your confidence. Most targets on a sporting course are all between you and 30 yards. What is the one target most people practice before a tournament? It's that long 45-50 yard crosser that you will only have to shoot 5 times. Everything between you and 30 yards must be hit. Make that your goal. Then your scores will improve. Confidence that you can hit each of these targets in any place will relax you. Being relaxed will enable your body to react to each target. That's what you must do as a shotgun shooter. Back to Article Directory What is a good age to start a child out shooting? I have an 8 year old that I want to take hunting. What is a good age to start a child out shooting? The age of your child is not as important as the size i.e. his/her weight. We have found that a child needs to weigh at least 92 pounds. Any smaller and they can not hold up the gun for any length of time. It will only take one bad mount and receiving a lot of recoil and your child's 1st trip hunting is not a good one. There is no muscle mass on the shoulder if the weight is not there and the gun will slip out of the shoulder pocket and it will hurt. They would never admit it to you, but you can see it in their face and the way they rub their shoulder. We have many fathers who want their children to enjoy hunting like they do. That is wonderful, but let the kids grow into the recoil and, therefore, they will grow into the love of the hunt. So fathers, please let your child go with you and learn how much fun hunting is. Until they weigh 92 lbs., let them bring their BB guns along and "shoot" birds with it. This way they can see how hunting "works"--by watching for the birds and being aware of other hunters and instill safety into their hunt. Having your children along makes it even more fun for everyone, but lets make it a memorable and enjoyable trip. Back to Article Directory Shooting Great After the Lesson...or Not I am one of your students and after each lesson, I shoot substantially better. However, when I go back to practice or especially when I shoot a tournament, I promptly forget all of your teaching and revert to my bad habits. What accounts for this phenomenon? Is it the stress of competition or do I need more practice? The answer is a combination of yes-- it is stress of competition and yes you need more practice. You have only been shooting for 5 months and the data bank in you mind is not there yet. In your practice routine, you must go and have a specific thing to practice. On one day go and only shoot targets that are right to left quartering. Another day go and shoot targets that are incoming. Make your practice time quality time, practicing on only one thing. Where people make a mistake is that they go and shoot the whole sporting clays course and work on shooting a score rather than taking their game apart and making a plan to improve on one thing at a time. Feel comfortable and confident that any time you walk up to a station that is quartering-right to left or left to right or incoming, that you know exactly how to hit that target. Think how nice it would be to walk up to a station, look at the targets and know how to hit them, rather than saying to yourself I hate this target. I can never hit it. Thinking negatively only creates a negative response. Confidence makes the subconscious mind relax and your ability to concentrate on just focusing on the target becomes easier. This way your practice becomes useful, not just shooting shells. Practice does not make perfect---perfect practice makes perfect. As for the stress of competition--you are going to have to make that go away. The only way to do that is to shoot competitions at not only your home club, but at other clubs. There are only so many ways your home club can throw targets and you can become use to them. Then you go to another club and they throw targets you have never seen before. The stress level goes up by the cube. As you are going along your learning curve, enjoy the challenge of each station. Learn from each hit, where to see the target and where to break it so that you can go to the second target. If it works once, it will work again. If it doesn't work, correct it. As you progress and your practice becomes perfect, your confidence level will go up. If you are confident that you can hit any bird out there, you become relaxed and able to hit them. Nothing can take the place of the actual shooting in a competition where every hit can make a difference. You are just going to have to go and get the experience that shooting competitions requires to get rid of the jitters. Go and have fun and learn from your failures. That's what all the great competitors have in common. They learn from their mistakes and don't make them again. Your job is to build your data bank so that you can draw on it at any time. Good shooting. Back to Article Directory Have other questions on other issues? Visit our Clinic FAQs section or submit your own question. How We Teach • Teaching Schedule • Tips & Articles Our Services • Clinic FAQs • Products & Programs • Meet Gil & Vicki Client Comments • More Info/Sign-up • E-mail Us • Home OPTIMUM SHOTGUN PERFORMANCE SHOOTING SCHOOL Toll Free 800-838-7533 P.O. Box 826 • 29354 McKinnon Rd., Suite A • Fulshear, TX 77441 Voice: 281-346-0888 • Fax: 281-346-1500 Copyright © 2000-2006 Optimum Shotgun Performance Shooting School