Gil: Welcome to the Coaching Hour, February 2017. I prefaced tonight in the forum saying we’re going to talk about hydration and prep for big shoots. I’ve got some stuff on hydration and I’ve got some stuff on big shoots. I’ve also got a question from Ricochet about Flashlight Drill that we’ll get to first. Then I’ve got something on vision- I wanted to share with you some of the facts I shared with Eagle in a conversation today. Whenever Eagle gets snowbound, he always calls me and we talk about sheep and grass growing. Today we talked about the fact that he could see a little bit more than just some white on the top of the t-posts out in his front yard. He could see some of the green, only three-and-a-half-feet tall instead of four. There’s some interesting facts that I learned from listening to Dan Laby. He’s a sports guru who was from Harvard and now somewhere else. I got some really interesting facts I want to share with you on prediction and vision, and how it works.
The Flashlight Drill
Rick sent me an e-mail yesterday or day before: “I’d like to have you answer a question on the Coaching Hour tomorrow only if you have time to get it in. My question concerns the Flashlight Drill. The way the soft mount to the shoulder has evolved with OSP, I wonder how that might alter the way we practice the flashlight drill. How do we practice the flashlight drill and incorporate soft mount at the same time, without doing the drill wrong as you point out the video? You say don’t mount and swing. When I did the drill, it’s just like you and Vicki. Nice, slow, smooth, slow, smooth, move along the seam, bringing the stock to my face and I’ll get to see same for another foot or so. Is there a flashlight drill we can do to simulate a soft mount?”
Vicki, you jump in if you want to. To me, the flashlight drill is made to coordinate the hands working together, knowing where the gun is pointing without looking at it. We have incorporated something new in the flashlight drill: always looking behind the center of the light. If you’re coming left to right, you want to be looking to the left edge of the circle of light. If you’re coming right to left, you want to be looking across the barrel to the right edge of the circle of light. Eventually you’re going to have to “move, mount, shoot” some shots, which means practicing the flashlight drill as you’ve been practicing, but looking behind the barrel. It’s going to be a great advantage. I think Vicki won something at the national championship in 28-gauge last year or the year before, and we had to shoot several of the 28-gauge FITASC.
We had to shoot several of those shots because it was FITASC without a soft mount. We had to start from low mount, and we had to mount the gun, pull the trigger, and break the bird. It pointed out to us that even though we’re using a soft mount and just moving the gun a minimal amount at the end of the shot, we’re still not going to throw that baby out with the bathwater. We’re not going to get away from the “move, mount, shoot” technique that we’ve been talking about ever since we began this game 33 years ago. So I would tell you to keep doing the same thing. When you do this soft mount, because you’ve been doing that flashlight drill normal when you do the soft mount, you’ve got a better chance of the gun butt coming to the correct point of your shoulder. When you do the soft mount with your head off the stock, following the bird with your nose. Does that make sense, Rick?
Rick: Yeah, it sure does it. It’s the technique of getting the front hand and the back hand to move in one nice, smooth move. You can’t throw that away. That’s always going to be the basis of the flashlight drill. It really works well on the quartering stuff. The quartering shot is also where you’re really getting that move drilled into your psyche. It did feel awkward after I wrote that e-mail. I did try to soft mount and move the muzzles across the seam, and it just felt awkward.
Gil: You have nothing to focus on what you’re doing that.
Rick: Absolutely. You need to keep the original flashlight drill as the number one part of your flashlight routine. You’re absolutely right. And then when you do want to do a soft mount, look across the gun. See that other edge of the light, or behind the barrel see the other edge of the light. I think it’s just an added tool, not a way to change the flashlight drill.
Gil: I would agree with that. And let me emphasize something that keeps coming back to us. What we’re seeing occurs in what I call the “preamble,” and everybody gets there. Vicki interviews them. She’s over there watching everybody, listening to me talk or Brian talk. Brian started doing the preamble now and we have a certain sequence of videos and animations that we show about 10 in a row. Then we go to adlib. We adlib based on the questions, or the looks on people’s faces. And Brian or I will look at somebody and ask “Did you understand that, and have you ever seen anything like that?” And we’ll make them answer us.
What we’re finding is that by the time we’ve done the Three Bullet Drill, we have changed the paradigm in their mind from getting the gun ahead of the bird, to always seeing the bird behind the barrel. That sounds like I’m saying the same thing, but it is entirely different. You change the paradigm in your brain from getting the gun ahead to seeing the bird behind. Getting the gun ahead is reacting, seeing the bird behind is anticipating. Those two actions are completely different. I would suspect that they come from different parts of the brain. Maybe Snowflake can help us with that. I would think that the reaction part of it would be more of a panic or “hurry up” move, and the anticipation would be calm- “Here it comes, I’ve got it. No problem.” I would think that those were two entirely different parts of the brain. Am I off base, Snowflake?
Snowflake: No, I think you’re right. I think it’s easier to see that “string” connected between the two when you accept the target behind the barrel approaching it.
Gil: Yes, I think that when you find yourself too close to the bird or behind the bird that’s more of a “panic, hurry up, get it out there” move. There are certain words that shall remain nameless that accompany that. But if you find yourself seeing the bird well behind the barrel and it’s coming to you, there’s a much more calming effect and you’re anticipating the bird’s arrival. Your moves will be slower, shorter and more precise when you’re anticipating. Because when you’re reacting, you have to hurry, which is not good. Hurry always includes excessive movement.
We have intentionally begun to change the way we talk about things. “Do you see how the bird is always seen behind where the barrel’s pointing?” We’re using that phrase 15 to 18 times in the first 30 minutes of the preamble. And what we’re finding, Rick, is when we use that phrase that way and get people to interact with us and show them the animations with the bird obviously behind the barrel coming to them. That shifts the paradigm in their brain all of a sudden, Then Vicki takes over (or Brian, or me, whichever one is not talking), we’ll take over, and then we’ll do the Three Bullet Drill. When they do the Three Bullet Drill and then go back to the animation to show them what they just saw again- left of the barrel or across the barrel. It’s like the brain has a completely different picture in it. When they’re approaching the target and they always see the bird behind where the barrel’s pointing. To me, looking at the back of the circle of light does the same thing. To always see that bird behind where the barrel is pointing when that barrel comes in the picture is an absolutely amazing thing. And the difference it makes in people’s ability to access the anticipation part of their brain and do things that they never dreamed they could do is amazing.
It’s just like the switch clicks in their brain and all of a sudden they go from chasing the target to anticipating target’s arrival. And they’re so much calmer. The tension leaves their body. They’re relaxed. I don’t know what that does to them mentally, but I know that they’re so much more relaxed when they can see the bird coming to them as opposed to trying to react and get the gun far enough in front of the bird. It’s just an amazing thing.
So, I feel like the shot that got Vicki to win that event at Nationals last year were “move, mount, shoot” shots. And she had to rely on something that she’s done her whole shooting career. We couldn’t do the soft mount because they were deep quartering birds that we had to shoot under power. And we didn’t have the time to soft mount the gun, let it come in and finish the shot. We had to take them under power and we had to move with them. Seeing the bird across the barrel or seeing the bird behind the barrel is a big deal. And knowing what that looks like prior to even closing the gun is even huge. I mean it’s even bigger. It’s just absolutely amazing. So did I answer your question, Rick?
Rick: Thoroughly. Thank you very much.
Bob: I’m done with your preamble and I agree with you 100 percent. Doing it is between the verbal and the visual. You’ve taken people into the realm that they perform every day and really understand. That’s why they relax.
Gil: Yes, Bob. You and I are so much on the same page here and we’re witnessing this change in them. And it shows up on the first station because now what we’re asking their brain to see makes logical sense. It’s never made sense to them before, because they’ve never seen the bird behind the barrel. They’ve only seen the bird down the barrel and, dammit, they’re behind every time they see it. That builds tension, and in their anticipation, they’re all looking down the barrel.
We’ll continue to test this as we go through the year. We’re using the animations and ShotKam videos in different sequences to see which the best are. I think we found the best, but we’re constantly second guessing what we’re doing.
Hydration and Eye Function Before Shoots
Another thing that we to talk about tonight was hydration and preparation for big shoots. In the dissertation that I got to watch from Dan Laby one of the conclusions that they drew was that small irregularities in the tear surface can have a dramatic effect on visual function. Very few athletes have clinical dry eye but many have sufficient deficiency to affect functions. Let me see if I can get you to understand this in very crude elementary terms.
The surface of the eye, while it looks like glass, is a series of tiny little fibers. In between the fibers is where the tears stay and when you have dry eye due to climate, wind or whatever when the surface of the eye begins to get to dry. And you don’t have enough moisture in your body to protect the tear surface on the surface of the eye. Those little fingers get glued together and when they come together and it dramatically affects your ability to focus and see things. You don’t realize it.
Bob: Mostly contrast sensitivity, which is the way you see the edge of the target.
Gil: Exactly. And we’re going to talk about that in a few minutes. But hydration has a lot to do with this and hydration really should begin long before you arrive at the shoot. Just like you build up sleep units before a big shoot and that’s critical for finishing well in the event. You need to build up hydration. And I don’t know the science behind that, Bob. I just know that getting ready for a big event you’ll have a tendency to not drink very much because you’re getting keyed up. What you need to do is drink a lot so that the hydration in your body continues to effect in a positive way the tear surface of your eyes. In this vision symposium that I watched, Dan Laby was adamant about how much more they’re learning about the subtleties of athletes’ vision – baseball players in particular. How little bitty things in the tear surface can affect their ability to perform, especially the hitting function. Not so much the catching function, but the hitting function. And how hydration is super, super important.
Bob: A couple of things that affect us that we do commonly: We might drive 45 minutes or an hour to shoot. We blink very little during that time. Therefore, there’s no refreshment of the surface of the eye the way it needs to be. The same, of course, happens when you’re checking e-mail that morning because you were looking at a computer screen and you don’t blink very much there either. Add to that, that you got the air conditioning or the heater on in the car blowing across your face and that dries your eye out even further.
Gil: Wow. And those are things I hadn’t even thought about. You’re right. Not only are you drying your eyes out, but you’re making a lot of nuisance decisions which you don’t need to be doing. So, Bob, this is more a question for you. How does aging affect how you would prepare for a big shoot? For me, I don’t want to shoot more than one event a day. I want to prepare. I want to get lots of rest lots of really good deep sleep. I want to drink lots of water. I want to drink electrolyte drinks because if I’m not mistaken, it takes you longer to build up electrolytes to store to use than it does for them to be depleted.
Bob: Yeah. If you watch NFL football, it looks like they’re drinking Gatorade. But they’re not, because if you drink an intense electrolyte drink during an event, it sucks moisture out of you into your gut. So, plain old water with maybe a little bit of sugar works really well. But you’re right about building up beforehand. During an event, water works really well. I’ll come back to that for some really fascinating things on mild dehydration and what a little bit of water will do for it.
Gil: So, one of the things that we should conclude is that three weeks out you need to begin to drink electrolyte drinks. Would that be a fair statement?
Bob: Yeah. And more water too.
Gil: During the event, water is the thing. But build up electrolytes ahead of time, because, from what I understand, it takes longer to build them up than it does for the body to deplete them. So, start early.
Bob: Yeah, I don’t know that it has to be three weeks. I think a week-and-a-half is more than enough, adding some in every day. You just have to be careful if you’re on some medications, particularly for hypertension, because they may deplete you more than you realize over a longer period as well.
Gil: Okay, if you’re on that type of medication you need to be careful. I’m going to drink electrolytes. I’m going to drink them at a week and a half to two weeks ahead of time and I’m going to force myself to drink them to get that build-up. Another thing that you should probably do is to experiment with what you need to do to shoot well on an eight o’clock rotation. What you need to eat and when the night before. Maybe a Power Bar that morning or protein shake and a Power Bar during the shoot. Bananas are a good source of potassium, and easy to eat on the course. There are certain things that are going to make you perform better. A certain amount of sleep, a certain thing to eat the night before, and a certain time to eat it.
I know that Craig Hill is really particular about what and when he eats when he’s got a performance the next morning. I know that Dean Olson came to Vicki and he would do different things the night before for a week, about what he ate, when he ate and when he went to sleep. And then he would pay Vicki to come out there and shoot with him at an 8 o’clock rotation and shoot pairs with him so that he could figure out what he needed to do with his meal the night before when he needed to go to sleep. And what he could take as far as a sleeping pill etc. He knew he was going to have at least one 8 o’clock flight and want to know what he needed to do so when he came out. This was before Nationals, when he was a runner-up at several years back. He actually went through figuring out what he needed to eat, what time he needed to eat, what time he needed to go to bed etc. by going out and shooting with Vicki every morning for a week. So you need to figure out what you need to do to shoot well.
Driving, Flying, Relaxation and Performance
As I mentioned, I was talking to Eagle earlier today. He said that if you drive your camper truck to a big shoot that’s within a thousand miles and then drive back, you’d be relaxed enough so you could get on a plane and go do a big shoot the next week. But if we did it the other way around, you couldn’t do it. If you flew to a big shoot and then you flew back you’re going to be dead for a couple weeks before you can recover and get ready to go do another big shoot. Did I say that right?
John Eagle: That’s right. I’ve proved that over and over again.
Gil: The evidence is irrefutable. Why you feel like that’s the way it is? When you drive your truck you’re not pressed for time. You’re taking your time. You got your bedroom with you. I mean you get there. You’re relaxed. And if you had to drive 750 miles to a shoot, how long would it take you to drive that? Would you do that one day or two?
John Eagle: No, I’d do it in a day and a half or so. .
Gil: But on your way back, you do the same thing and you wouldn’t be pressed for time. Which means you would be relaxing on your way back, even though you’re driving.
John Eagle: Yeah, I think part of it is the bed, without question. But I’m at the age where I can’t make it up in a short time. You know, I can’t make up what I’ve lost either direction.
Gil: That’s a really good point.
John Eagle: Flying and a different bed is more stressful. They take more out than driving and being in your own bed. I am comfortable in my camper bed. But doing two in a row doesn’t work because I’m flying the first weekend and then driving. I’ve still got to put out a lot of energy to get there. And, I can’t make it up.
Gil: When we first started doing what we’re doing, back before the Coaching Hour, we could do five days in a row. Can’t do that anymore. I’m pushing to do four. And if I had my druthers I’d do Wednesday, take Thursday off and then Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Simply because I just don’t recover as quickly as I used to. My wife, I’m sure, recovers just like she did when she was 28 last year. But it takes me a little bit more at 67 to recover from that, and that’s just one of those things that I’ve got to do. Which is why I would try to schedule only one event a day. So that’s something else that Eagle and I talked about a little bit today.
Stabilizing Targets
And Rick, I’d like you to comment on this and Brian… As I age, I find that I can’t concentrate on the front of the target as well as I used to be able to. However, I find that as a result of how I’m shooting the target as it comes to me I’m looking at the target. And as it merges with the muzzle, my eyes go to the front of the target as a result of me stabilizing the shot sometimes I see a straight line between the gun and the birds, especially on curling targets. Quartering targets I see as converging lines. As they converge, I feel like my eyes go to the front of the target. But it wears me out to consciously try to focus on the front of a hundred targets in a row. It’s something that I used to do automatically, but, I have to confess to you that it does wear me out. So when I consciously try to focus hard on the front of the target.
However, there’s this one caveat. When I see the target coming to me and I stabilize the shot, my eyes go to the front as a reaction to seeing the stable picture. Now how do I know they’ve gone to the front? I’ve tried to look at the back of a target and stabilize the shot and I can’t do it. I don’t know what it is about looking at the back of a target, but if I’m looking at the back and try to stabilize it, I can’t make it get stable. But if I let my eyes stay on the target as the target closes on the gun and the gun begins to move the speed of the target when I see that picture become stable, I feel like my eyes have automatically gone to the front of the target based on the technique that I’m shooting.
And I’ve heard Brian say this over and over again and Vicki also. It’s like the target is either going to 3 o’clock or 9 o’clock because it’s a straight line to the gun. And as a result I don’t see a lot of the two or four or five or one o’clock lines on targets. They’re all just straight lines to the gun. Rick, what do you think about that? Do you still see the front of the target? You’re younger than me, so I’m throwing this out there to ask you guys what you’re seeing and what you’re feeling.
Rick: Well, speaking for myself, I see the whole target as it’s coming across the sky. I don’t see the front edge until the bird is stabilized. That speaks to what you said about how you see the front edge when the picture is stabilized, and I think I fall into that category. Again, I don’t see that front edge from way over there. I see the whole thing coming across the sky and once it gets stabilized my eyes just seem to laser focus on the front edge. The picture’s never going to look better than it does right that instant. And I pull the trigger.
Gil: Anybody else want to comment on that?
Brian Brewton: Well I have to say that the way I stabilize it, as long as my hand is in sync with the target, I get it all stabilized.
Gil: Okay, so if your front hand is in sync with that bird and everything is stabilized, do you feel like your eyes go to the front of the target? Or are you still looking at the whole target?
Brian Brewton: Most of the time I’m seeing the target, but just momentarily, I’m seeing the front end of it but I’m not looking at it very long. I’ve become very aggressive with my targets. I don’t play with them anymore. I just go shoot them.
Bob: I think the difference is that once you’ve really drilled that into the subconscious, it’s hard to think about what you’re truly doing anymore. You just do it.
Gil: Wow, yeah, I would agree with that. Dean, go ahead.
Dean: Like what the other guy was talking about, when it’s come across the sky, I’m looking at the whole bird. And just as I’m getting ready to stabilize is when I go to the front of that target. I’m actually focused on that just before it stabilizes.
Gil: I think different people will have different perceptions. But I think we’re all beginning to realize as we age it’s a lot easier for us to look at the whole target and as it comes together with the muzzle and we begin to stabilize that shot. For me, anyway. It’s a natural progression for my eyes to go to the front of the target as the target and the gun stabilize and they’re going the same speed. Vicki? What is it that you see when all this happens?
Vicki: Well, it used to be that I would have to see the three o’clock or the definite nine o’clock having the gun out there waiting on the target. I don’t have to see three o’clock or nine o’clock I just have my eyes will automatically go to the front. Now, if for some reason that didn’t work and I feel like I’m just not getting the right focus, then I’ll get a little bit more focused with “Okay, you got to see three o’clock.” But it’s taken a lot of the stress out of this game for me, because I used to have to be so specific with my focus and I don’t have to do that as much anymore. Now the target’s the fastest moving thing, the gun stabilizes the picture and it’s done.
Gil: Interesting. So, early on in your career, because of your cross dominance and before the brain had separated it out, you had to see the front? And if you saw any of the barrel, it was trouble?
Vicki: Absolutely. And I didn’t really focus really hard on looking at the front. My eyes would be all over that target. And for me, that’s what worked to get me so focused on seeing the front. The interesting thing is that, in the last two to three years having the gun out there waiting on a target, I don’t have to be as focused on the front. Along with Dean and everybody else, I feel like when I stabilize it, my eyes automatically go to the front, but I don’t have to work at it. It just kind of happens. And it used to be three o’clock. So it’s very nice. A lot more calming and relaxing.
Gil: You’re not as stressed out.
Vicki: Well, no, not anymore. Because I used to have to go in and say “okay three o’clock, nine o’clock” whatever, and then I had to really see that picture. I don’t have to see that picture anymore. All I have to do is get the gun out there in front, stabilize the picture, and like everybody has said, your eyes will automatically slide to the front. And when the picture is stable take the shot.
Gil: Scott, what about you?
Scott: This has brought up an interesting subject. Ever since I bought that Blaser off of Neil, every chance I get here in this cold weather, I’ve been shooting it as much as I can. The targets are 30 yards, where I can see the ring or the front lip when the picture is stable. I’m out practicing by myself, I’ll set that stuff up 40, 45, 50 yards. But at that point I just see the orange or black dot, which is the target and the gun going the same speed. That’s what does it for me when it’s that far away. It’s just a dot. When the dot and the gun are the same speed. So, on a longer shot like that when I’m waiting for it, as long as I keep that in my center vision and let that dot bring my cheek to the gun, that thing is going the same speed. It’s amazing what will happen. So longer targets. I really don’t feel like I’m trying to find the front of the target where within 30 yards where it’s much more clear. Kinda see what I’m saying Gil?
Gil: Yeah, I think we’re both on the same page. I’m a little older than you, but that’s okay.
Scott: Not that much!
Aging and Seeing the Target
Gil: I remember in the mid to late ‘80s which was our heyday, when we were shooting so well all over the country. We would shoot with Bob Brister quite frequently. And he would look at me and say “Gil, you’re shooting that bird before I can even see it.” And I’d look at him and say “You’re just not using your eyes right.” And he never would come to me and ask me how to do that. As a result, I kept telling him he just wasn’t using his eyes right.
Alright, I want everybody here on the phone to witness this. Bob, Roll over. Roll over in your grave, because I’m going to say you were right. You told me that one day “Gil, when you get to be my age, you’re going to realize that you can’t see what you’re seeing now. You wait 25 or 30 years, and you’re not going to be able to see as well as what you saw then.” And when that happens, you remember, I told you that you were going to experience that. So, I want everybody on the phone line to be my witness. I told Bob to roll over in his grave because it’s happening to me.
I was having a discussion today with an eye doctor up in Connecticut who takes people out to the skeet range. And once he gets them corrected, he gets them to really see a small part of the target; the front edge, or the rings. And I just told him “I can’t do that anymore. I can’t see those things anymore.” He was speechless. And I said “If I try to see the front of the target on 100 targets in a row. I get worn out. My focus goes somewhere else and I have a hard time seeing anything.” I find that as I age, my perception of what I see has changed. Sometimes the front of the target is more obvious and I can see it. But most of the time now, I see the movie come together. And the line is more obvious.
Everything I do in the set up is in the automaticity part of the brain. I don’t think about my feet. I don’t think about my hold point. My eyes are in the focal point from when I begin to close the gun until the target emerges which allows for the quiet eye syndrome. Each and every time I called “pull.” I rarely address leads specifically. It might be like, “okay, we’re going to be right on the target on this shot.” Or if it’s a really long bird, stupid in front, let it come. If it’s a midi, shoot at the target; it’s closer than you think. If it’s close and fast I’ve got to run with that target a little bit before taking the shot because the axial velocity is greater. Therefore, you must give yourself more time to run with the target because it takes that much time to get the shot stabilized. I’m not going to shoot, though. Until I see the stable picture. I’m just not going to do it.
I’ve seen so many people shoot and miss by feet. And I asked them if it was stable. And they say “Well, it felt like it was.” But what did it look like? I want you to know it’s either stable or it’s not. And they’ll stumble through two or three more shots and all of a sudden they’ll smoke one and they’ll turn around and say “Now that one was stable.” And I look them square in the eye, right at the bridge of their nose and say “So, were you lying to me on the other three? I mean, it’s either stable or it’s not.” When I ask if it is stable, I’m asking if you see it like you saw that one stable. When it’s stable like that, you’re going to hit the target. It’s flabbergasting to me how many people, and I haven’t got the answer to this yet. But, I’m working on it. I’m hoping to find the answer at the Advanced Schools this year. How many people will say it felt stable, but when they finally stabilized and hit it at 60 yards? They’ll turn around and say “Now that one was stable.” This is just me, but why would you pull the trigger when it wasn’t stable?
Bob: It’s about perceptual cognitive training.
Gil: There’s no doubt. I agree with that 100 percent.
Bob: Over and over again, before you can really tell that it’s stable all the time or not stable. There isn’t a lot of help on aging regarding this, but I suspect what you may be experiencing is a change. There’s a fourfold variation in contrast sensitivity in the population at large. Now, whether that changes with age has not been looked at very well. And that fourfold, by the way, is on a logarithmic scale. So, you may have seen these people who couldn’t see that target against the contrasts of winter tree branches, and you can see it easily. They still can’t see it. You may be able to see it less clearly. But I suspect as we age and also with dry eye, which is more common as we age, you lose some contrast sensitivity along the way. But that fourfold variation is huge.
Vision Studies of Baseball Players
Gil: Yeah. The sports vision people talk about contrast sensitivity a lot. I got to share some of these numbers with you. It will absolutely amaze you. Effect of previous experiences has everything to do with our ability to make decisions.
Here’s the conclusion they draw from their research of baseball players: Expert athletes are 35 percent faster and 31 percent more accurate in decision making than non-athletes. Think about that. Expert athletes, people who have done their endeavor a lot to be enough to become an expert, are 35 percent faster and 31 percent more accurate in decision making than non-athletes. Obviously it’s due to the training and quality of practice, and being in the game. This is why it’s so important when training or competing to be decisive in everything you do. It’s more important to be decisive than correct. Either way, being decisive will lead you to better decision making. And the bottom line is that on game day, it’s about whether or not you make the right decisions. It’s about the decisions you make. Prediction is the core purpose of the visual system.
I want to explain some factors that can help us in our predictions in clay target shooting. Number one is visual acuity. Number two is contrast sensitivity. Number three is steadiness of gaze, or the quiet eye. Number four goes back to effect of previous experiences: knowledge of the type of targets thrown – size and flight characteristics, locations of the traps, previous similar targets shot successfully, our ability to visualize in detail the shot coming together as a movie. Confidence in the predicted outcome, our ability to have complete confidence in our plan, and our ability to stay within our routine. Visual acuity on the target. This is something that absolutely blew me away.
Okay, I’m going to start at the bottom of the ladder. Visual acuity in baseball players. Check this out, Snowflake: Seventy-seven percent of the baseball players studied had 20/15 vision or better. Forty-two percent of the baseball players studied had 20/12 vision or better. One point seven percent of the baseball players studied had 20/9.2 or better vision.
Bob: Just so you all understand, the top number is what everybody sees. The bottom number is what it looks like to them. So they’re seeing something at 20 feet that looks like 9.2 feet away.
Gil: Yes. I didn’t even know 20/12 or 20/9.2 existed. I was just floored by this data. If you don’t have 20/15 you’re not going to be a baseball player.
Bob: Adding to what you said, mild dehydration research shows two significant things. With mild dehydration, you really are barely at the level where you can perceive it. That physical reaction and appropriate reaction deteriorates by about 10 to 15 percent, and decision making deteriorates by 20 to 25 percent in terms of quality.
Gil: Exponentially.
Bob: It’s fascinating. If you drink about six to eight ounces of water just when you’re at that point, (and there’s a number of ways to determine that) your physical reaction stuff responds literally within a small number of minutes. But your decision making response takes almost a half an hour to recover. So, when preparing for the big shoot, I would say as part of your pre-shot routine take a good mouthful of water before you get in every station.
Gil: Interesting.
Dan: Do eye drops or anything like that help with any of this?
Bob: Yes.
Gil: Yes it will. One finding Dan Laby and his crew have come up with is that no top-40 performing athletes have chronic dry eye. It’s just too much of an inhibitor for them to be able to make good visual reactions, because the better your vision, the quicker and better visual reaction you will have.
Now let me go a little further, with visual reaction times. Simple reaction times are responding to on/off stimulus. Red light, green light. Stop and go. That’s called a simple reaction. A complex reaction is to respond to only a specific stimulus when it comes on, while ignoring other stimuli. For example, the batter at the plate choosing to hit or not to hit. Focusing on the target and ignoring the background, the gun, or any other thing that might distract your vision from the target. Those are complex reactions. So now we’re going to compare the non-athlete to the pro athlete, okay? Non-athlete versus pro athlete in simple reaction time, their reactions were within 5 milliseconds of each other. So in the simple reaction time, there was five milliseconds difference in the reaction time between the athlete versus the non athlete versus the pro athlete. Now listen to this. Non-athletes vs. pro athletes in complex reaction times were at least 50 milliseconds slower than the pros. This is a testament to the training that Bob was talking about: perceptual cognitive training. Because when you’re doing perceptual cognitive training, you are reacting to one stimulus while ignoring a lot of other things. Am I on the right track here, Bob?
Bob: Yes, you are. In fact, that’s also part of quiet eye too.
Gil: Oh, there’s no doubt. The quiet eye has to be there in order for these times to be what they are. But I thought it very interesting that the non-athletes and the pro athlete reaction times from a simple reaction were within 5 milliseconds of each other. But the trained pro athletes in a complex reaction was at least 50 milliseconds faster than the non-athletes. It’s a testimony to perceptual cognitive training and seeing the picture. It’s quiet eye, it’s putting all of this stuff together so that it optimizes the brain’s ability to understand the picture more clearly, and have focus on the right thing in the picture.
Kill Shot Reviews, Decisiveness and Distraction
Tell me what you think about this, but to me it’s the distraction part that training helps you overcome. That’s why it’s so important when training or competing to be decisive with everything you do. It’s more important to be decisive than correct. Either way, being decisive would lead you to better decision making, because it allows you to do better complex functions. What did I call it? The complex reaction time. It allows you to have better complex reactions and the complex reaction simply means that you’re reacting to that target and because of your intense focus on that target the background disappears. The clay is visible and it’s easily seen as it’s coming to you. It’s easy for you to control it from within front. And everything slows down and it goes back to how well you’ve trained the complex reaction. Because what we do is a very complex reaction to a moving target. And the more decisive you are in your training, the more decisive you are, whether you’re right or wrong. The quicker you learn the lesson, the better your reaction time becomes in the complex reaction that you have to create.
You can’t get it unless you got it. What I’m learning from studying what these guys have done with baseball hitters, is that watching these Kill Shot reviews and being able to visualize the movie in your mind as the shot comes together, is absolutely huge. It’s just huge. The more you watch them, the easier it is for you to visualize, and the less effort you have to put into the visual process because it’s an automatic thing.
Bob: Two things. First, there’s the old routine of “shoot to kill” as opposed to “shoot not to miss.”
Gil: There it is.
Bob: And second, I’ve had to remind people when they looked at the kill shots that they’re quarter-speed. They need to get the idea that in the green circle, if you divide the time by four, it’s really only there for between 0.5 and 0.7 of a second on the vast majority of shots.
Gil: The stable picture? Is that what you’re talking about?
Bob: I’m talking about the green circle that you have on the kill shots.
Gil: Yeah. Which tells you when the guns mount.
Bob: It’s very short.
Gil: Yes, you know, I never thought about looking it that way. So it’s at quarter-speed. So what are you telling your people? The amount of time that the green circle is around the red dot…
Bob: Has to be divided by four.
Gil: Divide that by four and that’s how long the guns actually mounted.
Bob: There are a couple of shots that are exceptions, but the vast majority of them are 0.5 to 0.7 seconds.
Gil: That’s about right. That’s what I see. I guess because I’ve edited so much of that stuff, I’ve seen it happen so many times when I shoot. I see it at quarter speed. It looks like it’s quarter speed to me. When I when I shoot a 50-yard chandelle it looks like it’s in slow motion. I don’t know whether that’s because I’ve looked at it so much or what. But it looks like it’s in slow motion. Dean, does it look like it’s in slow motion to you when you’re really in sync with the bird?
Dean: Yes, absolutely, it’s slow motion. Sometimes I have to talk myself into slow motion.
Gil: What does that mean?
Dean: If I’m not focusing correctly, I don’t get slow motion. Does that make sense?
Gil: Yeah.
Dean: If my focus is not right, and I’m distracted or something like that, I don’t get that slow motion kind of thing.
Gil: Most of the distraction that I experience when I have that is I’m thinking about something else. Something else is in my mind.
Dean: Yes, I might be thinking “that guy is talking too loud.”
Gil: Yeah, it’s like Eagle said, “everything matters.”
Dean: So, when it’s not slow motion, I am not downrange with that bird. Every time there’s not slow motion I’m back in the box.
Gil: What a way to say that. How do you get yourself downrange with the bird?
Dean: I send myself down there. I tune out the distraction and get back to business. To me it’s almost like in a movie where you rush close and rush back. I actually almost feel like I’m moving down range. Everything that I’m focusing on, when I’m doing everything correct, is down there with the bird. If I’m not, everything’s back here. And if I can change that, I almost feel like I moved back down where I’m supposed to be. That’s how I’ve come to think of it. I’m not back in the box. My body may be here shooting in the box, but everything I’m focusing on and everything that matters is down range.
Gil: The thing that gets me down range with the bird is being able to vividly see the movie happen: the bird coming to me and the bird breaking with a stable picture. That’s what puts me down there.
Bob: But you are both saying the same thing which is the Zen kind of concept of being one with the bird.
Dean: We’re saying the same thing. We just have different ways of saying it.
Gil: It took Snowflake to bring us together like that. So there’s something happening here. I’ve taken too much time. I still have some more things that I want to talk about this vision seminar that I looked at, and I’ll put that off until next month. But thank you all for participating tonight. I’m going to expand on quite a few things that we talk about tonight, next month. And until then, you’ve got to be in front to hit them. Behind is where the losers stay.
