There is a difference in comment and commitment. It takes a lot of hard work to increase your performance at sporting clays, or anything else in life for that matter. When we are born we each have a certain amount of God-given talent. Some have more than others, but we all have some. To be great at anything, we must make the commitment to develop our talent into a skill.
Your expectations on a sporting clays course should be controlled by the depth of your commitment, not by your dreams. How well you shoot in competition is controlled by many things, not the least of which is your commitment to prepare.
My good friend Jerry Meyer used to quote someone when we talked about this. It went something like this – “The will to prepare to win is greater than the will to win.”
Are you willing to make the commitment to prepare? When I say commitment I’m talking about things like:
1. How many times per week will you practice?
2. How many shells will you shoot?
3. How many tournaments will you go to – local and out of town?
4. What other pastimes or hobbies will you give up to pursue your commitment to sporting clays?
5. Will you be able to maintain this commitment and still be a student, husband, wife, mother, or father?
6. Are you willing to make the financial commitment to do all it takes to go for your goal?
7. Are you willing to be coached?
8. Are you willing to embrace change?
9. Are you able to accept the possibility that your goal may be unreachable for whatever reason? (But that you will never know until you try?)
10. Are you willing to look at defeat as the beginning and the end of success?
11. Are you willing to accept the fact that without sacrifice, there is no commitment?
Everyone wants to be the best they can be, but based on what guidelines? It takes a lot of hard work and a high level of commitment to be a great sporting clays tournament shooter. Are you willing to make that kind of commitment?
There is a psychological principle that states, “When your conscious desires (what you want or what you want to be) are in conflict with your emotions (how much you have really committed to getting there) your emotions always win.” A good, healthy, realistic expectation, based on the amount of commitment you can and are willing to make, will make this game more fun for you and those around you.
