Last month, we talked about practice ratios and the difference in the amount of blocked training and random practice in normal practice and a pre-tournament practice. The previous two months we talked about the difference between practice, learning, and performance. We also brought up the fact that we never coach during a tournament.
Our research shows that the best scenario is to observe during a tournament and then critique afterward, and maybe go shoot the course again to go over what we observed. This gives us a better reflection as coaches of a shooter’s true strengths and weaknesses, and will better help us help them.
This month, we’re going to go over some of the things that people must learn to shoot pairs consistently. The game is shot in pairs. As you probably know there are three kinds: true, report, and following. Following is the least used, and true and report pairs are used equally as much.
The first thing shooters must do to become successful at shooting pairs is to be able to read the pair correctly. The objective is to shoot the first bird in a place such that the gun and the shooter’s eyes can get to the second target with the least amount of movement possible.
You could call this shooting the pair with the most efficient moves possible. When you see someone shoot this way, they make the pair seem so easy. The amount of time to break the pair seems to be endless… as long as they are doing it. Things seem to change when you have the gun in your hands, don’t they?
Well, pay attention because there are some pearls about to follow.
If you’ve ever watched a professional pool player play eight-ball, they make the game look so easy. All the shots seem to be straight in when they’re playing. This is because on each shot, the pro not only knocked a ball in a pocket, which allowed them to continue shooting, but they struck the cue ball in such a manner that, when it came to rest, it was in almost perfect alignment for their next shot.
This is what’s called “playing shape” on the next shot. When you pick up the cue stick, however, the same doesn’t work out for you. It’s because you haven’t practiced enough to learn how to perform these seemingly logical and simple feats on a pool table.
The same thing happens on a sporting clays course. Since our targets are never the same course to course, (or even day to day) we must analyze each station we approach and choose a breakpoint for the targets in order for you to “play shape” on the pair. Most of the time, playing shape on a report pair is not as critical as it is on a true pair, because the second target is not launched until you shoot at the first one.
In any instance, on any pair, you must have a predetermined breakpoint for the first target if you want to have any consistency in your results. That should seem logical and simple to all of you. But if you don’t have the subconscious shooting skills to consistently break the first target on a pair in the same predetermined place, you can’t play shape on the pair.
In our game, you have the choice of shooting the first bird in the same spot each time on the same pair and having the second bird be the same or shooting the first bird in a different spot each time and having the second bird be different each time. The choice becomes “shoot the same pair five times in a row” or “shoot five different pairs because you can’t shoot the first bird in the same spot each time.”
So, breakpoints are a big deal in our game. If you’re trying to get better, that is. If you’re just shooting for fun, don’t worry about shooting targets in breakpoints. Just keep chasing both targets on the pair.
If you want to get better, you’d better begin to practice shooting targets in different breakpoints so you can play shape on each pair you shoot.
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