We have been shooting and teaching sporting clays since it came to our country in late 1983. Before that, we shot skeet, which began in 1975 just before we got married. To be exact, it was August 2nd at 2 PM, and it seems like only yesterday. (I will give you one guess who wrote that line!)
We have seen a lot over the past 34 years, made a lot of friends, shared a lot of laughs and the inevitable tear every now and then.
All in all, it has been a great ride. We have both experienced our share of victories and defeats in both skeet and sporting. And as the saying goes, if we only knew then what we know now. But then, if frogs had wings…
As our passion turned from winning tournaments to becoming the best professional coaches in the game, one of the hardest things for us to do was to give up the desire to compete.
Why, you ask? Well, because we had no time to train and we spent more of our time as coaches looking at what not to do, and figuring out a bazillion different ways to say “focus on the target, put the gun in front, and pull the trigger.”
Well, it didn’t take long for our new passion to turn into the number one motivating factor to drive us to our next challenge: Understanding the learning curve, and how human behavior and attitudes control the speed of development and depth of development of the many levels of playing this game.
It is becoming more and more evident to us both that we were put here to be doing what we are doing. And our pathway here was filled with so many things that have become so valuable to us as coaches, both in the game of sporting and the game of life. It is those experiences that allow us to understand the evolution of the game and the shooters who so passionately play it today. We are going to focus on something we called practice ratios in our book “Sporting Clays Consistency: You Gotta Be Out of Your Mind.”
It would take too many words to describe all the different ratios at all the different score plateaus, so we will be considering only one of the nine score plateaus we discussed. It’s the one that is perhaps the hardest to push through and the one that almost all shooters find themselves stuck in. Many never get out because of not understanding why they are there.
Sooner or later you are going to find yourself in the high seventies. You might as well buy yourself a recliner because you are going to be there for a while. But take heart – being there is really a good thing if you understand plateaus and if you understand the work that has to go on there. Then your time will be well spent and you will find yourself in the low 80s in no time.
Something we have wondered for a long time is why so very few people ever shoot 80 in this game. It is either 78 or 79 or 81 or 82. So if you figure that one out, let us know so we can pass it on!
Here is how we described the 72 to 78 score plateau:
“The next level is a fluctuation between 72 and 78. It’s where the greatest number of shooters resides in our sport. They have practiced a good deal on the mechanics of their move and have developed a fairly good move and mount, but only one or two swing speeds: fast and faster. Because they have not developed different swing speeds, they are unaware of feel and are stuck in the (learning) phase of conscious competence. They almost always listen to the voice and check the lead, and with rare exceptions, the conscious mind is involved in every shot. We have yet to see someone in the conscious competence phase shoot better than a 78 or 79 unless the targets are very fluffy.”
So, now that you know why you are here, let’s talk about the work you must do to move on, as well as how to practice and the ratio of blocked training and random practice you will be doing to get out of here. Here is how we described what you need to do to leave the plateau and the ratio of blocked and random training. We referred to blocked training as “move training” and random practice as “performance practice”:
“When you get to 78, trusting the breakpoint is essential, as is developing a stronger routine. Our setup and visualization of the targets upon setting up should be a subconscious function, or very close to it. This is also the 50-50 point, where half of your time is now devoted to performance practice and shooting pairs, while half is still move training.”
It is about this time that we find many shooters have a strong urge to rush through the move training to get to pairs. They’re almost shooting 80, man; they don’t need to worry so much about fundamentals. Besides, pairs are more fun. It’s easy to fall into that trap, but we would caution against hazing over the move training. Devote your full attention and energy to these targets, and make your fundamental move the highest quality possible. Keep pushing the curve.”
The plateaus we described before 72 to 78 require a greater percentage of “move training” and a lesser percentage of “performance practice.” The plateaus we talk about beginning at 81 and going through 92 have less “move training” and more “performance practice,” as well as specific training for problem shots, situations, and conditions. These are general guidelines for all shooters and there can be some variations. We do talk about variations and what should and should not be done.
In short, you must spend more time on basic fundamental moves before you should spend a lot of time on shooting pairs – with one exception. Practice ratios before a tournament change because you are getting ready to play the game, and playing the game is about shooting pairs. Here is how we described it:
“A shooter with a 78 average should practice move training 15 percent of the time and performance practice 85 percent of the time during a pre-tournament session. Work on your routines and making sure your eyes are still before you call pull every time. And constantly work on one particular move that you perceive as a weakness, making it a strength.”
The reason for the change is that you need to practice shooting pairs in a pre-tournament practice because that is what you will be doing when shooting the tournament. The pre-tournament ratios all shift to more pairs and less move training at every level except just the very top levels. But they still have a percentage of move training, regardless of how high their scores are.
So, as you can see, working on basic fundamentals is a process that never ends, regardless of your score plateau or how well you shoot at tournaments. And there are distinct times and places for both kinds of practice.
