Being Honest with Yourself

The other day I had a lesson with a young female athlete the other day who wanted to really shoot great, but she had not committed to building the skills to do so. This was our first lesson together, and we began by listening to the March 2015 Coaching Hour. You should listen to it over and over again if you haven’t heard it already.

She had all the want, but not the determination to put in the time. We see this a lot in youth shooters. The talent comes so quickly in the beginning, but what they don’t understand is that 60 percent of everything you must learn applies to everybody. And that stuff is those boring FUNDAMENTALS! They are fairly easy to learn, especially for young shooters – not because they are young, but because their brain insulates the circuits so quickly at that age, they just get it fast and equate getting it fast to talent. The two are worlds apart.

After the Coaching Hour, we talked about the anticipation circuit and how she had to build her own filler. That is where the hard work comes in. We also talked about where most youth athletes find themselves giving up and settling for “good enough.”

I heard from her father the other day and she is practicing every day. Something might just be coming out of our discussion. Oh, and by the way, we did shoot a box and a half and she got the stable matched-up picture quickly. We expect to hear from her soon, and I’ll keep you posted.