Practicing Slower Moves
I had a student who was really good out to about 30 to 35 yards, but when a target was any further than that, he wasn’t so good. “Okay, tell me what kind of targets are giving you problems,” I said. “If they're fast, I can hammer...
Flipping Negative Thoughts
Our brains are wired to focus on the negative. This can be a major hurdle for athletes who aspire to excel in competitive environments like skeet or sporting clays. But the key lies in flipping this tendency on its head. When faced with a disappointing...
You Need a Strategic Approach
I had a client from the Northwest who was advancing well by focusing on single targets, determining breakpoints, and testing her predictions. However, her progress derailed after taking advice from an experienced shooter at a local club. He suggested she shift her focus to the second...
Staying Calm Under Pressure
One trait stands out amongst successful competitors: the ability to stay calm under pressure. This calmness fosters clear thinking and a focus on the process rather than just the outcome. The mental state referred to as being "process-oriented" evolves through trial and error, successes and failures,...
Why Are You Scrambling?
In our sport, lots of shooters impulsively close their gun and call “pull,” proceeding to hurriedly track the targets and trying to hastily correct their shot at the last moment. This often leads to confusion as to why there’s no improvement in their performance. We typically...
The Science of Skill: Building Blocks in Shooting and Life
Skill development is an intricate process rooted in biology and psychology, both in shotgunning and life itself. The key to mastering any skill, including shooting, lies in understanding how our brains evolve with practice. During adolescence, a protein called myelin plays a crucial role. It wraps...
Skill Comes from Repetition
You can think of skill as a series of railroad tracks. When they’re not used and exposed to the elements, they become rusty. But when they start to be used again, they get shiny – almost polished-looking. Remember that your skill comes from repetition, and to...
Being Honest with Your Score
You can’t run away from the score, but your ability to admit what the score is and admit the situation you’re in is huge. Controlling doubt and fear is also huge because if you can admit the fact that you’re only down two going into the...
Fear is a Funny Thing
Shooting with confidence and trust is a whole new and wonderful way to play our game. It’s very typical to learn conscious sight pictures, and one day hopefully you’ll be able to trust them. But if you learn to trust from the beginning without the fear...
Honing Your Self-Talk
Most of the time self-talk is just babble. It’s just going on and on and on. There are times and places for self-talk, but most of the stuff that we hear on the sporting clays course is a justification to people around you that you know...