striving for perfection
The road to perfection is one that few take in earnest. The road to perfection is like any road trip to any given destination. Arriving at that destination is dependent on certain variables such as determining the means of conveyance (plane, train or automobile), the route itself, and a willingness to get there.
That analogy is not too removed from the achievement of athletic goals. While many people will state that they are willing to “go the distance” few actually will have what it takes to make that journey. Only few will strive to be perfect - mediocrity is far more prevalent than is the desire for perfection, understanding that rarely will anyone achieve perfection, however that should not hinder undertaking the journey that leads to perfection.
The road to perfection starts with developing goals. Some will argue that desire comes first and from desire comes goals, well…ok, however desire is a nebulous word.
Desire is most often framed by the word “like. Whether the word is verbalized or just a thought, the problem is that more often than not, desire rarely makes it beyond the initial thought stage…the “Gee that would be nice…” . We often say to ourselves, or to others, “I’d like to do…” that or this, yet how many times have you heard those words from someone, yet never see any results
While desire is a vague concept, I link goals with the word “will.” “I will do” such and such, whatever that may be. For shotgun shooters, and athletes in general, a goal is the first step in developing a plan.
Goals come in two varieties, in my opinion: short and long term. I define short term goals as those that will generally transpire in the next 6 to12 months, and long-term anywhere up to 1 to 3 years. The time span is not as critical as having a long-term goal that is then broken down by the achievement of multiple short-term goals. Where do you want to be in terms of performance in the short term and the long term?
Goals, both short term and long term, are defined by the next step toward perfection - the plan.
“The plan”, not just any old plan, is the detailed road map to perfection. The plan breaks down the fundamentals of sport and details what steps a person will take to master those specific aspects of his or her sport. For a shotgun shooter, say in sporting clays, it’s a plan that says, “today I am going to practice shallow quartering birds” and then sticking to that plan. Once that goal is mastered, then moving on to deep quartering birds, then shallow crossing birds, etc., etc.
A vital part of any plan are the two ingredients of tenacity and dedication. I chose the word tenacity because it has a much fiercer sound to it than persistence. Call it tenacity, or determination or persistence, whatever word you want to use, the bottom line is that striving for perfection is hard work that requires a strong dedication to the achievement of your goal(s) both short and long term, and particularly short-term ones because short-term goals are the building blocks to the achievement of the long-term goal. Tenacity is that stick-to-it mentality that along with dedication to the long haul that gets one closest to perfection. Dedication, my definition, is that quality that says, “I will practice today even though I don’t feel like it” or “I will practice today instead of sitting on the couch and watching a movie”. Dedication is a single mindedness of accomplishment of goals.
The plan specifics are usually refined by an evaluation of the task involved in the sport a person is involved in…in other words a no holds barred evaluation of your performance with an eye to the fundamentals. In clays sport shooting that starts with the evaluation of a person’s current ability through shooting a round and keeping score ruthlessly or by participating in a competition. Competitions are in fact an evaluation of one’s performance overall.
Now then, if you are starting from scratch, that is if you are a beginner, then a coach can help you with things like gun selection, gun mount, and gun fit as well as the other fundamentals like learning the basic technique of engaging the targets in the game you are interested in, be it trap, skeet or sporting clays.
Further refinements of the fundamentals, and the core of the journey to perfection, happen when you shoot a round in a game that is your game of choice. A score card is an evaluation of how well you execute the fundamentals – the pursuit is always the perfection of the process. Executing the process flawlessly will result in good scores. Simple shooting for the sake of a score can and will lead to intense frustration. You hear that frustration from many of your fellow competitors when the utter statements of bewilderment like “I can’t hit that target” or more profane expletives.
Evaluations are markers in the overall training plan that detail where the shooter needs to put greater effort. These evaluations then are what results in a new short-term goal or training plan. Based on the previous evaluation, you build your new plan, “This week(s) since I had a low score shooting (whatever the target type or presentation) I will practice this particular shot.
Practice needs to accomplish three basic things:
The first accomplishment is learning how you are going to shoot each bird, where is my break point, my gun hold and my visual hold. Then move on to how the bird will be broken: swing through, pull away or sustained lead. The methodology here is to start by shooting a specific target type as a single bird, then progressing to report pairs and then true pairs.
The second accomplishment is developing a knowledge of how to shoot a particular presentation that is gained by the progression from single shots to report, and then true pairs. I believe it is Anthony Matarese, in one of his books or videos that said that you should shoot a single bird type twenty-five times, with a high degree of success before moving on to report pairs. Report pairs are then shot with a high degree of success, again twenty-five pairs, before moving on to true pairs.
This all leads to the third aspect of practice which is gaining confidence.
Confidence is the tool a shooter needs to score well in a competition. Confidence marries the skills of learning to plan a shot, with the knowledge of how that shot is accomplished. These three things, which are processes, are what will gain outcome, which is score.
The more refined the short-term goal, the better the overall plan, the better the plan the better the progression to getting to your long-term goal. The better defined the practice is to meet the objective of the short-term goal the better the actual practice session will be. The better the practice sessions, i.e., mastering the planning and the shot, as well as the knowledge of how to shoot target type, i.e. the presentations, the greater the confidence, and the greater all of these elements are developed the greater the outcome, or score in the evaluation or tournament. Remember…process before outcome.
One last thought here. There is a huge difference between confidence and arrogance. Confidence emanates from hard work; arrogance emanates from ego. Don’t let your ego ruin your strive to perfection.