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Guest
Guest
I was asked by another member here in another thread about my confidence in my shooting abilities and how I came about them.(thanks Beginner) The general answer is I've always done well with whatever I decide to do. If I find an activity interesting, and challenging enough to invest my time in it I want to be the best I can be, and if possible compare it the best practitioner of the same activity.
Shooting airguns has been no different. I learned to shoot them in Cub Scouts, then on to .22rf in Boy Scouts. Every Turkey Shoot I attended ended with me placing in the top 3.Fast forward to adulthood(no guns allowed growing up) and I picked up a B3 under lever. It was a lot of fun, very accurate but couldn't break a beer bottle at 10yds. I upgraded to a Remington break barrel and that's when the competitive juices started flowing. I would regularly shoot with friends, plinking at beer cans, empty lighters, nip bottles and such playing pass the mic. Basically shoot till you miss, then pass it on. It seemed I was always passing it on out of boredom, rather than missing. After a few years my buddies didn't like playing because I wasn't missing. Enter my first major injury in 2013.
I ended up having elbow surgery for a dead tendon(tennis elbow) in August 2013. During recovery I researched airgun competitions. First stop was the P.A./Tom Gaylord blog. After interacting there I learned about field target, and the yellow forum. So with lots of questions and more research I decided a Marauder, and Hunter class was where I wanted to start. Spring of 2014 I was able to purchase the Marauder and a few knockdown targets. I practiced every day in my back yard for three months. Feeling I was ready I drove 3 hours to attend my first match. I wasn't sure how I would do, but ended up scoring a 21/60 on what is considered a difficult course to this day. Later I learned that it's a very good score for a first time. By the end of the year I was scoring in the low 40's, and decided to attend the 2014 FT Nationals.
So I hooked up with two other area shooters and we carpooled down to Alabama. I had a great time. Met many of the friends I have today, and placed 7th in my class. So i felt I could do better, and the next season improved my scores, even winning a few local matches, with a second place finish at a regional grand prix. This is also the season I learned about the Wolrd Field Target Championship. These guys were shooting sitting on the ground, resting thier guns on a knee, shooting with almost half the power I was and getting tops scores in most matches. Challenge accepted.
While I dove head first into WFTF a second injury, my neck this time took me out of being able to contend so I worked on technique, position, and helping at matches more than shooting until the issue was resolved.(I had to cancel a trip to the WFTC in Wales because of the injury). The next year was much better, neck wise, but my shooting progression had lagged behind what I was learning. Regardless I pushed forward, borrowed an FTP900 and flew to Poland(2018) for my first Worlds match. I had a great time, but shot like crap(placed 180 something). I'll be honest though, it's mostly because I had too good a time off the course. Lesson learned. Another lesson learned, the way we shoot FT in the States doesn't do much to prepare for the WFTC. I took note of this and went into the next season practicing what I needed to improve. Think of everything you do to shoot well, then reconsider every little thing from finger position on the trigger, head placement behind the scope to how you set up before sitting down on your bum bag.
Last year I gave myself goals to meet when attending Worlds and treated every match leading up to it as practice. Even what should have been important ones(Grand Prix matches). This helped considerably since I didn't try to win every match, but tried to learn something new at them. On to England, home of FT and host of the 2019 WFTC. It had the highest attendance of any Worlds to date. 450 shooters. Talk about intimidating. My goals for this event were to finish in the top 100, shoot better than at least one Team USA member(i didn't make the team but was lucky enough to attend) and, specific to this event, shoot in the top half on day three. I met 2 of three goals, finishing 103 in the end. While happy to have met two goals, missing out on the third burned. It had more to due with physical endurance waning on day three more than anything else. Since I have been on a mission to improve my durability and endurance with weight training for strength and hiking to improve endurance. This training regiment started in September 2019 and continues to this day. It will be interesting to see how much this helps once FT comes back.
I hope this gives a bit of insight into why I think I'm able to shoot at a high level for the sport I've chosen, and give the advise I do, mostly
Shooting airguns has been no different. I learned to shoot them in Cub Scouts, then on to .22rf in Boy Scouts. Every Turkey Shoot I attended ended with me placing in the top 3.Fast forward to adulthood(no guns allowed growing up) and I picked up a B3 under lever. It was a lot of fun, very accurate but couldn't break a beer bottle at 10yds. I upgraded to a Remington break barrel and that's when the competitive juices started flowing. I would regularly shoot with friends, plinking at beer cans, empty lighters, nip bottles and such playing pass the mic. Basically shoot till you miss, then pass it on. It seemed I was always passing it on out of boredom, rather than missing. After a few years my buddies didn't like playing because I wasn't missing. Enter my first major injury in 2013.
I ended up having elbow surgery for a dead tendon(tennis elbow) in August 2013. During recovery I researched airgun competitions. First stop was the P.A./Tom Gaylord blog. After interacting there I learned about field target, and the yellow forum. So with lots of questions and more research I decided a Marauder, and Hunter class was where I wanted to start. Spring of 2014 I was able to purchase the Marauder and a few knockdown targets. I practiced every day in my back yard for three months. Feeling I was ready I drove 3 hours to attend my first match. I wasn't sure how I would do, but ended up scoring a 21/60 on what is considered a difficult course to this day. Later I learned that it's a very good score for a first time. By the end of the year I was scoring in the low 40's, and decided to attend the 2014 FT Nationals.
So I hooked up with two other area shooters and we carpooled down to Alabama. I had a great time. Met many of the friends I have today, and placed 7th in my class. So i felt I could do better, and the next season improved my scores, even winning a few local matches, with a second place finish at a regional grand prix. This is also the season I learned about the Wolrd Field Target Championship. These guys were shooting sitting on the ground, resting thier guns on a knee, shooting with almost half the power I was and getting tops scores in most matches. Challenge accepted.
While I dove head first into WFTF a second injury, my neck this time took me out of being able to contend so I worked on technique, position, and helping at matches more than shooting until the issue was resolved.(I had to cancel a trip to the WFTC in Wales because of the injury). The next year was much better, neck wise, but my shooting progression had lagged behind what I was learning. Regardless I pushed forward, borrowed an FTP900 and flew to Poland(2018) for my first Worlds match. I had a great time, but shot like crap(placed 180 something). I'll be honest though, it's mostly because I had too good a time off the course. Lesson learned. Another lesson learned, the way we shoot FT in the States doesn't do much to prepare for the WFTC. I took note of this and went into the next season practicing what I needed to improve. Think of everything you do to shoot well, then reconsider every little thing from finger position on the trigger, head placement behind the scope to how you set up before sitting down on your bum bag.
Last year I gave myself goals to meet when attending Worlds and treated every match leading up to it as practice. Even what should have been important ones(Grand Prix matches). This helped considerably since I didn't try to win every match, but tried to learn something new at them. On to England, home of FT and host of the 2019 WFTC. It had the highest attendance of any Worlds to date. 450 shooters. Talk about intimidating. My goals for this event were to finish in the top 100, shoot better than at least one Team USA member(i didn't make the team but was lucky enough to attend) and, specific to this event, shoot in the top half on day three. I met 2 of three goals, finishing 103 in the end. While happy to have met two goals, missing out on the third burned. It had more to due with physical endurance waning on day three more than anything else. Since I have been on a mission to improve my durability and endurance with weight training for strength and hiking to improve endurance. This training regiment started in September 2019 and continues to this day. It will be interesting to see how much this helps once FT comes back.
I hope this gives a bit of insight into why I think I'm able to shoot at a high level for the sport I've chosen, and give the advise I do, mostly
