Sporting Clays, Skeet, Trap Scoring Skills - Part II

 Trust in the Shooting Box (continued)

 Second, assuming 1) we are experiencing some of this success…and 2) we are competing…there will come a time in which our attention should shift from executing the step-by-step swing components to trusting our swing without micromanaging it.

When we were very young and first jumped on a bicycle, it all seemed so complicated…at that time. Not too long after, we didn’t have to think about it all…just jump on and voila, you’re Evel Knieval. This was the same step 1, step 2 process we’re discussing here.

I write you about this 2-step process because yesterday I read an excellent summary that focused primarily on the second component. Please see John Shima’s article, page 56, March 2017 issue, Clay Target Nation. This is akin to what I wrote about in my Sporting Clays magazine article, “Engage Your Friends, Not Your Fears.” (February 2016 – can’t remember what the publication date was?) In my opinion, John delivered a sound and thought-provoking explanation of this process. I encourage you to read it carefully.

It will be difficult if not impossible to trust a swing that only works for us part-time. And why building proficiency with the first component…Gun Management skills…is non-negotiable and must come first. That said, it stands to reason then, why would we go to all that trouble and expense to build that skill if we’re not going to use it? To touch our true potential in the shooting box will require higher and higher levels of trust…culminating in unconditional trust. Kudos to Mr. Shima for this educational piece.

While competition pressure exists in each of the clay target disciplines, I believe it would be easier to trust our skill in Skeet because there are far fewer target presentations and sight pictures than we have in Sporting Clays. That we at Paragon do reduce the presentations into 3 categories, however, definitely helps to simplify things for us…alleviating some of the difficulties of "not trusting.” 

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