When Score Matters
07/23/2022 | By: Daniel Schindler, Master Sporting Clays, Skeet, Trap and Wingshooting Instructor
OK…hold your gun here…point right there. X X X X. Hey…congratulations, you’re definitely getting better at this. Folks, please listen up. This is fertile ground for a serious and sometimes expensive misunderstanding.
“If you don’t know where you are going,
you can end up somewhere else.”
– Yogi Berra
Teaching versus fixing…their differences…what can you expect, what you can’t.
Different shooters, different goals. For some folks, real shooting improvement just isn’t all that important. Their approach to shooting doesn’t need any defending. Different strokes for different folks. Others are the opposite. Raising scores and advancing their personal skill level matters. Greatly. That’s why shooter goals and the instructor’s lesson agenda should always be on the same page. Always.
When an Instructor accepts a session with a corporate group or family members…when it’s all about FUN…safety and entertainment are the ONLY two goals. Keep everyone safe and make very sure the chosen trap machines are throwing “can’t miss” targets. Keep’em close and slow. Hangtime for each target? Four minutes or thereabout. Right on schedule, as intended, lots and lots of targets are breaking. When a miss occurs, here the instructor offers a “quick fix” that will result in an X on the very next shot. Again and again, it does. Session over, the corporate or family group leaves very, very happy, and the course owner and instructor feel the same. This was the intent for all involved. Please note, however, there was no real teaching involved today. No formal instruction. No real learning or shooting “improvement.” Today, shooters came for fun, not to learn how to shoot. Mission accomplished.
Here comes the misunderstanding. Two days later a shooter from our corporate group steps into the shooting box on his/her home course, with no Instructor present. Brimming with confidence, the missing begins, followed by obvious disappointment and confusion. Why this outcome? Because there was no teaching, no learning on the agenda two days ago. Just fixing…no real instruction. Which was perfectly acceptable…remembering our shooter attended that session to be entertained…not to be taught how to improve his/her shooting. There was no formal training…just fixing…no customer learning involved. This is a misunderstanding you, and your instructor might want to consider and avoid.
Fixing has its place in the entertainment business…but should never be substituted for “teaching” in the clay target sports where student improvement is the specific and openly stated goal. Here, in a “formal lesson,” where real student improvement is on the line and has been specifically requested and paid for, an instructor who inserts “fixing” into the lesson is not only unprofessional but unethical.
When the shooting becomes more serious, here is where teaching clearly has another, very different agenda. This is a formal lesson where, along with safety, learning and improving are the 2 goals…which excludes fixing. Please read that exclusion again. Your learning, and your revelations are on today’s agenda. X and O, the actual causes of those outcomes…your learning “why”…are to be promptly revealed, taught and discussed. You should rightfully expect to have basics and precision replacing your unintentional set-up and swing movement errors, aka your inconsistencies. Your comprehension of this entire process is your instructor’s obligation to you. You are to be learning X-generating methods and corrections, to take home and repeat. You are not to be fixed…which won’t “teach” you anything.
With “improvement” as your stated goal, before and during your lesson, in my experienced opinion, you have every right to expect your instructor to meet the following obligations during your lesson(s).
1. Safety.
2. To fully prepare you to continue to succeed…to continue the process of your improving… AFTER you return home with no Instructor standing behind you.
3. To teach you how to “SELF-correct” a miss, on your own. If you leave your lesson unable to do this, what will you do when the missing begins at home, lost and confused, with no Instructor behind you? From an O to an X with the very next shell…are you learning how? Are you ready? If not, what was the purpose of your lesson? See # 2.
4. God bless you, but, the reality is, some of your targets will be broken by accident. Can you now…with no instructor behind you…“self-correct” the set-up / swing movement mistakes? If you can’t, what are the odds the next target will break if you repeat the same errors with this shell? Just like “self-correcting” when you miss, are you being taught to visually see “why” this target broke so you’ve got a specific plan with the next shell? Because hope is not a plan. See # 2.
Entertainment being the goal, fixing is not only rewarding for all involved but honorable work for the instructor. Teaching, however…instructing in a formal lesson…is what we instructors should be doing when our student is paying for and expecting knowledge, specifically how to advance his/her shooting skills. This includes being taught what goes where, how, when and why. Very specifically, what to do before AND during the swing on each of the 3 common presentations. I share all this with you because, only the latter will make you a better shooter when you stand in the box on your home course, alone, with no instructor behind you. Being “fixed” during a formal lesson never has and never will make anyone a better shooter. Regardless of shooter age, gender or skill level, every student in a formal lesson deserves more than that and has every right to expect better training from their instructor.
“Success spends more time
with those who are being prepared.”
A competent, ethical instructor not only owes you these obligations but will discuss them with you beforehand so you’re both on the same page, before and during your lesson. For every student who is serious about improving their skills, raising their scores, their instructor should be providing them with usable knowledge and the very specific shooting methods that are 100% dependable…not just broken targets. That training is rightfully expected to work tomorrow and every day after.
As always, we appreciate your stopping by and spending time with us. Cheryl and I and all our Instructors look forward to seeing you out on the course.
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About Dan Schindler
Dan Schindler is one of only 60 worldwide members of the Guild of Shooting Instructors (UK) and is one of the most highly respected Sporting Clays and Wingshooting Instructors in the US. Dan is an NSCA Level III Instructor (since 1995) and founded the Paragon School of Sporting with one goal in mind. Whether it be for the advanced competitor or providing the basics to the entry-level shooter, Paragon provides the simplest, most practical and most effective Instruction, Coaching and Mental Training for the Sporting Clays & Wingshooting enthusiast. Dan Schindler helps shooters alleviate a lot of their frustration by taking the mystery out of breaking targets, calling their own misses, and make their own corrections. Lessons are fun, enlightening and our clients learn to shoot better in minutes!
Testimonials
Dan Schindler's Books
"Recommended for shooters of all skill levels, Coaches, Instructors
and parents of youth shooters."
Take Your Best Shot (Book I), 3rd Edition is THE Gold Standard Primer It's all about the fundamentals, a requirement for good shooting. This book is used by high school and college shooting teams, recreational and competitive shooters from around the world. Solid, valuable, concise information that has helped thousands of shooters shoot more consistently with higher scores.
To The Target (Book II) Builds on the steps outlined in Book I. Emphasises Gun Management skills when the trap fires, creating a consistent, reliable, trustworthy swing.
Beyond the Target (Book III) is for shooters of all levels, filled with valuable information, clay target truths. Entertaining and a culmination of 3 decades of Dan's life's work as a teacher, competitor, published writer, and much more.
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