S YOUR PADDLE. UPSTREAM OR DOWN? September 2009 Shooting Tip



Seriously now, take about 10 long seconds and do this. Slow down and think about what it feels like to paddle a canoe upstream. Against the current. Go ahead. Please. I’ll wait. 1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi, 3 Mississippi, 4…………………….

OK, it’s nice to be on the water and the view is beautiful but if you’re going to make it back to the cabin before dark, the paddling takes some work. Right?

Let’s do the exercise again. This time paddling downstream. No worries, just go with the flow………………………. The cabin is about 5 miles from where you sit, paddle’s at your feet, just gliding, no worries, no falls in sight. Much better,……..yes?

Which one best describes how you feel in the box on tournament day? 1 or 2?

What goes on in your life outside of the box has a lot to do with what goes on inside the box. Yes, I’ve shot well when I was having a bad day. But I always shot better when I was having a great day.

If the match is on Saturday, think about starting to get ready on Tuesday or Wednesday instead of Friday night or Saturday morning. What can you get off your to-do list – today? What finished chore will make Mom or the Missus happy? When they’re happy……………. Same goes for your boss at work.

Your frame of mind at 9 AM on Saturday morning will no doubt play a role in how you approach your first field. Feel good about what’s coming? Or are you harried and stressed? Upstream or down?

 You’ll shoot better if it’s downstream. If it’s possible, don’t leave that frame of mind to chance. See you downstream.

S YOUR PADDLE. UPSTREAM OR DOWN? September 2009 Shooting Tip



Seriously now, take about 10 long seconds and do this. Slow down and think about what it feels like to paddle a canoe upstream. Against the current. Go ahead. Please. I’ll wait. 1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi, 3 Mississippi, 4…………………….

OK, it’s nice to be on the water and the view is beautiful but if you’re going to make it back to the cabin before dark, the paddling takes some work. Right?

Let’s do the exercise again. This time paddling downstream. No worries, just go with the flow………………………. The cabin is about 5 miles from where you sit, paddle’s at your feet, just gliding, no worries, no falls in sight. Much better,……..yes?

Which one best describes how you feel in the box on tournament day? 1 or 2?

What goes on in your life outside of the box has a lot to do with what goes on inside the box. Yes, I’ve shot well when I was having a bad day. But I always shot better when I was having a great day.

If the match is on Saturday, think about starting to get ready on Tuesday or Wednesday instead of Friday night or Saturday morning. What can you get off your to-do list – today? What finished chore will make Mom or the Missus happy? When they’re happy……………. Same goes for your boss at work.

Your frame of mind at 9 AM on Saturday morning will no doubt play a role in how you approach your first field. Feel good about what’s coming? Or are you harried and stressed? Upstream or down?

 You’ll shoot better if it’s downstream. If it’s possible, don’t leave that frame of mind to chance. See you downstream.

Publications from The Paragon School of Sporting

http://www.paragonschool.com/publications.html

  Book I — Take Your Best Shot (2nd edition)

Daniel Schindler’s first book, Take Your Best Shot, helps you get organized before and after you step into the shooter’s box. Regardless of skill level, your shot should be planned carefully before calling for the target. To finish a shot properly, it is vital that you start properly.

Using clear, plain language, this book answers your questions about equipment selection; chokes and loads; set-up in the box; strategies; shooting methods and managing your expectations. Written for the novice shooter, each shooting tip is a building block for the more advanced levels of shooting.

Good shooting starts in this very simple, easy-to-read book.

Readers have responded:

After our lesson Saturday I went home & made a page of notes – wondering as I wrote why you had not included these pearls of wisdom in Take Your Best Shot. Later that night I re-read your book & saw every one of them not only listed, but emphasized (maybe except for ‘cheek time’). It’s hard to overstate the added benefit of personal instruction & illustration compared to just reading the book.

Jim Bode

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  Book II — To The Target

Dedicated to the Intermediate to Advanced Shooter

To The Target is, in a way, a map. Using plain language, it cuts through the mystery of shooting and shows you the shortest route to breaking one target after another — from the first field to the last.

Readers have responded:

To The Target is simply the finest literary work on the subject of sporting clays shooting available today. A virtual technical manual on the art and science of shooting sporting clays, it is absolutely essential reading for any serious competitor.

David Arnold, DO Davenport, Iowa

To the Target is full of valuable information directly pertaining to the shotgun sports. An essential part of any shooter’s library, I just wish it had been around when I started.

Andy Duffy, Holder of 8 National Titles

This is going to be the bible for all wingshooters. A stylish, instructional book, To The Target covers all the questions I have been asked by my clients. For the price of 1 round of clays, you will have your answers.

M. Palmer, Owner, Lone Pine Sporting Clays.

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  Audio CD — Beyond the Target:

An Introduction to Mental Training

Beyond The Target, an audio CD, is a perceptive, engaging introduction to the mental side of sporting clays performance. Produced and narrated by Dan Schindler, it provides the listener with a refined understanding of why shooters plateau, and why continued progress in the box and on the score sheet eventually becomes difficult. It offers a fresh, enlightening perspective on why our performance in the box is so dramatically affected by our thinking, beliefs, perceptions and concentration. The encouraging dialogue answers many of the key questions we’ve been asking ourselves before we step in, and after we step out of the shooting box. Delivering more than just suggestions and information, the author’s inspiring messages stay with the listener long after narration ends.

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For More Information, Please Contact Us At:

The Paragon School of Sporting

P. O. Box 1276

Flat Rock, NC 28731

Tel: (828) 693-6600

E-Mail: paragonschool@aol.com

Web: http://www.paragonschool.com

Online Ordering: http://www.paragonschool.com/catalog

earning Curve – Long Or Short?



Where do our shooting skills come from? How are they developed and acquired?

With each trip to the course, each of us is building an inventory, or database, of muscle movements and sight pictures necessary to successfully complete a particular shot. At Paragon we call that,…..Familiarity. It is a mental inventory or database of sight pictures and swing movements – based on the target presentation in front of us. A presentation we will see again. And again.

Building this critically important Familiarity requires training and repetition. Have you considered how you approach building this Familiarity, i.e., target inventory?

Some do this by trial and error rather than deliberation and purpose. Through hunting, wing shooting, and trial and error on the Sporting course, this hit and miss process can develop some skill over the years. Yet improvements can be slow in coming, difficult and sporadic. Unguided practice tends to reinforce habits – good or otherwise – and progress on unfamiliar targets doesn’t always come. Sometimes, after a target presentation is attempted many, many times, Familiarity does develop. This is the longer, time consuming, random approach to skill development and Familiarity.

In contrast we have the shooter with a more structured approach. Skills are acquired and Familiarity develops as a result of practice sessions dedicated to something very specific in the set up and/or shot. This learning process incorporates shooting more deliberately. With each shot, X or O, this shooter focuses attention on the process of the shot, (gun movement, sight pictures, etc.) not the result (X or O). When a mistake is encountered, corrections are made, moving one step closer to the successful and repeatable shot. Similarly, the successful shot is noted and logged. Every shot has a purpose.

Each and every shot we make, X or 0, provides an opportunity to improve and develop Familiarity. Changing our approach can and will reduce the time necessary to develop the skills we desire. Incorporating more, better defined structure into our practice and training will move us away from Random and closer to Deliberate skill development – a much faster process.

The full, unabridged article is locate at http://www.paragonschool.com/sporting-clays-tip-11-2009.html

An Index of all The Paragon School of Sporting Sporting Tips is located at: http://www.paragonschool.com/sporting-clays-tips.html