By: Paul Giambrone, III

The last few tournaments that I have been to, I have seen several younger shooters coming on strong and it got my mind driving down memory lane.  I had the blessing of being able to shoot with my father and close friends for a number of years in my early and late teen years.  Those were some of the best times of my life and I think most of us feel that way about those teen years, especially the summer time.  Thinking of those summers spent traveling around going to different places with our friends and family and not worrying about school!  That was the life!  Going back to those times reminded me of school and tests and all that good stuff…  How were we measured in school?  By grades!  I grew up on an 8-point grade scale, some are 10-points, and some are only 6 points!  Think about that…  You had to be 90%, 92%, or 94% correct in order to get the highest grade available.  That seems very tough!  I know when I got an A that it was an achievement and it didn’t require me being 100%.  The point being is that it takes a lot to get a good grade or pass a test!  It is hard work and a process.

What about passing a driving test or a skill test?  Most tests out there do not require people to be 100% perfect and most answers are either right or wrong, not a lot of grey area, except of course, on essay and short answer questions where it is more discussion (keep this in mind for later).  Let’s focus more on the multiple choice or better yet, true/false tests where you have one right and one wrong answer.  I know I have taken guesses here and there on multiple choice tests and some were right and some were wrong.  Most of the time, when I went with my first instinct, I would be correct.  When I would think or try to analyze too much, I would more than likely change my answer from the correct one to the wrong one.  You would think after doing that a few times that logic would kick in to where I wouldn’t do that!  I continued to struggle with this throughout my years not only in school, but in skeet shooting as well.  See, on some days where I was feeling a little “off” I would start off ok and feel fine, then I would start paying attention to my breaks.  If I broke a couple of targets on the back end or the front end, I would start worrying and try to “fix” the problem.  The issue here is that there is no problem with my shooting, but your brain starts to think that there is because you are looking for that dead center break, instead of just letting it happen.  Hey, sometimes we make a great shot and just put slightly too much lead on the bird.  That doesn’t constitute as a bad shot, just means you were slightly on the front edge of a target that is only 4 and a half inches in diameter at 20 yards.  Sounds like a good shot when it is put that way, doesn’t it?  Anyways, some of the hardest hits I have had on targets come from being totally relaxed, yet focused. I was focused on seeing the target, not the break or the end result.  Think about some of your best moments and hardest hits…  How much of this “thinking” were you doing?  If I had to guess, I would say not very much.  It is a common topic I bring up to my students.  Thus far, everyone has told me that when they were really shooting well, very little thinking was going on, but when they did not shoot well, they were analyzing every little thing, mostly their breaks.  So would logic suggest continuing down this path when you start to shoot poorly, or try to relax and let things happen instead of trying to force them to happen?  I can think of several times where shooters have told me they shot poorly for a round or two, then finish up with a couple of very strong rounds.  What happened here?  Their minds finally settled down after a few misses and became focused on the targets, instead of the endless things that could be going wrong…

Let’s take a step back and take a look at a true/false question on a test. When I would come across a question I wasn’t sure on, I would certainly try to take my best guess.  If that guess was the correct answer, I would be relieved that I got it correct, but would also tell myself I could study better for the next test.  Keep in mind during that test I would not change anything… I said that I would prepare better for the next test.  The reason I like this test question best is because there is only one right answer and one wrong answer.  Just like in skeet, we only have two options, either we hit the target or we don’t.  There is no partial credit; there is only full credit or no credit.  So why do we get caught up so much on the partial hits?  What are we so worried about if we are getting “full credit” for the shot we just made, even if it wasn’t a perfect shot?  We are human!  We are going to make some non-perfect shots and still break targets because we are shooting shotguns.  In order to break a 100 straight, there are generally a couple of these non-perfect shots that shooters have to make in order to score the 100.  Most of the time, a 98 or a 99 is just as good performance-wise as a 100, the shooter just didn’t get that 1 or 2 extra targets they needed on those non-perfect shots.  Anyways, back to grading the breaks, I know sometimes that your hits can tell you what you are doing, but most of the time it is more of a distraction than a helping aide.  For example, if you are consistently hitting the front of the target, also known as the “money side” of the target, why would you want to change that?  My argument is if you are breaking it consistently in the same spot and feel you are doing everything correctly, why change?  The old phrase “If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it” comes to mind.

If you have any questions or comments, please email me directly at info@gsclinics.com and visit www.breakmoretargets.com for more information!  Please check the website for upcoming tournaments and clinics in your area and keep in mind that GSC is now in the DFW area!  GSC will be available to teach in the Dallas/Fort Worth area all year-round!  Please call for lesson availability today!

Tip of the month:      Just remember that we only get full credit or no credit.  Another point to ponder is a story that I heard from Bob Palmer about a scene in a movie he had seen recently.  A student asked a teacher on the first day how to get an A in the class.  The teacher responded with, “You all have A’s right now; you just have to maintain them.”  Bob told me to take that to skeet.  Instead of worrying about scoring a 100, he said you already have a 100; you just need to maintain the 100.  And I’ll add it doesn’t matter how pretty or ugly the breaks are, just get the break.