Clays - Top News, Music, and Sports - The Blog Conglomerate

Posts Tagged ‘Clays’

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly : a Sporting Clays Article

For those of you who believe this coach steps into the box and always gets it right, I only wish it were so. I attended a local tournament this past week-end. No, it wasn’t a disaster; it only felt that way at the time.

The cold and rain was not a significant problem except I left my heavy wool sweater in my vehicle when Gary picked me up at our usual meeting spot. After shooting the 5-Stand the rain turned to a downpour so everyone huddled. My hands were numb and I was well past chilled. Finally, it cleared enough to get our squad on its way. Waiting for the trapper and scorekeeper, the rain began again. We were relieved when the 4-wheeler pulled up, only to discover he had the wrong score cards.

Stepping into the box, I was still trying to center myself. At my call, the split pair raced down the hill. My gun doubled on the first target and it may have been from cold fingers. A bit shaken and wondering what the next pair would bring, I reloaded. All went well through the next three pairs until someone noticed that the trapper wasn’t throwing the targets on the menu.

I stepped out of the box.

We all started over.

At the next field, cold and preoccupied with my frustrations, I lost track of the target order. I was prepared for a simultaneous pair when the trapper, (who’d thrown the wrong targets on the previous field) mistakenly threw the first bird of a report pair. I held my fire and questioned the presentation. A report pair was the correct presentation. Lost, lost. I broke my own rule; always shoot first and ask questions later. And so it went.

I’m a firm believer in finding something positive in your round, even when it may seem impossible. Determined to learn something from the experience, I processed the day’s events while driving home and well into the next day.

I’m not proud of what I uncovered but I felt it worth a second look…..

***
This Sporting Clays Article was previously published in Sporting Clays Magazine by Dan Schindler in September 2005.

The Paragon School of Sporting is now making available the remainder of this article as well as numerous others, available for download on The Paragon School of Sporting Website.

Sporting clays continues to be an elegant sport born of long tradition, fulfilling our wingshooting passion to experience the wing and shot. Feather and clay, inescapably tied, grants us so many learning opportunities to hone our skills, a path of personal growth that affords us a refreshing, unbiased look at ourselves. Time and again, my students have learned how entirely more capable they are than once thought. The American sporting clays shooter can honestly and proudly say, in a very short period, he has indeed advanced to take his rightful place among the best in the world. And, let’s not forget, no one is having more fun out here than you and I are.

The events, times, places and persons in my articles are all true. While I changed a name here and there, 100% of the information came from my experiences with you. Each tournament, each lesson, each experience with you generated the material for my work. I am grateful.

We hope you enjoyed the first part of the article and will visit us online to browse the numerous collection that is available. Until then, happy Sporting!

For More Information, Please Contact Us At:

The Paragon School of Sporting

http://www.paragonschool.com

P. O. Box 1276

Flat Rock, NC 28731

Tel: (828) 693-6600

Order Magazine Articles Online: http://www.paragonschool.com/catalog
The Paragon School of Sporting, established by Dan Schindler in 1994, is a prominent Sporting Clays Shooting and Wing Shooting school specializing in Sporting Clays instruction, Sporting Clays instructor training, lessons for the Wing Shooter, and Corporate Special Events.

Related Websites

Honest Truths and Some Pretty Good Opinions : Sporting Clays Tips

The more we add in terms of swing mechanics, Â strategies, shooting methods and equipment the more complicated this whole thing becomes. I promise you, breaking a target, consistently, is not hard. It truly isnât. But the more we think about shooting, the more we analyze, the more difficult it can become. At times, some of us feel lost in a complex puzzle of unanswerable questions. What is best, when, why, where and how, all lead us into a shooting game that seems anything but simple. Yet everything we shooters read, see and hear tells us the less we think about when that targetâs launched the better. That is true. Good shooting comes from our doing less in the box, not more. So how did we get here? More importantly, how can we make better sense of all this?

If entertainment is your goal in a round of clays there are very few good reasons for adjusting your shooting. Â If consistency and measurable improvement are a priority, thereâs no getting around this point: progress requires more than just pulling the trigger. What follows is a blueprint of sorts. From it you can assemble a no-nonsense approach to self-improvement. Keep what you like, discard what you donât. None of this is really new to the book Perfection in Sports, but I guarantee these messages can help you organize your overall game and get a better return on each hit and miss.

Most of us really do want to shoot better. We want to be more consistent from day to day, week to week, and we want higher scores. If shooting improvement is an honest goal, again, thereâs a cost. Reaching higher skill levels depends on you making changes to your present game. Unless you already are where you want to be in your shooting, change is the only way to get where you want to go.

What should you change? Thatâs a very good question, one I get asked a lot. The answer is not complex but does pivot on the answer to a more important question: what do you want from your shooting? Basically we aspire to different levels of skill. This suggests there are different plans and practice regimens for different people.

What follows doesnât presume a goal for you but can, if implemented, improve your average score in a round of 100. And thatâs the point here. Saying âI want to shoot better,â defines a goal but is a bit vague on how to get there. Learning a few principles might improve the odds on your achieving this goal……..

***
This Sporting Clays Article was previously published in Sporting Clays Magazine by Dan Schindler in June Â 2003.

The Paragon School of Sporting is now making available the remainder of this article as well as numerous others, available for download on The Paragon School of Sporting Website.

Sporting clays continues to be an elegant sport born of long tradition, fulfilling our wingshooting passion to experience the wing and shot. Feather and clay, inescapably tied, grants us so many learning opportunities to hone our skills, a path of personal growth that affords us a refreshing, unbiased look at ourselves. Time and again, my students have learned how entirely more capable they are than once thought. The American sporting clays shooter can honestly and proudly say, in a very short period, he has indeed advanced to take his rightful place among the best in the world. And, let’s not forget, no one is having more fun out here than you and I are.

The events, times, places and persons in my articles are all true. While I changed a name here and there, 100% of the information came from my experiences with you. Each tournament, each lesson, each experience with you generated the material for my work. I am grateful.

We hope you enjoyed the first part of the article and will visit us online to browse the numerous collection that is available. Until then, happy Sporting!

http://www.paragonschool.com
Order Magazine Articles Online: http://www.paragonschool.com/catalog

The Paragon School of Sporting, established by Dan Schindler in 1994, is a prominent Sporting Clays Shooting and Wing Shooting school specializing in Sporting Clays instruction, Sporting Clays instructor training, lessons for the Wing Shooter, and Corporate Special Events.

Related Websites

Miss Understood : Sporting Clays Article From the Paragon School of Sporting

Iâve just come home from the outstanding NC State shoot at Hunters Pointe where Chuck Frazier perpetrated on us some of his best, most well thought out target presentations. Standing in the box, I distinctly remember telling myself not to shoot that target right there. Did I remember to follow those instructions? Actually, to tell you the truth, well, I just forgot. It looked so good right there I couldnât help myself. See, hereâs what happened. After stomping the first bird, I moved the gun to intercept the second bird. And there it was, right on schedule. So I mosey up to it with my ânever-failâ move and watched myself shoot right over the top of it! Chuck ambushed me. Twice! X0X0. Itâs enough to make a person feel daffy. I did adjust the last 2 pairs, XXXX. Couldnât get those lost birds back though.

And thatâs what I want to take a look at, minimizing our misses.

In my opinion, sporting clays competition has become a precision sport. Never before have so many demands been placed on the competitorâs shoulders to guide the gun properly. Mistakes in the swing are rarely forgiven by todayâs more creative and deceptive match presentations. While ours is not a game of perfect, scores are climbing. Thatâs why knowing where we missed and why is so critical. As scores continue to climb, there is less and less margin for missing, putting the emphasis squarely on better strategies and error free swing execution. Miss management.

Top shooters have good form. While their shooting styles may differ, the style each one uses is consistent, making it dependable, at the target and on the score sheet. But thereâs more going on there than meets the eye.

Letâs start with a target presentation you like, a favorite of yours. Maybe itâs a left to right crossing target, medium speed at about 25 yards. This is a target that you rarely miss. Confidence on this bird is very high as you walk into the shooting box. Why? Because you know this shot. From the set up through the break you know every aspect of this shot cold. Swing feel and sight pictures are very familiar to you. Iâm not inferring you can take the target for granted. I am saying you feel very secure, putting a lot of trust in your move on this bird. You know how to break it and it will break. So itâs safe to say you have this shot, any time, anywhere.

Now stand beside me at Hunters Pointe on Sunday at the state shoot, 15 yards to the left and under the 60 foot tower. Both traps are on the top. True pairs, the birds leave from behind us, on our right, overhead and away. The first thing we notice is the line on each bird is somewhat awkward, so putting the gun on the line will be touchy. To compound matters, the targets are fast, meaning time is limited and weâll have to make good use of the time we have. The margin for swing errors is small indeed and swing mistakes, careless or otherwise, wonât be forgiven here. Like so many of Chuckâs well thought out presentations, precision will be at a premium……

***
This Sporting Clays Article was previously published in Sporting Clays Magazine by Dan Schindler in January 2006.

The Paragon School of Sporting is now making available the remainder of this article as well as numerous others, available for download on The Paragon School of Sporting Website.

Sporting clays continues to be an elegant sport born of long tradition, fulfilling our wingshooting passion to experience the wing and shot. Feather and clay, inescapably tied, grants us so many learning opportunities to hone our skills, a path of personal growth that affords us a refreshing, unbiased look at ourselves. Time and again, my students have learned how entirely more capable they are than once thought. The American sporting clays shooter can honestly and proudly say, in a very short period, he has indeed advanced to take his rightful place among the best in the world. And, let’s not forget, no one is having more fun out here than you and I are.

The events, times, places and persons in my articles are all true. While I changed a name here and there, 100% of the information came from my experiences with you. Each tournament, each lesson, each experience with you generated the material for my work. I am grateful.

We hope you enjoyed the first part of the article and will visit us online to browse the numerous collection that is available. Until then, happy Sporting!

http://www.paragonschool.com
Order Magazine Articles Online: http://www.paragonschool.com/catalog

The Paragon School of Sporting, established by Dan Schindler in 1994, is a prominent Sporting Clays Shooting and Wing Shooting school specializing in Sporting Clays instruction, Sporting Clays instructor training, lessons for the Wing Shooter, and Corporate Special Events.

Related Websites

Sporting Clays Tips Published Monthly

Each month, The Paragon School of Sporting provides a new Sporting Clays shooting tip to help you be more consistent in the shooting box and on your scoresheet. Dan Schindler teaches shooters, from all skill levels, a shooting process that creates more consistency and proficiency by eliminating mistakes both before and during the shot.

A complete index of Monthly Sporting Clays Tips and Shotgun Techniques can be found at: http://www.paragonschool.com/shooting-tips.html

For More Information, Please Contact Us At:
The Paragon School of Sporting
P. O. Box 1276
Flat Rock, NC 28731
Tel: (828) 693-6600

About The Paragon School of Sporting:
The Paragon School of Sporting, established by Dan Schindler in 1994, is a prominent Sporting Clays and Wing Shooting school specializing in Sporting Clays instruction, Sporting Clays instructor training, and lessons for the Wing Shooter. If you are a recreational target shooter, a seasoned sporting clays competitor, a wing shooting sportsman, or a new shooter looking to improve your shooting abilities, Paragon can provide customized instruction for you.

Daniel L. Schindler

Guild of Shooting Instructor’s, England NSCA Level III Instructor, US Author of two books, Take Your Best Shot and To The Target – Beyond The Target CD – and more than 75 Sporting Clays and Wing Shooting articles. Gun Fitter Designer of 26 Sporting Clays Courses across the US

Dan Schindler is one of only 35 worldwide members of the British Guild of Shooting Instructors and holds the highest level of certification in the US as a NSCA Level III instructor. Dan 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 coaching for the sporting clays enthusiast.

Dan has spent his entire life studying and participating in the various facets of shotgunning. Aside from his exemplary credentials as an instructor and writer, he received his gun fitting training from Peter and Wendy Crabtree originally from the West London Shooting School. As time permits, Dan competes in local, state and national competitions.

To accommodate the many requests for Dan’s services, we’ve partnered with select courses across the US to offer clinics and private instruction to their membership, and our clients living in their area.

Dan’s clear, concise coaching is easy to understand and implement. Whether you’ve just gotten into the sport, shoot for fun or are an advanced competitor, Dan will take you To the Next Level.

This article is free for republishing

The Paragon School of Sporting, established by Dan Schindler in 1994, is a prominent Sporting Clays Shooting and Wing Shooting school specializing in Sporting Clays instruction, Sporting Clays instructor training, lessons for the Wing Shooter, and Corporate Special Events.

Related Websites

Touch – the Essential Skill : an Excerpt on Sporting Clays

Ah,-the life of a shooting coach. Sleep late, shoot all day, see you tomorrow, do it again. Really? Who thought that up? A busy coach typically has little time to practice. He, or she, is busy taking care of their students. This same teacher understands sporting clays inside and out, respects what makes it challenging and knows what it will take to move you ahead.

Students arrive with a list of factors to be considered, possibly adjusted, and a universe of opinions and questions. It’s all part of the dynamics of sporting clays and the challenging and gratifying learning curve. Good teachers untangle thoughts and simplify the shooting process.

Looking for simplification, Reese decided to come down from Canada and visit with me. Relatively new to sporting clays, if it was out here to be read or looked at, he had. While there’s certainly merit to exploring and studying, understandably Reese was more than a little confused. He was thoroughly confused. Reese could quote from every how-to source out there and tell you who said what and why. And that information, assembled as best he could, he then tried to put into his game. Discouraged with his efforts to comply with a mere 27 swing thoughts, and the endless missing that followed, Reese concluded there had to be a better way.

First, Reese and I sorted out what he could keep and what he could safely discard. I suggested he reduce his swing ‘to-do list’ to 3 easier steps, assuring him that would yield an X. He did. And it did. Reese was especially pleased, surprised that you could break a target consistently with 3 instead of 27 steps.

I believe in matching a reliable shooting method to a specific target presentation. Pull-away is a staple method. It was here that Reese stumbled as he was used to using his many (many) ‘recommended’ methods to establish lead..

***
This Sporting Clays Article was previously published in Sporting Clays Magazine by Dan Schindler in July 2007.

The Paragon School of Sporting is now making available the remainder of this article as well as numerous others, available for download on The Paragon School of Sporting Website.

Sporting clays continues to be an elegant sport born of long tradition, fulfilling our wingshooting passion to experience the wing and shot. Feather and clay, inescapably tied, grants us so many learning opportunities to hone our skills, a path of personal growth that affords us a refreshing, unbiased look at ourselves. Time and again, my students have learned how entirely more capable they are than once thought. The American sporting clays shooter can honestly and proudly say, in a very short period, he has indeed advanced to take his rightful place among the best in the world. And, let’s not forget, no one is having more fun out here than you and I are.

The events, times, places and persons in my articles are all true. While I changed a name here and there, 100% of the information came from my experiences with you. Each tournament, each lesson, each experience with you generated the material for my work. I am grateful.

We hope you enjoyed the first part of the article and will visit us online to browse the numerous collection that is available. Until then, happy Sporting!

The Paragon School of Sporting
Order Magazine Articles Online: http://www.paragonschool.com/catalog

The Paragon School of Sporting, established by Dan Schindler in 1994, is a prominent Sporting Clays Shooting and Wing Shooting school specializing in Sporting Clays instruction, Sporting Clays instructor training, lessons for the Wing Shooter, and Corporate Special Events.

Related Websites

The Unwanted Choke : Sporting Clays Article by Dan Schindler : the Paragon School of Sporting

Sometimes it starts while you are waiting on station to begin your round. Possibly stepping into the box on the first or last field initiates it. For others, it may be constant during a tournament from start to finish.

Attending a Zone shoot one weekend, a State shoot the next—re-packing—then attending another distant tournament, I see many familiar faces. There’s something else that is very familiar at competitions, regardless of sport, location or skill level.

Body language, facial expressions and general commentary all reflect the fact that today is the day. Everyone has their game face on. This is serious. Every target counts and scores will be posted on the master score board later. For many of us, the atmosphere around us turns electric the split second our tires roll onto the tournament grounds. We are glad to be here or we wouldn’t have come. But the hard realization that our skills, patience and a host of emotions will soon be tested, often produces a well spring of palpable uneasiness.

There are multiple causes of this phenomenon, and the degree of affect it has on the individual varies from person to person. I thought we could look at some of the causes and maybe a few suggestions to manage these emotions more effectively.

First, I think it’s important we recognize that tournament conditions can have this affect on us. If we acknowledge it to ourselves, openly, this in itself begins to dismantle the tension we are building inside us. You are not alone with these feelings and thoughts. More importantly, the affects of tournament pressure do not have to be disabling.

“I’m glad no one else can hear my heart pounding when I step into the box.” Trust me, there are legions of people in sports who share the same experience. But, an increase in heart rate when you step into the tournament box is normal, not abnormal. Once you begin to believe this is normal, you’ve drastically reduced the disturbing affect it can have on you. Some competitors actually use these feelings to motivate themselves. They’re wisely turning a negative reaction into a positive one, using it to their advantage. Provided the mind isn’t going like a casino, the increase in adrenaline flow can be a real performance advantage…….

***
This Sporting Clays Article was previously published in Sporting Clays Magazine by Dan Schindler in July 2002.

The Paragon School of Sporting is now making available the remainder of this article as well as numerous others, available for download on The Paragon School of Sporting Website.

Sporting clays continues to be an elegant sport born of long tradition, fulfilling our wingshooting passion to experience the wing and shot. Feather and clay, inescapably tied, grants us so many learning opportunities to hone our skills, a path of personal growth that affords us a refreshing, unbiased look at ourselves. Time and again, my students have learned how entirely more capable they are than once thought. The American sporting clays shooter can honestly and proudly say, in a very short period, he has indeed advanced to take his rightful place among the best in the world. And, let’s not forget, no one is having more fun out here than you and I are.

The events, times, places and persons in my articles are all true. While I changed a name here and there, 100% of the information came from my experiences with you. Each tournament, each lesson, each experience with you generated the material for my work. I am grateful.

We hope you enjoyed the first part of the article and will visit us online to browse the numerous collection that is available. Until then, happy Sporting!

For More Information, Please Contact Us At:
The Paragon School of Sporting
P. O. Box 1276
Flat Rock, NC 28731
Tel: (828) 693-6600
Order Magazine Articles Online: http://www.paragonschool.com/catalog

The Paragon School of Sporting, established by Dan Schindler in 1994, is a prominent Sporting Clays Shooting and Wing Shooting school specializing in Sporting Clays instruction, Sporting Clays instructor training, lessons for the Wing Shooter, and Corporate Special Events.

Related Websites

Unleashing the Power Swing : a Sporting Clays Excerpt

Sports. It conjures up images of tremendous endurance, Â speed, muscle and talent. Baseball, football and tennis players hit hard. With intensity and aggressiveness, the tempo here is fast. Move! Hit! Want to win? Get tough. Survival of the fittest. Sports generate very powerful emotions for both competitor and spectator alike. Itâs all about more. More speed, more torque. Bigger and faster is better. We have Indy blood. We live for Armstrong pulling away from the packâTiger at one stroke back with two holes to play in the championship. Vicarious sports fans are addicted to the lip-curled, anytime, anywhere-you-want attitude. You want to see fanatical? Sit next to me during the Olympics when the Americans are competing.

We love this stuff. And why shouldnât we?

Then it should come as no surprise that we naturally bring this same wide-open, go-for-it passion into our sporting game. If smashing a hypersonic teal and the 50-yard battue off the tower on report doesnât make your heart pitter-patter a little faster, what are you doing here?

Though power and speed are quickly associated with sports, agility is in every way just as important. Take away precision and timing, performance suffers. Significantly. Without precision, speed and power are practically useless.

The power, or force in sporting lies in the shell, not the hands and arms. It is here where some of us misdirect our energies. Sporting is not a game of muscular dominance but rather stroke and timing. Misdirecting our physical energy in sporting usually reveals itself in our swing. It is here where trying to break the target sometimes leads us away from doing what good shooting requires. Because we learned long ago that power and speed are important to sports some of us like to swing the gun fast. Unfortunately, sometimes the target breaks. I say unfortunately because we soon begin to believe this: if gun speed breaks targets, more gun speed will break more targets.

This belief continues until gun speed is out of control, scores go down, consistency is lost and our shooter plateaus. Too often, this is not a temporary plateau. Smoked targets stingily feed this shooter encouragement and the cycle continues, as does the plateau.

We definitely want the target to break. The energy focused toward the target is high voltage. Â For this reason, often an element of force is applied to the swing instead of pace and direction. Too much aggression in the swing leads to blazing barrelsâa misguided muzzleâa determined shot sent to the wrong address. Iâll be the very last one to inhibit a desire or determination for breaking birds. But shot placement breaks the target, not testosterone…….

***
This Sporting Clays Article was previously published in Sporting Clays Magazine by Dan Schindler in September 2005.

The Paragon School of Sporting is now making available the remainder of this article as well as numerous others, available for download on The Paragon School of Sporting Website:(http://www.paragonschool.com/catalog)

Sporting clays continues to be an elegant sport born of long tradition, fulfilling our wingshooting passion to experience the wing and shot. Feather and clay, inescapably tied, grants us so many learning opportunities to hone our skills, a path of personal growth that affords us a refreshing, unbiased look at ourselves. Time and again, my students have learned how entirely more capable they are than once thought. The American sporting clays shooter can honestly and proudly say, in a very short period, he has indeed advanced to take his rightful place among the best in the world. And, let’s not forget, no one is having more fun out here than you and I are.

The events, times, places and persons in my articles are all true. While I changed a name here and there, 100% of the information came from my experiences with you. Each tournament, each lesson, each experience with you generated the material for my work. I am grateful.

We hope you enjoyed the first part of the article and will visit us online to browse the numerous collection that is available. Until then, happy Sporting!

The Paragon School of Sporting
Order Magazine Articles Online: http://www.paragonschool.com/catalog

The Paragon School of Sporting, established by Dan Schindler in 1994, is a prominent Sporting Clays Shooting and Wing Shooting school specializing in Sporting Clays instruction, Sporting Clays instructor training, lessons for the Wing Shooter, and Corporate Special Events.

Posts Tagged ‘Clays’

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly : a Sporting Clays Article

Related Websites

Honest Truths and Some Pretty Good Opinions : Sporting Clays Tips

Related Websites

Miss Understood : Sporting Clays Article From the Paragon School of Sporting

Related Websites

Sporting Clays Tips Published Monthly

Related Websites

Touch – the Essential Skill : an Excerpt on Sporting Clays

Related Websites

The Unwanted Choke : Sporting Clays Article by Dan Schindler : the Paragon School of Sporting

Related Websites

Unleashing the Power Swing : a Sporting Clays Excerpt

Related Websites

Categories

Further Reading

will my exhusbands tax money go on my eppicard for my back child support who can i call to find this out?

Does anyone know what an EPPIcard is?

Philips sells NXP stake to underfunded UK pension

Doesn’t make sense, why is Richard Shaefer involved?

News Flash | Padres scratch Latos but end skid at 10 (AP) | Sports …

What were some of the most memorable news events of 1996?

2010 NY Jets; What Is New

Delta makes historic flight to Roberts International Airport. Sirleaf cuts ribbon

Angle latest target in 2010 lawsuitpalooza

Are you a poker chip hoarder?

Recent Comments

Blog Catalog

Blogroll