Aging and Score Decline

[B Lafferty]

Seeing two older (late 40's, early 50's) competitors in the team AP event at the recent Gran Prix in Slovenia, does anyone know if someone may have plotted out scores declining as AP competitors age? While there will always be exceptions to any general rule, I'm curious to know if there is, in general, an age beyond which hope ceases to spring eternal. :-)

[Gwhite]

I think Don Nygord made it to the Olympics when he was over 60, but I'm old enough that I may be mis-remembering.

[lyoke3]

Don Nygord was around 52 in the 1988 Olympics.

[PeeWeeDaddy]

Why?
Who cares?
I will be 78 this year and I still shoot air rifle field target and silhouette with the young guys.
(If you haven’t tried those sports, keep your comments to yourself)
Do I have fun?
Yep
Am I competition for the others?
No
Do I care?
No
I have my trophies and now they can get theirs.
Just shoot your guns wherever you do and afterwards, go to Goodwill (or whatever Thrift Store near you) and buy yourself a trophy.
This post reminds of my friend who bought a totally rebuilt Mercury Cobra-Jet.
My partner took the car to all of the car shows and he was disappointed he did not win trophies.
Why did he not win?
The other builders knew he didn’t build it himself.

[B Lafferty]

Why?
Who cares?
I will be 78 this year and I still shoot air rifle field target and silhouette with the young guys.
(If you haven’t tried those sports, keep your comments to yourself)
Do I have fun?
Yep
Am I competition for the others?
No
Do I care?
No
I have my trophies and now they can get theirs.
Just shoot your guns wherever you do and afterwards, go to Goodwill (or whatever Thrift Store near you) and buy yourself a trophy.
This post reminds of my friend who bought a totally rebuilt Mercury Cobra-Jet.
My partner took the car to all of the car shows and he was disappointed he did not win trophies.
Why did he not win?
The other builders knew he didn’t build it himself.

The question posed, which for some reason you conflate with my supposed chagrin at not being competitive with the very best of 10 meter air pistol competitors, is simply that I'm curious about the decline (if there is one, which I suspect there is) in ability as reflected in 60 shot qualification scores as top shooters age. Curiosity. Nothing more. Nothing less.

Personally, I view air pistol as an activity akin to Zen archery. It's fundamentally mediative. I shall now sit quietly awaiting a response from those unable to appreciate the Eastern approach to existence. ;-)

[lyoke3]

If you look up Ragnar Skanåker on Facebook he has posted some of his scores from 2020 and 2021 shooting a 544 and 539 in free pistol as well as a 381/400 in air pistol. This is when he was around 86.

[Gwhite]

And people think shooting is a dangerous sport...

[6string]

If you look up Ragnar Skanåker on Facebook he has posted some of his scores from 2020 and 2021 shooting a 544 and 539 in free pistol as well as a 381/400 in air pistol. This is when he was around 86.

Yes, he immediately came to my mind as well!
I bet doesn't care too much about trying to impress people or prove himself!

Maybe the reason for this perceived decline, if you want to call it that, is a change in attitude as to why you're doing it?
As the years roll by, some shooters maybe come to feel that the difference between a good shot and a bad shot isn't so much the score as it is the shot process? We've all shot a "10" that we know we didn't deserve. We got lucky, or we held too long and shot anyways, or the sights drifted and we snatched the trigger anyways, etc.
I'd rather feel that sweet sensation of a clean break and smooth relaxed follow through. The shot felt good, and I know it'll be what it is.
If the goal is just to win, that doesn't mean that you're being true to sound technique or training. There's all kinds of unhealthy ways to win. I think that folks who shoot that way when they're younger, though, tend to be the ones who suffer a more of a decline as they get older.

PS: to the OP, late 40s/early 50s is not old for shooters!
Go to a Schuetzen match!!

[PirateJohn]

One bronze medalist from Tokyo was 57 at the time.

[Rover]

I love it because it puts a numerical value on your mental and physical decline.

This allows your fellow shooters to laugh and mock you with impunity while you turn to shit.

[B Lafferty]

If you look up Ragnar Skanåker on Facebook he has posted some of his scores from 2020 and 2021 shooting a 544 and 539 in free pistol as well as a 381/400 in air pistol. This is when he was around 86.

Yes, he immediately came to my mind as well!
I bet doesn't care too much about trying to impress people or prove himself!

Maybe the reason for this perceived decline, if you want to call it that, is a change in attitude as to why you're doing it?
As the years roll by, some shooters maybe come to feel that the difference between a good shot and a bad shot isn't so much the score as it is the shot process? We've all shot a "10" that we know we didn't deserve. We got lucky, or we held too long and shot anyways, or the sights drifted and we snatched the trigger anyways, etc.
I'd rather feel that sweet sensation of a clean break and smooth relaxed follow through. The shot felt good, and I know it'll be what it is.
If the goal is just to win, that doesn't mean that you're being true to sound technique or training. There's all kinds of unhealthy ways to win. I think that folks who shoot that way when they're younger, though, tend to be the ones who suffer a more of a decline as they get older.

PS: to the OP, late 40s/early 50s is not old for shooters!
Go to a Schuetzen match!!

I fully agree as to being in one's 50's. I think I was 55 once......

[PeeWeeDaddy]

Toby Keith stole my best line but I still use it:

“I am not as good as I once was but, I am as good ONCE as I ever was!”

[PeeWeeDaddy]

Time marches on fellas..

[B Lafferty]

Time marches on fellas..

tempus Fugit

[m1963]

B Lafferty

I used to do road races, and triathlons....not any more. I do have a quick ride that I take every day, now. It is only 25 miles. I may do the TOSRV, this year. I have committed to a Century ride in June, as well.

[B Lafferty]

B Lafferty

I used to do road races, and triathlons....not any more. I do have a quick ride that I take every day, now. It is only 25 miles. I may do the TOSRV, this year. I have committed to a Century ride in June, as well.

Nice! Back in the late 1990's while living in New Orleans I did several double centuries and some shorter 175 mile rides around Lake Pontchartrain. Some of the food stops were amazing, like Middendorf's for thin fried catfish and slaw. In the early 90's I did a couple of the Coors Duathlons outside of Boston in Waltham. That's where I learned that mind and body are distinct. Getting off the 40K ride the mind would say run and the body usually had something else it wanted to do.

In general, my days of 5 hour rides pretty much ended in 2008. Now I ride the gravel and dirt roads here in Vermont after mud season purely for fun. :-)

[m1963]

The food in the south! Shameless plug for my favorite restaurant in the south, The Blue Dog Bistro! Their Grits & Shrimp is the best! I would drive 12 hours to just eat that!

https://www.bluedogbistro.com/

[B Lafferty]

The food in the south! Shameless plug for my favorite restaurant in the south, The Blue Dog Bistro! Their Grits & Shrimp is the best! I would drive 12 hours to just eat that!

https://www.bluedogbistro.com/

:-)

https://middendorfsrestaurant.com/contact/
For thin fried catfish

https://tunkscypressinn.com/
For fried allegator

https://www.leaslunchroom.com/
For pecan pie

[PeeWeeDaddy]

The food in the south! Shameless plug for my favorite restaurant in the south, The Blue Dog Bistro! Their Grits & Shrimp is the best! I would drive 12 hours to just eat that!

https://www.bluedogbistro.com/

Have to agree with you.
When stationed at Keesler AFB a very long time ago, some of our bi-weekly pay was spent there.

[B Lafferty]

It's good to see that they're still there after Katrina. I used to bicycle from New Orleans to Pass Christian with friends (paying homage, of course, at the place on Highway 90 where Jayne Mansfield died in an auto crash) on days when the prevailing wind was from the Southeast giving us a tailwind all the way home. There were some other good local places for meals not too far from Ocean Springs which took quite a hit from that storm.

Looking at post-Katrina Google Earth photos of the Rigolets, it is amazing how much land mass has been lost there. Some of that was the natural byproduct of oil and gas activity in the wetlands, but Katrina certainly accelerated that process.