looking for a coach in US

[sagara wimaladharma]

Hi,

I am looking for a coach who is in the capasity of prepairing a shooter for Olympic in Pistol deciplines from USA, Switzerland or from Australia.

This will be a great support for a shooter who doesn't have facilities but commited & dedicated to be in Olympis.

Your comments are highly appriciated.

Rgds
Sagara

[Steve Swartz]

Sagara:

It appears as though you live in Sri Lanka. You are asking for a coach in USA, Australia, or Switzerland.

I'm not sure I understand your concept/vision:

- are you planning on moving to one of those three countries (why not move to Russia or fUSSR countries with strong shooting programs?)?
- or seeking "Virtual Coaching" (in which case location is not important)?

[sagara wimaladharma]

Hi,
Yes I am planing to move to one of those countries.
My main problem is no matches & no good coaching.
I actually listen to Target talk when I have a problem, I post it.
I read books and articles in the internet.
I started shooting seriously from last january.
earlier I didn't have a chance to shoot. but now Ok.

I choose USA because

1. their performance are good.
2. facilities good.
3. English speaking is easy for me.
4. Later on I need to learn the subject.. & do a service.

Australia is also same as above although the performance are little less.

Switzerland because
1. They speak almost all the languages
2, most importaintly I will be able to takepart for many good competitions
in europe.

Italy is the other option.

I can get supports from knowen people who are living in those countries.
the other thing is I have been to those countries before ecept USA.

I know rusia is having a very tough game.
their way of improving athleats are very strange.
but it is a very starnge country for me. I don't have any one knowen living there. langauge is the other problem. but i like their style.

I have a pictuer of Russian great shooter Alexander & his world record 60 shots target in Free pistol in 1981 sticked to a wall in my room.

I have personally spoken to some of the strong caraters in the tarrget talk about this earlier.

Thanks..
Rgds
sagara

[Richard H]

To be honest the USA is not a powerhouse in international pistol shooting or the availability of top level coaching (unless you plan on joining the US Army and getting in the AMU which isn't going to happen). You'd be far better off in Germany, Switzerland or some of the former eastern block countries. There are even good coaches available in Asia. I know of one top shooter who trains in Mongolia.

The level of competition and number of international type facilities is also greater in Europe than the US.

[Steve Swartz]

I certainly agree with Europe over the USA.

China is out for obvious reasons. Russia is probably a bad choice for similar reasons.

However

Many of the best coaches and athletes either migrated to or already lived in the client states of the fUSSR.

Try Eastern Europe/Romania/etc.

Do you have some kind of fixed income or will you have to go through the whole applyting for worker visa etc. drill?

That will also make a huge difference.

Also understand a significant amount of xenophobia exists in Europe (including the fUSSR states).

Definitely speak directly with countrymen of yours living in whatever country you are considering- no, really- before moving there. Things like nation of origin, visa status, etc. can have a huge impact in Europe.

There are stories of otherwise great coaches who have certain "preferences" with respect to who they will work with.

[sagara wimaladharma]

Dear Friends,
Thank you very much for all the great comments.
Rgds
Sagara

[voxano]

Hi, Sagara. Here is my two cents... I think the Olympic Charter pretty much requires that any competitor in The Olympic Games must be a national of the country he is competing for. Of course, one can be a citizen of more than one country, but are you? I assume you are a citizen of Sri Lanka, so are you thinking/talking about compteting for Sri Lanka? If so, it may be easier to move to Colombo than to go abroad. Don't they have some kind of a program and facilities in Colombo? Have you tried that? Is it not good enough?... If you don't think there are any good couches/facilities in your home country at all, then are you thinking about finding a coach abroad and then still competening for Sri Lanka? Or are you thinking about becoming a part of another national team? The road to a citizenship [other than the one you are born to] may not be an easy process unless you are already at the top world class level in what you do for the living... Besides, it's much easier to get to the Olympics from a country where the internal competition is weak, rather than trying to make it into, say, German or Russian olympic team...

[Guest9999]

> China is out for obvious reasons.
> Russia is probably a bad choice for similar reasons.

!?!?! meaning?

I am an EU citizen living in the US. I've started to compete there (P10, FP, and C10) when I was a kid and practiced and competed there for years, now I am trying to start again in the US, just for fun.

I think voxano advice is very sound. You have a much better chance staying in Sri Lanka. Target shooting is a very introspective sport and I believe you need a coach at the very beginning and probably when you are at the very top. If you get there and get noticed, moving to another nation may be easier. On the other hand, TS is not a sport where there is plenty of money available, so nations don't have a big incentive to get you in just because you are good.

The US are not the best choice, shooting here is mostly self defense (from what, it's still a mistery to me :-) ) and the facilities (while plenty) are not adequate. I get laughs at the local range when I show up with my airgun, the spotting scope and my little targets. The good thing about TS is that, depending on the discipline, you can practice from home.

I would stay there and use some sort of virtual coaching. You can tape yourself and ask for advice in forums like this one...

[Richard H]

What's "P10" and "C10"?

[Guest9999]

Compressed air pistol, 10 meter
Compressed air rifle 10 meter

[Richard H]

The usual North American convention is AP=Air pistol, and AR=air rifle.

[Guest9999]

Thanks Richard :)

A little explanation of my acronyms: the C stands for carbine, P for pistol. The "air" was omitted because of the 10 (meter).

[sagara wimaladharma]

Thanks Voxano,
I am planing to play for my country.
I am also planing to come with two others.
one is an Olympian while the other played for Common wealth games.

the main two reason why we plan to move out is due to poor coaching here. the othe importaint factor is we have no enough competitions.
we have only two competitions for a year but due to many resons, we are not sure about those two competitions as well.

rgds
sagara

[GOVTMODEL]

Hi,

I am looking for a coach who is in the capasity of prepairing a shooter for Olympic in Pistol deciplines from USA, Switzerland or from Australia.

This will be a great support for a shooter who doesn't have facilities but commited & dedicated to be in Olympis.

Your comments are highly appriciated.

Rgds
Sagara

Will Hart, the Pistol Coach at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is great, but you need to be a student at MIT to have access (I think).