Russ wrote: The whole world over, there is a great deal of resources, including financial resources, that are geared toward preparing athletes for Olympic competition in this sport. Approx. 80 percent of competitors at the these tournaments are sponsored by their countries' respective military CISM PROGRAM organizations (e.g. Russia-CKA (Sports Club of Army), USA-USAMU, Belarus, Ukraine, etc.)
You make a great point here...the best part is the shooter does not have to open up his checkbook to pay to receive the best coaching in the world.
This is what some people dream of...can they learn enough second hand and by shooting a lot to make it onto one of those teams so they can get coached and sponsored and it does not cost them a cent. We live in a world where people are going to try and get as much as they can for free. It is hard to complain when you got it free. Good or bad. In some cases you do not have to be on the "team" to get some coaching from one of the coaches of the above teams. They will try and help because some day you could be a person on the team.
I wish you the best in getting your Academy going.
I think there is room for both as long a there is respect for each other.
In your example you have to remember the level of knowledge of the person reading the material regardless of if it is a Dr or music teacher. People learn in different ways. Some read others watch an example.
I have to say if I had the time to get away from the family and the money I would consider planning a trip to see what you have to offer. I am open to learn from any one. You never know who will teach you something regardless of the amount of experience you have.
I hope that we can agree on the simple point that an online forum community, and professional one-on-one coaching can coexist and one can never truly replace the other. TargetTalk is a great resource for beginners as well as amateur coaches to share their knowledge and experience. It definitely plays and will continue to play an important role in our Target Shooting community. The service I provide, on the other hand, is a professional service, and that personalized, face-to-face coaching also has its rightful place, for those who feel that they need it.
Several people here give credible advice that may be quite helpful to an extent. But honestly, it often seems like you’re trying to get medical advice from a doctor over the phone. A medical professional, to find the root causes of a patient’s symptoms, needs to see the patient in front of him/her to truly diagnose the health issues accurately and to offer the most accurate set of treatments for the patient to reach their goal, which is well-being.
Sure the advice given here is “free” but have you ever considered the hidden costs of acting on advice that is inaccurate, or maybe misinterpreting what the self-proclaimed teacher is trying to tell you? You’re spending more time than you’d need if you had gotten the right knowledge from the very beginning. You may earn yourself muscle aches, back pains, having to waste more money on ammunition, years of stagnation, the opportunity costs of all that time spent, etc. etc.
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Thank You all for taking the time to read this especially lengthy post,
Ruslan Dyatlov
Midwest Academy of Target Shooting
Russ,
I agree with much of what you say, but in amongst the mixing pot of contributers here are a number of qualified and highly experienced coaches. No one would ever suggest coaching face to face isn't far superior to online advice giving. But for many people there is no option but to seek online advice. There aren't many coaches out there, and in amongst the good there are the poor or bad coaches.
The trick in all of this is trying to sort out the wheat from the chaff, and for beginners that can be hard. What they should be able to work out though is which contributors are worth listening to and those that really don't have a clue. I.e. pretty much what you do when you seek advice in a shooting club environment.
