TargetTalk

Contrary to what I thought, here are some encouraging stats about shooting sports: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/sp ... hthist.htm

1) While only four nations competed in shooting events in 1896, 83 countries met on the firing lines in Barcelona in 1992 (the highest to date).

2) Shooting traditionally attracts the third largest number of participating nations of any sport at the Olympic Games.

3) The number of female competitors has increased dramatically since 1984, (when men & women's events were separated) and, women’s participation is now growing at twice the rate of men’s.

4) American shooters have won more Olympic gold medals than athletes in all sports but track and field and swimming.

Very interesting thread. I've been "relearning" 3P while semi-coaching my 18 year old son. I also remember the loose canvas coat with leather located in the usual spots, and still have permanent stretch scars on the fronts of both armpit/biceps. I was in great shape back then, and frankly, once he's shooting on a collegiate team, I am having trouble deciding if I want to work back up to a Master's level again. It's a very different game now. Due to health problems, I don't have a lot of stamina, so unless I find a way to stay in prone or can rest between relays, it's going to be difficult for me to compete. Forget offhand at this point.

We bought a Noptel unit for his 1913, and man, if I had that back in my shooting days, I don't know if I would have actually shot any ammo. It's incredibly fun to watch him shoot and see how he's aiming, seeing when he needs to breath better, needs to relax, needs to slow down, needs to fire when he has a good-enough sight picture...etc, etc! We've developed into a two-man team, not unlike a sniper/spotter duo. Unfortunately he's getting used to the comments and tips, and shoots better when I'm talking to him - you'd think that would be more distracting; I would have asked my dad to go chat with the other parents and leave me alone. Instead he's reliably shooting 94-96/100 and literally seeing improvement every day. He's shooting an average of about an hour a day.

Maybe we need to consider how we're teaching our youth to shoot, and while it's a very intrinsic sport, it could be a new tilt on team-play video games. Even his two sisters are interested in what he's doing!