TargetTalk

I need help!
I am currently a coach and have been for 5 years now. Our club is not real big, but we have turned out some fairly good shooters in 3P sporter and precision air rifle.
We have been to Comps at the OTC in Co, we have brought medals home from both NRA Nationals as well as from Jr Olympics.
We also have an adult pistol shooter that was at the Pan American Games and finished very well.
Now for me....

I can only invest so much time to our club and to my shooters. My work takes a lot of time, so free time is very limited.
I would like to learn more coaching techniques and how to fine tune my shooters in order to get them to WORLD Class, but again, my time is limited.
At this point in my life reading or talking to other coaches will have to suffice. Going on and becomming certified is out of the question. Again, time restraints.
I am sure there are many more coaches out there with this same issue.
I have several books "Ways of the rifle" I just picked up the new companion book to WOTF (forgot what it is called) and a few more. We have some videos that were made in Grmany and translated to English on 3P (informative and very entertaining at times).
What I am looking for is more information that is specific to air rifle and air pistol shooting.
Sports psychology and physiology, Sports nutrition, Rifle set up (iris to site length and more), etc. I am not looking for doping testing or info on banned substances at this time. I can download that when I need it. (besides, my kids better not even think about it, or else).

Does anyone know where this information can be aquired? Other than going to Colorado or the NRA for class?

Any help would be appreciated.

Peter Dorn
Head Rifle Coach
Arlington International Air Gun Club Junior Div.
Direct email gvmnt45@sbcglobal.net.

I'm still learning as a coach, and would like to bring my shooters up to national and world class as well. To give credit where credit is due:

1) Probably the best help for my shooters has been the Bob Foth Pairs clinic. Getting a world class shooter helping my kids has been fantastic as he not only goes over the "mechanics", but mental, nutritional, and behavioural aspects of the game. His clinics are not one-zie two-zie affairs, but in order to be effective, you really need thirty to forty shooters in the clinic for the shoulder to shoulder atmosphere of the competitive stages and the "famous" guts match. Everyone should email Bob and see when he can get to your area .... again, to get the impact you need a lot of shooters at his clinic.

2) There are the CMP Junior camps that get the kids in front of our national and world class shooters .... yeah it's $ to get there and attend, but remember, this is still an inexpensive sport compared with say motocross, bmx, even swimming......

3) See if there are local shooters of national/world class willing to come in and do a clinic .... don't think college coaches ... as the NCAA rules may hamper them there, but they may be married to a shooter / coach that will/can help.

I guess in short, I'm looking to learn too, and getting some of these folks in that know a LOT more than I do educates both my shooters as well as myself. As an example .... I've attended three of Bob's clinics and learned something worth the time and cost every single time.

Oh ... another thing that has been done in NM .... get one of the Level 1 coach schools setup for your area, over a weekend. Get coaches in to the class of course, but get the kids to attend and if they are over 15 they can become a certified youth trainer. What they teach in these schools is VERY helpful for shooters .... no firing, but the basics of postion, nutrition, mental, etc. We had one last year where we had maybe 15 coaches and 45 shooters attend. Get with Marcus Raab at NRA for info.

can be difficult. It seems to be the same everywhere. I experience the same problems here in The Netherlands (organizing trainingsessions, gun maintenence, writing lessons, training instructors etc.) but having not enough time to do it all and to follow the Dutch trainer course at the same time.
The latest book by Reinkemeier - "Air rifle shooting" is also a great help.
Perhaps I can be of assistance in answering any questions.

Albert B
(The Netherlands)

Don't take this the wrong way but you aren't going to get your shooters to world class level by reading books on how to coach them. You need the coaching courses and the practical technical knowledge to know what works and how best to get that across to your shooters. And then the knowledge as to how to fault find and overcome those problems.

I also really don't believe the comment that you don't have the time to do the coaching courses. I gave up one weekend to do one of our lower level courses and in a few months time, I'm doing a more advanced course over 2 weekends. If you want to give it your best shot then you'll make the time.

Rob.

OK....

I received a few off line messages as well as those that are seen here on this forum.

1st let me say thanks to those that have offered some help and direction.

We do have access to "World Class" shooters in our club. We have had the following come and help a bit:

Michael Douglass -- Team USA Pistol
Nikolay Rakov -- Ran the Russian Shooting Training Center
Matt Suggs -- Shot World Cup, Pan American Games and more
Michele Makucevich -- Same as above
Zeni Thakkar -- Team India Rifle
Vladamira Boraskova -- Just shot Pistol at The pan American Games
(she is in our Adult club)
Last year we picked up a new member of the adult club who happens to be the Ex Pistol coach for the Korean Olympic Team.

So you see, we are not doing this alone.

For me... I work 60 to 70 hours a week. So getting time to do additional things is difficult at best. getting away for a weekend is impossible. But I love the kids and want to do the best I can for them with the time I have available.

I am looking for written material to put together a library for myself and the other coaches. Again this is about things that are not apparent... Sports nutrition, Physiology, and Psychology as related to the shooting sports.

The book I could not remember the title of that I just purchased is "Air Rifle Shooting" It is the companion book to "Ways of the Rifle". I find it very interesting and has some great insight, especially when it comes to the "Juniors" section.

Again. Thanks for your help and I look forward to seeing the information being currently sent to me.

Peter Dorn
Head Rifle Coach
Arlington International Airgun Club Junior Division
Direct Email Gvmnt45@sbcglobal.net