Midwest Academy of Target Shooting

[Quest1]

Has anybody have any comments or reviews of Midwest Academy of Target Shooting. They are suppose to be the school for training International pistol shooters. Their website is the following: http://www.midwestshootingacademy.com/pistols.shtml#3.

[david alaways]

The man (Russ on Targettalk ) who runs it is a great shooter . He has spoken with me over the phone ,helping me with a few questions that I had. If I didnt live in CA. I would pay him for his coaching services. I truly believe he would be a great coach................. David

[Steve Swartz as Guest]

Search in the threads in this forum. A wealth of information is available.

[2650 Plus]

I totally agree with David ! Russ hac been there and done that. A known and respected world class shooter that has trained [Educated } to enable himself to be effective in passing on the accumalated knowledge obtained as he moved up in the Russian system and now working to prepare American shooters for world level competition. We have never met. I never competited against him. but I certainly admire what he is trying to accomplish. Good Shooting Bill Horton

[david alaways]

One more note ! Russ was the first and only really good shooter who spoke with me about shooting at my first major match. (2007 nationals) Russ placed around 6th, Since he filled out his entry form stateing that he was attending college, Russ won best collegeite (cant spell that one) I remember him trying to return the award but they told him he was the winner and he took it home. THEN THE SHI* hit the fan ! Some jerks started calling him a cheater and it got worse. Russ did return the award but to this day SOME PEOPLE still bad mouth him. You give me an airline ticket and a week off work and I will gladly pay for Russ to coach me.... David

[david alaways]

One more note ! Steve Swartz was actually the first really good shooter to talk with me at 2007 nationals. But that was only after my first warning and actually during a match. Thats another already told story ! .. David

[Negrin]

David always, your April recount of your encounter with Steve Swartz was interesting. I had followed this forum for a few years. I had considered Steve's comments to be somewhat pontificating. But I was interested in why he writes so authoritatively. I came to read some of his writing on air traffic safety. His official work convinced me he might know what he is talking about when he comes to his pistol hobby, albeit wordy and sometimes full of hubris.

He might rob you the wrong way, but I think he has a very good heart for the hobby we all enjoy.

[david alaways]

Well said!

[Guest Twenty]

Formal coaching in our sport is hard to come by.

[2650 Plus]

What Negrin said!!! Steve has set forth the best annalisist of the process a shooter should shoud use as his / her approach to improvement of performance of anyone posting on this forum. His writings are worth our closs attention even when we dissagre with some small point he has made. Each of us shoot in the way that is most productive and that seems to be different for every one who takes up this sport. Steves process for improvement is not something I disagree with. I just dont shoot the way he does. Good Shooting Bill Horton

[Isabel1130]

Bill, I notice that Steve Schwartz often posts as a guest which I think make those posts unsearchable by author. Can you point me to the post(s) you are talking about? I would love to read more of what he has to say. Everything he has responded to that I have asked, he was pretty much spot on. Isabel.

[Ed Hall]

Bill, I notice that Steve Schwartz often posts as a guest which I think make those posts unsearchable by author. Can you point me to the post(s) you are talking about? I would love to read more of what he has to say. Everything he has responded to that I have asked, he was pretty much spot on. Isabel.

You might also try the following in a Google search:

"steve swartz" site:targettalk.org

Although it will involve scanning, the primary topics are shown.

Take Care,
Ed Hall
Air Force Shooting Homepage
Bullseye (and International) Competition Things

[Steve Swartz as Guest]

Gosh everybody thanks . . . from my PoV, it has all been about sharing my own learning curve with other shooters; in my defense I would say I am an "ardent" student of the sport.

Along the way I have asked a lot of questions- and gotten a lot of BS from some very accomplished shooters. i began to realize that many world class shooters really didn't understand *how* they were able to do what they did. They just did it.

So why ask "why?"

Why indeed! The top shooter doesn't need to understand how the process works (unless they are of a certain personality type). However, the top shooters' COACH certainly would benefit from knowing what the hell was going on!

It's a matter of both TALENT and TECHNIQUE. If you have enough TALENT, and happen to fall under a Great Coach, the TECHNIQUE will be drilled into yoiu and you don't have to really "get it" as long as you "do it."

However, without a Great Coach your TALENT will only get you so far . . . you will need to figure out what the bloody hell is going on in terms of TECHNIQUE all on your own.

Me- I had no TALENT whatsoever- so i had to focus on TECHNIQUE perhaps a lot more than most folks. By digging into the "theories" of how to shoot a ten (over and over) I got my "edge."

Humbly submitted- having no TALENT, my understanding of TECHNIQUE has taken me pretty far. For a "True Amateur" of course. Maybe if I could shoot full time under a competent coach I cuold do more. But for a part timer with no inherent abilities, I think I did O.K.

Anyhow, some of the best learning I have ever experienced has been the result of QUESTIONING the various folklore about techniques and training.

Content rich stuff is out there- don't google on my name; google on the names of David Levene and Ed Hall.

Two other people who I believe have a great understanding of TECHNIQUE.

Anyhow . . . yep, I admit that I am more than willing to "fire back" on critical issues (if you are asking "how do I improve my hold?" then you don't understand the question let alone the answer).

I sincerely don't want other shooters to go through the same grisly process of learning/unlearning/relearning that I had to go through (as a result of well-intentioned but incompetent "coaching").

Learn from others . . . invent your own unique and creative mistakes!

Steve

[Guest]

OK let me get this straight. The top shooters who win matches over and over, don't know how they do it. But the guy who shot a 518 in a world cup in Milan as an MQS does.

Hmm. Sounds a little out of alignment.

Maybe the top shooters just want you to work as hard as they did, and not cut corners.

Who said: Those that can do. Those that can't teach. Those who can't teach teach gym. Or in this case try to teach shooting.

[2650 Plus]

When every thing is working perfectly shooting a ten is the easiest thing in the world. When things are not working the shooter has to rely on hard work and training. Would most of you agree that the size of the group tells almost every thing about your performance ? For those of you that agree, What influences the size. I contend that the size is determined by the stillness of the shooters hold, sight allignment errors and the oistol/ammo accuracy. Distance to the target compounds all other issues. You disregard stillness of hold at your peril, but that stillness may take years of work [ your entire shooting career ] Distrubing the stillness with the trigger finger does much more damage to the size of your group than does hold. Sight allignment can be trained to the point of near perfection by doing what Ed Hall Regards as the very best way [If I understand him ] Teach your subconcious what you want it to do.and it will help you allign the sights. I stand with what I think Bryan Zins is saying, Always start the trigger finger moving as soom as you are pointing your pistol any where near the proper aiming area and allow the pistol to fire as things are moving toward perfection. The alternative is to destroy perfection with your trigger finger hanging a bullet hole outside your ability to hold. All disagreements are , as usual , welcome. Good Shooting Bill Horton

[coffeyhj]

Russ. is a great shooter and a very patient coach. He helped me score my first 90% and introduced me to shooting 9mm as well. A weekend spend with the Mid Western Academy will be well worth the time and money--fly South West to Detroit and stay in an affordable hotel (Great Western is very clean).

I can not say enough good things about Russ.

[Patrick Haynes]

Who said: Those that can do. Those that can't teach. Those who can't teach teach gym. Or in this case try to teach shooting.

And people wonder why coaches are hard to come by in this sport.

Patrick Haynes
Pistol Coach

[Chris]

OK let me get this straight. The top shooters who win matches over and over, don't know how they do it. But the guy who shot a 518 in a world cup in Milan as an MQS does.

Hmm. Sounds a little out of alignment.

Maybe the top shooters just want you to work as hard as they did, and not cut corners.

Who said: Those that can do. Those that can't teach. Those who can't teach teach gym. Or in this case try to teach shooting.

Someone is jealous or does not like that fact that there is competition when it comes to giving advise in this sport. Who ever they are they have a bad attitude. I guess coaching can only be supplied if you pay some $$.

This is one of those sports were you need to take in as much information and coaching from several sources. Someone who can be considered a great coach could be coaching you and what they are telling you may not compute in you head. That light may only come on when when someone like Bill, David, Ed, Steve and others present it in a way you finally understand. There does not exist one magic way to shoot a 10 over an over.

If we all keep our information in our own head this sport will not survive. We have a hard enough time keeping people interested as it is. If we all do not share what we know we will help our sport die off.

[Russ]

@

[Chris]

Russ,

I am not opposed to what you are doing with you web site or school. From what I have read you have helped some people improve and you have used your background and experience to help them. That is great. After all that is the american dream. You want to get paid to teach others to shoot. Great go forth and teach and get paid.

What I do not agree with is an attempt by someone (that person is pathetic to hide as a guest) to try and discredit another person on this forum who has the ability to pass on knowledge to help others and does not care one bit to make a buck off it. If he did he would write a book or start a business.

Most coaches have never been at the level of the people they coach but for some reason people continue to think the only person who can coach is someone who has been at the top.

I know you have shared with us your accomplishments. I do not remember seeing Olympic Gold Medal in there. By some opinions you would not make a good coach. I do not agree with this point of view but the guest that posted sure seems to think that.

I am of the opinion anyone can coach and they should be judged by the students they teach.