good stuff you guy!...keep it going.
Ill post my riflery analogy but be warned....its wordy and a more of a mental exercise to push my abilities with analogies....but I'm glad I did it!.....anything else seems "easy" by comparison!
riflery/skiing analogy
I have found a commonality between the skills criteria and coaching cues in both skiing and target sports. This is pretty far out there, but I have been able to work sound principles of biomechanics, the CAP model, the Teaching Model, the Skills Concept, the Fundamentals, and much of what we do as instructors into both disciplines. This mental exercise in teaching for transfer is based on experience, observation and a wee bit of learned material. We humans have a way about us when we learn and eventually master the skills we decide to pursue.
I am a target sports director in the Summer to kids ages 8-18 and have developed a successful teaching system that helps them help themselves. Throughout an introduction and several cycles of guided review, I refer them to a skills based chart featuring techniques combined with coaching cue reminders. I developed this visual aid through my years coaching and it reflects what I have learned helping them overcome struggles, refine their technique and mental approach and begin to realize the satisfaction of consistently shooting successful targets. I really enjoy the epiphanies and breakthroughs as well as all those questions. I have had the unique experience of watching the same group of campers develop from year to year. Some of them, for more than a decade. I have seen the concept of the CAP model's "ages and stages" in action....and my ladder style chart works great, even with the youngest age groups.
"The Shot Sequence" is what I call the chart and it features skill based "ladder rungs". These rungs add a focus that builds on the one before it until a shot can be fired efficiently. What makes the ladder versatile is the fact that when an errant shot is fired, a quick check of the chart shows that one of the steps on the way up the ladder has been missed or rushed. With a little guided help, the shooter can figure out for themselves where they went wrong or got distracted, ect. We can "read" the errant shots on a completed target in much the same way we access skiing performance after a few turns or a few runs. This is what allows my shooters to internalize their own solutions for subsequent targets. It's no wonder why we focus so strongly on the fundamentals in lessons, clinics and exams. If something is not working in our skiing, we can check back with our "baseline" to see where strengths and struggles are occurring.
Firing a shot with a .22 target rifle takes focus, concentration, patience, solid procedure, and a fair amount of Zen. Its a sport where part of the discipline is finding a "zone" through calm focus. A very experienced recreational shooter can hit a spot the size of a dime at 50 ft....5 times on each target, for several targets, with open target sights. (no scopes)
Our benchmarks in ski instruction, based on those fundamentals, are represented in our wedge, wedge christie open parallel and dynamic parallel turns.....and now recently, in our high performance turns on the latest generations of shaped skis. The epitome and culmination of these skills is to organically apply them to as many conditions and pitches as we feel comfortable attempting to experience.
I find being in the zone when skiing and the zen of riflery similar....We know good skiing when we feel and see it. When you're in the zone and the turns are just flowing from one into another, there is nothing like it....its almost purely experiential. Firing a bullseye with a target rifle gives me the same satisfaction as a great turn. With the shot, all the preparation is done by the time trigger squeeze is taking place. The "Zen" is staying in the zone not only when the shot fires, but after it does, usually resulting in a great shot! With skiing, if you have a nice early turn initiation and a little discipline, the body of the turn (the trigger squeeze phase) is a piece of cake.
So here is the shot sequence: Call them Fundamentals for Target Sports in Riflery .
get into position:
This is akin to our good athletic neutral stance. Getting into a good position takes into account CoM/BoS and directs pressure along the length of our "support devices"....In riflery there are 3 accepted positions for competition, prone, kneeling and standing. Each has its own unique base of support. In Prone there are roughly 8 points of contact with the ground, in kneeling there are 3, standing, 2. In skiing, we deal with dynamic forces of gravity, pressure and momentum, while in riflery we are dealing with static forces of gravity, pressure and momentum (the complete lack of momentum) . There is also an upper/lower body component to target sports most notably in kneeling and standing. The lower body faces anywhere from 30-90 degrees away from the target, depending on position. This alignment is critical so that the upper/lower body and the resulting alignment of the rifle on the target is spot on. This translates into consistent shots. Coming to terms with finding the sweet spot in our shooting is like learning how to add counter or adjust our base of support naturally in skiing....when and how much takes time and practice.
sight alignment/sight picture:
If the rifle is off to the right or left because a new shooter is only looking through the front or rear sight, the shot will likely not hit the target even though they have a "good sight picture". We must be aligned with the rifle looking through both sights simultaneously. This happens when your dominant eye is aligned with the rifle barrel by being centered in both sights. This is a very basic concept but noteworthy because it can be overlooked. Having custom footbeds for proper alignment or custom boot work so that we can sense what our equipment is doing is also one of those things that is taken for granted sometimes. If an adjustment is off in our boot work, we may have difficulty making appropriate adjustments in our stance or application of skills resulting in too much flexion, not enough or sloppy alignment. I keyed into this with regard to riflery a few seasons ago. It seemed so basic, but if the dominant eye is not centered in the rear sight, deliberately, then focusing on the front sight is premature. it leads to inconsistencies in the shot group that can be elusive to detect!......perhaps boots that need adjustment or liners that have worn out is equally hard to diagnose except for a few very trained eyes!
refine position (NPA):
This is like skiing skeletally. What we are looking for in riflery is called our Natural Point of Aim or NPA. It is the most natural position we can shoot from. It uses our body for support through functional alignment of body segments. This takes patience as it can be elusive, but once found, will enhance performance tremendously. In skiing, this is like refining all of our skills for a nice blend through good stance/skeletal alignment. The goal for both disciplines is natural, muscularly efficient functional stability. Interestingly enough, we do this while very much IN motion while skiing, and very much MOTIONLESS while shooting.
I have been able to use very similar coaching cues when talking about "functional tension in the core" or "upper/lower body separation", or "neutral balanced stance". I have even been known to say "shoot skeletally"
Breathing:
We have to control our breathing in both disciplines. In riflery, the procedure is to continue breathing until you are ready to begin squeezing the trigger....then hold your breath for up to 7-8 seconds until after the shot breaks, or if it has not, release pressure on the trigger and start the process again; squeezing the trigger only after you have relaxed your breathing. In skiing, the goal is to remember to keep breathing, especially when it's steep or challenging. Both situations bring to attention a procedure for success. The DIRT is a little different!
trigger squeeze:
In riflery, all that has come before it sets up the final two stages of firing a single shot. Trigger squeeze is a progressive movement of the trigger finger where the middle of the first pad of that finger makes contact on the lower third of the trigger for optimal leverage and ease of pull. We are managing pressure on that trigger. squeeze too hard or too fast and the shot pulls left or right, missing your intended shot group. Set your edges too hard at the end of the turn and its difficult to ease into the next one. The finger on the trigger must continue to move through the shot and beyond, just as we must continue to flex and extend throughout our turns managing pressure from certain spots under our feet (CoP). In skiing, we can focus on fine ankle and foot movements, or appropriate amounts of lead change to refine our technique, just like finding the sweet spots with the finger on the trigger, palm on the pistol grip or cheek placement on the rifle stock.
follow through:
"NO PEEKING!" Ill say if I see my shooters peek over the sights after the shot fires. Curiosity gets the better of them and they want to see how they did. My solution is to have shooters continue to look through their sights after the shot fires, not over them. If you peek, you move the rifle, and that affects the shot!...(believe it or not, the bullet is still coming out of the end of the barrel as they begin peeking!. Since they move the rifle barrel down to peek over the sights, guess where the shot hits the paper?)
A long time ago, we used to end our turns with a check and an up unweighting to get the skis to come around for the next turn. Tactically, I can dial this into my skiing when needed, and its also kinda fun! It takes an open mind and a little courage to extend in older as well as newer ways and take full advantage of our boot and ski designs. And of course, it takes practice. "NO PEEKING" between turns...."keep guiding the skis with the legs while moving your upper body foragonally into the new turn"........."look through your sights and maintain a good sight picture!"
Just like comparing and contrasting side stepping and 1,000 steps, or the two ends of the spectrum between a purely flat skidded ski and a carving one, I have chosen to look at an activity where one of the main goals is to become almost completely motionless, compared to an activity where constant motion is key. We talk about the same muscle groups and their functional activity, alignment of body segments, duration, intensity and timing of skill application.
Lateral learning can definitely help coaches and students in almost any activity or sport learn by guidance and sharing as opposed to simple direction. It also helps our guests to internalize key concepts, and begin to take ownership of their own endeavors. Skills that our guests can take with them and remember to use when we are not around can help them practice on their own and our style of facilitating a sport we are passionate about, will hopefully keep them coming back for more.
I think this exercise attempts to point out that instruction in all sports has many commonalities between the disciplines and, once you get going, its easy to find many similarities that can be transferred through our guidance in skiing. Look to the greatest examples of any sport and Ill bet you can find some answers as to what makes them great by thinking about what they are doing to make it happen......The deeper you look, the more questions you have as you simultaneously get more answers! I've taken a hard look at comparing skiing and Riflery of all things. challenge yourself to analyze a transferable sport that you love and see how deep into it you can get.....the analogies you come up with may surprise you.
JP