High School Rifle Team

[CINDERS]

Reflecting back on your early days of shooting I can remember buying a Beretta 56E U/O Skeet gun as my SKB semi auto was no good for skeet with a full choke any way I thought the open chokes and shorter barrels would have me smacking them out of the sky not so I was in the low 16's most of the time and got very frustrated & down hearted as a 16 y/o.
Till a gunshop friend spoke to me about relaxing and to move on from the missed shot as that was always in the back of my head will I miss the next bird and whilst possibles were few and far between I at least averaged in the 20's +- afterwards.

The break of the shot should be a total surprise to the shooter when the picture looks perfect and all is in unison with your breathing, positioning and mental resilience, look I lose shots from sheer lack of well just not concentrating hard enough I do not shoot for sheep stations but pleasure and thats the way to relax is enjoy the pleasure, although I still win shoots from time to time when I grind down to it.
Once the screws start winding in and clamping down on you all your breathing, heart rate that little niggle from being uncomfortable gets you going and magnifies making a small bump look like as vertical wall its very easy to say move on from a poor shot but these are young shooters and we have all been there..........
Hey maybe Macca's for fries and a Burger for being unbeaten a team building relaxing afternoon on a w/end?

[Aragorn243]

It's been a standing policy for years that if they shoot a 500 in a match and win, I pay for dinner that evening. Last night, one of my girls in the third relay asked before she shot that if they shoot a 500 at home, do they still get the meal. I assured her yes, not having the heart to tell her it wasn't going to happen that evening. But she did her part and she was the sole 100 of the night. We only stop for food at away matches on the way home. I had a feeling I'd be buying several times this season but now not so sure. Air rifles are very tough and only one 500 has been shot in the league in the last 15 years. 499's and 498's happen fairly often, we had two 498's last year. But the crew I have this year should be able to do it without question.

[HOOKED ON HISTORY]

Getting that kind of dedication & focus out of a group of teenagers is amazing. Hats off to them and their coach. I would wager they have more success & fulfillment in their adult lives than the average participant in any other sport.

[mmppres]

Keep up the good work, Have fun an enjoy all the matchs

[Aragorn243]

We are back into competition after our holiday break. Our first match last week was rescheduled due to bad weather and then rescheduled again for bad weather so our 5th match became our 4th last night. We won that 497 to 487 and this was the first match that I felt they shot well. Should have been a 499 but I made two minor mistakes as a coach I told them I was not likely to repeat. I watched two very experienced shooters shoot slightly left two shots in a row and made the decision I would let them feel this out and both shot out left on the third shot after making no sight corrections. So each shot a 99 instead of a 100. Tonight we finally shot our 4th match 5th. This is the team that won the championship last year and has been shooting very well. They shot a 496 last night on a really crappy range. My kids came out relaxed, I didn't hesitate to correct a few of them and they won 498 to 493. This was with one of our top shooters shooting a very uncharacteristic 97, had one of my other top shooters shoot a 97 last night. Hoping the third does not do that tomorrow night. These three usually lay down and shoot 100's every night in practice and most of the time in matches. Their lowest scores in a match prior to last evening were 99's. But other's in the team stepped up to make up the slack. One of my top five with a 99 tonight did not even make yesterday's match. I have a very strong team. They just need to get more confident in their abilities and more consistent.

We remain the only undefeated team in the league. The team we face tomorrow is now in 2nd at 4-1. This team has surprised everyone this year as they are usually near the bottom of the league. Their scores are not consistent, nor as high on average as ours but we can't consider them a pushover. They defeated some good teams this year. We do not want to be the next.

[CINDERS]

I always ask when coaching my wife if there is a reason the shot placement ended up where it did if she said it was a good release & sight picture then it must be a condition of the range so I will adjust it I have watched her being coached by some shooters and they refuse to move her and she has lost shots due to it sometimes 2 in a row. It ****ed me off as those coaches should have known better she is a very capable shot with top notch gear.
You know your team A but remember this to stay at the top you got to realize every one is gunning for ya and some teams can lift to an extraordinary level and if they hit a purple patch with the rounds just finding all the dots to get the .1's (we used it in .22 small bore indoor shooting) it can have an adverse affect on team moral. Also to maintain shooting 100's day in day out can be telling on them every one has off days and whilst your team is winning and on top I say all is well the 500 will come I am sure of it there is no one in the world that will shoot possibles every time they get on the mat for their whole shooting career.
Does not matter how much you beat the oposing team by 1 point is good enough thats all that matters beating them.....good on ya for staying on top a credit to the team and yourself.

[Aragorn243]

Well, we became the next last night in a rather bizarre finish. Two of my top three shooters had off nights and shot 98's and two shot very poorly with a 95 and a 91. I still had a 496 from the top five but we were tied. Tied at top six, tied at top seven, tied at eight and finally, unbelievably, that 91 made a difference and we lost. 878 to 882. Only the second time in the league a match went to nine shooters. We were in the other one as well and won that one. Can't put the blame on the kid that shot the 91 although it never should have happened. The 95 shouln't have happened either. These two shot 99's in the previous night's match. Hard to understand that just one more point anywhere out of the top 8 that didn't shoot 100's would have won it for us.

They weren't cocky, they were just off. One of the 100's came from a kid that has been struggling of late and all three that shot 98's were below their average. Hopefully, they learned something and can move forward. I found out why the other team is doing so well. A coach from one of the other teams that won two championships prior to quitting is helping them 5 days a week. He knows what he's doing and has turned them around rapidly. He's not the head coach, he's still there but he's volunteering and much more involved than their head coach.

We need to find consistency from all 9 shooters in the matches. Just not there yet. I have five up one day and five others up the next.

My kids shot 100, 100, 99, 99, 98, 98, 98, 95, 91. Hard to complain about the first 7.

[CINDERS]

Hard to complain about any of them they gave their all..............on the day

[Ovidio]

My kids shot 100, 100, 99, 99, 98, 98, 98, 95, 91. Hard to complain about the first 7.

[Aragorn243]

We had another screwy week with one match being rescheduled twice due to snow. In any case, the kids rebounded from the loss with a pair of wins shooting 498 in each match. First team shot a 477 so not much of a competition. This is their first year in the league and second year shooting. Second team was closer at 494. We have not had a real practice in two weeks and only had two partial practices in all that time. All the other teams are in the same boat so not a huge deal. I'm very pleased that they kept their scores up at a high level despite the setbacks with practice, etc.

Last nights match was a 100,100, 100, 99, 99, 99, 99, 98, 97