RE: Help Coaching
jssbastiat,
First off, what part of Alaska are you located? I know someone up there who is a former collegiate rifle coach and I might be able to convince him to stop by.
I used to run a junior program myself as well as helped coach at the collegiate level. I've had a number of kids qualify for the Junior Olympics at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, many who are currently on collegiate rosters, and many who are receiving scholarships.
Since you have a new program, I'm guessing nearly all if not all of your kids would be considered beginners. I'll also address some previous posts in this thread, many of which I respectfully disagree with.
Visualization will be a great tool for the kids in the future, but at the moment, their concept of a good shot is not exactly a model to repeat. You can fix that by pairing a kids together with a spotting scope. For the first target of a practice, the spotter tells the shooter the score and direction (12 high, 6 low, 3 right, etc.) of each shot fired. Then have them switch. For the second target for each shooter, have the shooter call his/her shot after each shot. This will create a link between what they see in the sights and how the shot turns out.
DO NOT ENCOURAGE STRENGTH BUILDING AT ALL!!! I cannot stress this enough for beginners. Beginners need to be focusing on the fundamentals of breath control, trigger control, sight picture, follow through, and a good position built on BONE SUPPORT. It sounds counter intuitive, but the way you improve your positions is be learning to relax and balance. Rifle matches are too long for muscles to be used to hold the rifle up. They tire quickly. Bones never tire.
A talk at the beginning of each practice about the fundamentals is a good idea, as well as the notebook with targets. Also in the notebook, put each kid's settings for the rifle. This means they use the same position each time they shoot. For sporter air rifle, this will probably only be the sling length and where on the forestock the support hand is.
Changing positions up every practice is precisely the wrong direction to go. You need to stress, with the use of the shooting diary, learning to do the exact same thing each and every practice. After all, isn't the whole idea of the sport doing the exact same thing 20 shots in a row. Before a shooter can figure out if something works, they have to be able to repeat it consistantly. For advanced shooters, I have them try a new hand position or setting for a month to see how it does. For beginners, try two practices in a row. You have to make sure the novelty of the newness isn't the source of the immediate improvement. Also, kids tend to concentrate more when you change something, meaning they actually do what they're supposed to when you change something rather than concentrating all the time. Once the newness wears off, then you'll see the true impact of the change.
In practice, focus on shooting groups (3, 5 or 10 shots in one bull). The idea is to get the kids to put 5 shots in top of each other. Don't worry if the sights are off, they can be moved. Have a competition with the last bull of practice: who can put two shots the closest together.
Good luck with your program.
