The Hard Part
When people ask what I do and I explain, their eyes light up and they say “Wow,”….. or “Cool,”….. or something to that affect. Understandably, this reaction overlooks the everyday challenges of being a Coach. Standing inside the clubhouse, 2,000 miles from home with my disgruntled students looking out the window as the snow piles up and the wind howls, is nobody’s idea of a good time. Tomorrow’s forecast is the same and day 3 is their flight home. This we can’t control.
Fortunately, there are some things we can control.
Helping my student learn how to correctly move her gun from point A to point B is relatively straightforward. What’s harder is helping her “change” her approach to the next target. Why is it harder? Because of her fierce determination to get the X. It’s palpable. Wanting so much to succeed (X), she is totally focused on the outcome of the shot rather than the all-important change. Driving faster and faster, more aggressively down the wrong road won’t get her where she wants to go. I’m asking her to stop and make a turn. Understandably, she’s thinking, can I trust the “new way?” Overwhelmed by her intense desire to break this next target, will she step out of her comfort zone, take the risk and go the “new way” instead?
This isn’t easy. It never is. But it’s what it takes to move ourselves up. The hard part. Some how, some way, we have to dig down and find a way to make the needed changes in our game in order to gain the improvements and consistency we want. The first step is a conscious and deliberate shift in our attention from the outcome of the shot to the process of the shot. For example, all Paragon instructors are taught to help their students focus on 1 thing. That 1 important change will build more consistency into their student’s form. As each change is implemented, the form measurably improves and the X count starts to go up — right now — consistently. This, we can control and we can count on. It will not let us down.
In training — the real truth is — how badly we want this target to break is infinitely less important than having the discipline to make that 1 small change in our game. That’s the hard part. That 1 change, added to the last change, and the next, guarantees better form, a better performance in the box, all resulting in higher scores. The rungs on the ladder of advancement are built of the hard part — in every sport and endeavor.
The full, unabridged article is locate at http://www.paragonschool.com/sporting-clays-tip-03-2010.html
An Index of all The Paragon School of Sporting Sporting Tips is located at: http://www.paragonschool.com/sporting-clays-tips.html
