The Gold Medal Shooting

Academy Training Manual

Dan Carlisle, Mark Weeks and Haley Dunn

 Acknowledgments

To our families, friends and supporters that

gave us the opportunity to get involved in the
shooting sports and achieve our highest goals.
We appreciate the sacrifices made that allow us
to do what we do best. Through everything that
we have achieved we are now able to give back
to our sport and give to others the knowledge
and experience that we have attained.
 Mission Statement

The mission of Gold Medal Shooting Acad-

emy is to use the knowledge and experience of
proven shooting professionals to correctly edu-
cate and instruct youth and adults on all shot-
gun shooting sports, to assist them in achieving
their highest level of potential, and to develop
lifelong recreational shooters that will respon-
sibly exercise their second amendment and gun
ownership rights.
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
7 INTRODUCTION 50 LESSON 6
Sporting Clays
11 LESSON 1
Safety Mounting Technique
Three main rules of safety Report Pairs
Saftey while shooting Doubles
Knowing the game Target Presentations

13 LESSON 2 63 LESSON 7
Basic Fundamentals American Skeet
Stance Hold Points
Gunfit Visual Area
Dominant Eye Routines
Natural Point of Aim Method
28 LESSON 3 Station by Station Overveiw
Clothing and Equipment
88 LESSON 8
Clothing
Head Gear American Trap
Ear Protection
Trap Fundamentals
Shooting Glasses
Break Zone
Shot Guns
Visual Area/The method
Ammunition
Connection
Chokes
Delivering The Shot
Station by Station Overveiw
33 LESSON 4
The Method 33 LESSON 4
Break Zone The Method
Hold Point Break Zone
Speed Hold Point
Placement Speed
Feel Placement
Hard Focus Feel
Soft Focus Hard Focus
Execcution Soft Focus
Execcution
43 LESSON 5
Lead Systems
Maintain
Pull Away
Pre-Mounted
Pass Through
Decrasing Lead
Move, Mount, Fire
99 LESSON 9
Running Training
Time Line
Goals
Evaluation
Skill Level
Structure
Know Your Students

103 LESSON 10
Goal Setting
Importance of Setting Goals
Types of Goals
Measuring Goals
Examples

109 LESSON 11
Mental Routines
Conscious Vs Sub-conscious
Hard Focus
Mechanical Routine
Pre-shot Routine
Shot Routine
Post-shot analysis
 Introduction To Instructors

Dan Carlisle Mark Weeks Haley Dunn

DAN CARLISLE

Dan Carlisle Shooting Accomplishments

- Olympic Medalist
- World Champion
- 4-time Pan American Champion
- 13 National Main Event Championships
- Back-to-Back 5-Stand NSCA National Championships
- 6-time World Record Holder
- 4-time Hall of Fame inductee
- Won National Championships in: USSCA, SCA, NSCA, NSSA, ISU Trap & Skeet
- All-American in USSCA, SCA, NSCA, NSSA, ATA

Coaching
- 26 years of experience in Trap, Skeet, ISU Sporting Clays, FITASC, and Hunting
- Has coached Olympic, World & National Champions & hundreds of All-Americans
over the last 15 years
- Developed the Carlisle Academy system (speed, placement, feel, focus).

8
MARK L. WEEKS

Mark L. Weeks Shooting Accomplishments

- 15-time USA Shooting National Team Member
- 3 World Championship Teams
- 4 National Championships
- 3-time World Record Holder
- All-American in NSSA
- ACUI National Champion (All-Around)
- 10 year member of United States Army Marksmanship Unit

Coaching
- USA Shooting National/Olympic Team Head Coach
- United States Army Marksmanship Unit Head Coach
- 2008 Olympic Team Assistant Coach (4 medals)
- NRA/USAS Certified Coach (Level 5)
- Has coached numerous Olympic, World, and National Champions
- Lead instructor for NRA Advanced International Camp
- Carlisle Academy Master Level Instructor

9
HALEY DUNN

Haley Dunn Shooting Accomplishments

- 10-time USA Shooting National Team Member
- 5 World Championship Teams
- 3-time National Champion
- Pan American Gold Medalist
- First Female in the US to shoot 100 Straight - International Skeet
- NSCA Ladies All-American Team
- 11 World Cup, World Championship, World Cup Final, and Pan Am Medals
- ACUI Ladies HOA

Coaching
- Carlisle Academy Master Level Instructor
- Lead Instructor for NRA Advanced International Camp
- Coach USA Shooting Junior Olympic Team Members, SCTP Teams and 4-H Teams in
all events
-NRA Level 1 Instructor

10
LESSON 1

SAFETY

As a GMSA Instructor, the most important lesson you

can teach your shooters is how to safely handle fire-
arms and equipment both on and off the range. Be-
cause of this emphasis on safety, shooting has tradi-
tionally been one of the safest sports for young people
to participate in. In lesson one, we will discuss safety
fundamentals and show you how to ensure that every
shooter on the range is also a safety officer.

11
Three Main Safety Rules
MAKE SURE THE GUN IS POINTED IN A SAFE DIRECTION

MAKE SURE THE GUN IS OPEN AND UNLOADED

MAKE SURE THE SAFETY IS ON

Remember the safety is a mechanical device that may fail!

Safety While Shooting

- Know the gun
- Know the target
- Use the correct ammunition
- Use eye and ear protection
- Always keep gun pointed down range

Knowing the Game

Rule books for each discipline are available from the following organiza-
tions:

- American Skeet - NSSA

- International Skeet - USA Shooting
- ATA Trap - ATA
- Bunker/International Trap - USA Shooting
- International Doubles - USA Shooting
- Sporting Clays NSCA

12
Lesson 2

Basic Fundamentals
Solid fundamental shotgun shooting skills are at the
core of every great shooting champion. Although
these skills are simple, they are often under taught
and are easily forgotten. Top coaches know that when
their athletes are experiencing problems, many times
all that is needed is a refresher course on the funda-
mentals. In this lesson, we will explain fundamentals:
the basic building blocks of successful shotgun shoot-
ing.

13
 Feet:

Shoulder width apart. Your feet

are your foundation, you must be
comfortable.

Knees:

Slightly bent. This allows you to

swing left or right in balance. Hav-
ing stiff knees only allows your
arms and waist to move. The move
comes from your ankles, knees, and
hips.

Waist:

Slightly bent forward to allow

for a balanced move. This does
not mean lean forward with your
knees; its more bending forward
at the waist and sticking your be-
hind out slightly.

14
 Head Position on the Gun:
This is a very important part of the ready
position.

1. The head and gun will meet together

when mounting.

2. As the hands move up to mount the gun,

the head will move forward and down at
the same time. When done properly the
head will be as far forward as possible.

3. Your cheek bone will be locked over

the stock starting with the stock just above
the lip line of your face. This will allow
the skin or fat from your cheek to create a
cushion between your gun stock and your
cheek bone.

4. The gun should not be mounted against

the side of your face.

5. Part of your cheek will hang slightly

over the comb of the stock.
Figures to the Left:
Figure 1. Correct!
Figure 2. Wrong. Head position too high.
Figure 3. Wrong. Head position too far back on the
stock.

15
 6. It is very important that your gun, when fully mounted, have a slight uphill
plane to it. This will compensate for the shot falling from the resistance of the
air on 40 yard or longer shots.

a) No matter what you have heard through the years, the gun DOES NOT
MOUNT to the head alone.

b) It is also very important that your head is forward. This allows more of the
gun to be under you so it feels like it is part of you.

c) If your head is to the middle back of the stock it will feel foreign and your
swing will be very unbalanced.

When watching the best shooters these are the things you will see.

Notes:

16
Grip of the gun:

1. Your trigger finger will fit in the first joint.

2. Your forearm grip is a 3-finger grip which allows you to grip firm and not lose
control.

3. You also point your index finger on your forearm grip.

Figures 1 and 2: Correct trigger finger placement.

Figures 3 and 4: Correct forearm grip.

Notes:

17
 Gun Mounts:

On a pre-mount style the gun

should be in the slot on the
shoulder thats between your
collarbone and your shoulder
socket.

-Figure one: Correct!

- Figure two: Wrong. The
gun is mounted too low in the
shoulder forcing the shooter
to have a bad head position.

-Figure three: Wrong. The

gun is mounted too high in
the shoulder causing the gun
to lose its uphill plane.

18
 Elbows:
Should be at a 45 degree angle. This al-
lows very straight lines with your wrists and
arms. With bent wrists, you become prone
to getting tennis wrists or elbows.

Figure One: Correct

Figure two: Correct
Figure three: Correct

Notes:

19
 Figure one: Wrong.

Elbows are flared up causing

the wrists and elbows to be
bent.
Figures two and three: Wrong.

Arms are too high creating an

incorrect gun mount and head
position.
Figure four: Wrong.

Elbows are too low and tight

into the body. The wrists are
bent and head position is in-
correct.

20
 Gun Fit
- Gun fitting is still somewhat of a mystery. Some gun fitters use a pattern board with
sticky pads placed on the stock to make adjustments. Then they take you out to shoot
clays to make final adjustments.

- Others use special-made stocks with length, drop, pitch, and cast adjustments built into
the stock.

- The most positive way to fit a shooter is to use the SHOOTERS GUN fitted with an
adjustable stock. This will allow the fitter to fine tune your point of impact (POI).

- All guns shoot differently and its a must to use the shooters gun when getting a fitting.
Do not get a gun fit with an adjustable stock attached to another gun.

- The length, cast, drop and pitch must be adjusted for each person. When making ad-
justments on the spot or in the field most of your problems will be length, drop, and
pitch.

- You should be able to adjust each one of these areas with moleskin, cardboard, and a
screwdriver.

Notes:

21
The drop is the key to finding the POI. This adjustment is what makes the gun
shoot high or low. The pitch fine tunes the high and low as well. These two adjust-
ments are paramount to a shooters performance. Once these adjustments are prop-
erly made, the shooters will hit their target more solidly.

- The length is also important. When the length is too short the shooter feels
cramped up when mounted. When the length is too long, the shooter feels out of
balance or stretched out.

- Proper stock length is measured from the length of your neck and arms. People
with long necks and long arms need more length; people with short necks and short
arms need less length.

- When fitted properly your head should be at the very front of the comb, not in the
middle or back of the stock. With children and small-framed people the stock will
need to be cut down. As they grow, spacers may need to be added and possible
drop and pitch adjustments may also need to be made.

- There are pro gun fitters that are capable of making these adjustments possible.

Notes:

22
 Dominant Eye
-Since the eyes are the heart and soul of shotgunning, its very important to find the shooters
dominant eye.

-Shotgun shooting is a moving target sport like baseball, tennis, and ping pong. The shooter
needs both eyes on the target to allow the shooter to have better depth perception.

-In order to find a shooters dominant eye DO NOT use the hand triangle method you read
about. Instead use a 6x6 card with a hole the size of a nickel cut in the center of the card. (See
figures on next page.)

1. Pick an object approximately 30 yards in front of you. Hold the card down at waist level
with your arms extended.

2. Now focus on the object 30 yards out, raise your arms and hands (still extended), and find
the object in the hole of the card.

3. Once you can see the object in the hole in the card, bring the card back towards your face
until the card touches your nose. This is a no-fail way of locating the dominant eye. The card
will go to one eye or the other.

4. Make sure you have both eyes open for this test. If the dominant eye is opposite the shoul-
der your shooter is using, then you need to address this cross-dominance with the shooter.
There are a couple of things you can do in this situation:

- Option one would primarily be for new shooters. With a new shooter, you can try to get the
person to change shoulders to match the dominant eye side. Some people are just not very
coordinated with the other side of their bodies, however, and making this change can be too
difficult for some shooters.

Notes:

23
 How to Find the Dominant Eye:
The Card Test

24
- Option two would be to place a small dot over
the shooters glasses on the dominant eye:

1. The dot must be placed in the perfect spot.

Have the shooter mount the gun towards you
after making sure the gun is unloaded.

2. Look down the barrel to make sure the non-

dominant eye is looking down the barrel cor-
rectly. The dominant eye will be looking across
the barrel.

3. Find the spot that covers the pupil and iris of

the eye and place a dot of tape or chap stick over
that exact spot.

4. The dot should be the size of a nickel.

- Closing an eye while shooting shotguns is not

acceptable. Finding a champion who shoots
with one eye is like finding a needle in a hay
stack. On the other hand, there have been
Olympic, World, and National Champions who
use the dot method.

- With one eye closed, the shooter has no depth

perception for distance. The dot really tricks the
brain by only blocking out the barrel.

- The dot allows the shooter to see all around it

which gives the shooter a better ability to judge
distance. It is also much easier for the shooter
to look past the barrel.

- When the shooter is fully mounted and ready

to fire, the dot blocks out the dominant eye from
seeing the barrel altogether, which allows the
non-dominant eye to take over.

25
 Natural Point of Aim

Natural point of aim is one of the fundamental skills that is often talked about but
never really explained in depth. Despite this, it is one of the most important basic
fundamental skills. Not having a good grasp on natural point of aim will cost the
shooter targets. Keys to natural point of aim include:

- Natural point of aim is the position the shooter is in when his or her muscles and
body are in a relaxed state and the gun is in the ready position.

- To obtain proper natural point of aim, the shooter should position himself where
he wants to break the target and not where the target first appears.

- If the shooters natural point of aim is set for where the shooter first sees the tar-
get, then by the time the shooter is ready to pull the trigger the shooter will be in a
position where he or she will have to rely on muscles to finish the move.

- It is critical for the shooter to check natural point of aim before every shot. If it
isnt correct, the shooter needs to adjust it.

-In most cases, it does not take much body movement to adjust the natural point of
aim.

- When shooting doubles it is a good rule to adjust natural point of aim to the mid-
dle or favor the second bird a little.

Notes:

26
How to Test Natural Point of Aim

1. Make sure the gun is unloaded

2. Mount the gun with both eyes open as if you were going to get ready for a shot.

3. Start to slowly swing your body as if you were shooting a left to right target and right to
left target.

4. Close your eyes and continue to swing.

5. Gradually slow down your swing and start to let your body naturally relax.

6. Do this until your body has come to a complete stop.

7. Open your eyes once your body has stopped.

8. Where youre pointing is your natural point of aim for your body the way you are set up
at that moment.

9. Now, just shift your feet and body to the point where you want to break the target.

27
Lesson 3

Clothing and Equipment

Learning Objectives:

Clothing
Head Gear
Ear Protection
Shooting Glasses
Shotguns
Ammunition
Chokes

Taking the time to find the right clothing and

equipment can make a huge difference on the day of
the competition. On match day, the last thing you
want your shooter to worry about is the fit and feel
of his or her equipment. Over the last several years,
there have been enough new products introduced to
the market that each shooter should be able to find
something to match up with his or her individual
preferences. In this lesson, we will show how the
coach can assist the shooter in this process, allowing
the shooter to obtain the competitive advantage that
comes from having the proper equipment.
28
Clothing
Shooting Vest or Pouch
Whether the shooter uses a shooting vest or pouch is personal preference. If the shoot-
ers gun tends to slip with recoil, then using a vest would be best. Regardless of whether
the shooter uses a vest or pouch, it is important that it fits right and is comfortable. If
not, it may interfere with the shooters ability to perform.

Shoes and Trousers

Again, this is personal preference on which things you wear but most top shooters tend
to wear some sort of athletic type sneakers. This allows the athlete the most traction and
comfort while shooting. Plus, over the years, wearing a quality athletic shoe will help
maintain the shooters form and reduce muscle fatigue. Loose-fitting comfortable pants
are best to allow free movement while swinging the gun.

Head Gear
A hat or visor can be worn to protect the shooters eyes from glare and also to keep the shooter protect-
ed from the elements. Any hat or visor worn should not interfere with vision or gun fit.

29
 Ear Protection
Foam, electric, or muff-style ear protective devices all work. Any ear protection used should
not interfere with gun mount and should properly protect the shooter from the constant noise.

Shooting Glasses
There are many types of shooting glasses on the market and each type comes with many
choices of lenses and sizes. First, however, ensure that whichever shooting glasses are se-
lected meet the standard for maximum protection from pellets and target pieces. Also, the
glasses frames need to be properly fit so that they do not interfere with the shooters perfor-
mance.

Lens selection is very important. Having one light, one medium, and one dark lens is impor-
tant. Lighting conditions change all the time. Shooters should not be afraid to change lenses
during the course of competition if the lenses do not fit the current conditions - this is one of
the biggest mistakes we see with shooters. The shooter must be able to see the target clearly
in order to hit the target!

30
Shotguns
There are two main types of shotguns: semi-autos and over and unders. Lots of manufacturers
make both types. Price range, personal preference, and loyalty to a company are all factors in
deciding which brand of gun to choose. In most cases, a semi-auto will be a little cheaper in
price and offer less recoil than an over and under shotgun.

Ammunition
It is critical that you make sure you have the right ammunition for the right gun - 20 gauge
shells should only go in a 20 gauge shotgun, for example. Mixing different gauges of ammu-
nition can be deadly.

As far as determining which load to use in the shotgun, the choice again revolves around the
shooters personal preference. There are many different varieties of shells on the market to fit
many different kinds of shooters. For beginning shooters, we often recommend starting out
with a lesser recoil shell at first. This will allow the shooter to put more rounds downrange
without injuring his or her body.

31
Chokes
There are many companies that make chokes. It is important that you understand what choke
to use on which shot. The chart above can be used as a good starting point. Testing your
chokes on a patterning board is highly recommended to make sure the choke you have select-
ed is performing the way you want it to.

Notes:

32
Lesson 4

The Method
Learning Objective:

The Carlisle Method Fundamen-

tals

Dan Carlisle developed his

Secrets of the Triangle nearly
fifteen years ago as a method of
training shotgun shooters to excel
by shooting each shot in a care-
fully designed routine. Literally
hundreds of champion shooters
have used The Carlisle Method to
meet and exceed their goals. In
this lesson, we will introduce you
to the fundamentals of the Carlisle
Method and the Secrets of the
Triangle.

33
 Part One: Break Zone
- First you must locate the break zone. When viewing the target, find the area where the target or tar-
gets look the clearest with your hard focus.

- This is the area where you can see the front curve or some detail on the target.

- This area will be bigger on the slow targets and smaller on the fast targets.

Exercise: Call for the target making a conscious effort to look for the curve on the front
of the clay. Lock your eyes on and stay focused as long as possible. How long you can
stay focused is the length of your zone. Each target will be different.

Notes:

34
Part Two: Hold Points

- The general rule for hold points is to hold the gun about 1/3 to 1/2 of the way back to
the trap from the break zone.

- You will have to develop a feel for your hold points because of the different speeds of
the targets. On slow targets, your hold will be closer to the trap than it will be for faster
targets.

- The real sin in shotgun sports is letting the target get ahead of your barrel. We call this
getting BEAT!

- It takes of the field to get your gun back into position with the target to execute the
shot.

-If it is a fast clay, then it is usually too late to make a solid move. This part of the sys-
tem is about your reaction time to the target.

Notes:

35
 Part Three: Speed
- The third part of the system is when the shooter calls for the target; it is the start of the per-
fect move when your hands react to the target.

- The gun must move up to meet the target(s) speed and form the triangle in balance.

- This means the target speed and mounting speed must match.

- There is a slight curve called a parabolic curve that happens just as the bird and gun are con-
necting.

- This happens naturally as the gun meets the targets.

Remember your hands or gun stay with the target through the entire shot.

Notes:

36
Part Four: Placement
- This is the part of the system that controls the lead.

- Placement is where the gun is mounted into the targets path.

- Since we mount on or in front of every target, the speed, angle, and distance will de-
termine the correct placement of the barrel to the target.

Notes:

37
 Part Five: Feel
- Feel is truly the part that slows the target down in the minds eye. This term is called
CONNECTED.

- The feel or connection gives you the ability to self-correct the shot if needed.

- We call this the 20 foot rule where you will run with the target approximately 20 feet
or so depending on the speed of the target.

- In shooting, we always keep our eyes on the target not the gun. Just like in ping pong
or tennis, in order to put top spin on the ball, you must look at the ball, not the racket or
paddle. The gun is the equipment you use to break the target.

- Feel is in every sport played; it is the moment just before you execute. For example,
when playing other sports like basketball, the ball rolls out of your hands, you dont just
throw it up there.

- Once you have accomplished the speed and placement with the target, just hold your
position until the target enters the break zone.

- It is a must to connect to your placement position before the break zone.

Notes:

38
Part Six: Focus
- The true heart and soul of shotgun sports is hard focus on the target. Focusing on a
moving target slows the target down in the minds eye.

- Hard focus does not involve looking at the whole target; rather, it involves forcing
your eyes to see detail on the clay like the curve on the front of the target, or a shiny
spot, or the center circle.

Exercise: Place a small colored dot on the end of one of the blades on a ceiling fan, and
turn the fan on medium speed. When you look at the fan, your eyes will work at three
different stages:
- First stage: the fan will be fuzzy.
- Second stage: you will see the whole blade with the dot.
- Third stage: you will see the dot and the fan will slow down in the minds eye.

This is the exact sequence you will go through on clay targets. The target should prog-
ress from fuzzy, to whole, to seeing detail on the clay, to finally slow motion.

Notes:

39
 Hard Focus
- Once your gun has matched the speed of the target, your eyes will lock with hard focus and both
the gun and the target will slow down together, since they are moving at the exact same
speed.

- You will never get the feeling of slow motion without this connection first. At that
point the gun will either deliver the shot or pull away and deliver according to the lead
system on that particular target presentation.

- Dont take this part for granted. Only about 10 percent of shooters can really see the
edges of the target when they fire. Most people see the bird-barrel relationship or the
lead before they fire. Only the very best shooters look with hard focus at the target!

Notes:

40
Soft Focus
- When setting up for the target, take a little time to make sure your eyes are ready and
your mind is clear.

- Under pressure people tend to tunnel focus (looking too close to the trap with your
focus in too small of a circle), and the target will beat the eyes and hands before you can
react.

- Make sure you always have appropriate field of view. You should be able to see some
distance between you and the trap. If you are close to the trap, keep your vision wide
with soft focus so your eyes and hands dont panic.

Notes:

41
 Execution
- Just before you call for the target dont think about mechanics. Your only focus should
be on a predetermined spot on the target; let your hands move naturally.

- After the shot, then you can analyze what happened. It is a difficult task to tell your-
self every time to focus on the target. Think of the things that happen every shot as a
package:

You match the speed with the correct placement

Hold your position (connection) thats the feel
Focus on the front edge of the target
Deliver the shot (depending on the style of lead system you are using)

- On slow targets this package is large and easier to accomplish; on fast targets the pack-
age is much smaller with no room for error. All of these things have to come together
much sooner. This is what makes the game so difficult.

Notes:

42
 Lesson 5

Lead Systems
Learning Objective:

Maintain Lead
Pull Away
Pre mount
Pass through
Decreasing Lead
Move-Mount-Fire

As you will discover in this next lesson, there are a number

of different styles of lead. While it is important that shooters and
coaches master each style, it is just as important to recognize that
different types of target presentations will require different styles
of lead. The key behind all of the lead styles, however, is con-
trolling the bird. In this lesson, we will introduce you to the vari-
ous styles of lead and teach you which styles match up best with
the most common types of target presentations.

43
 Maintain Lead
- This is the core lead system used in the Carlisle Method. Maintain or sustained lead means to hold one
position (placement) on the target until the shot is taken.

- We use this type of lead on targets that have little angle like quartering targets, incoming
targets, or close crossers (inside 20 yards with slow speeds).

- This system is the connection with the target we feel on every shot. When this control is
achieved you will slow the target down in the minds eye.

- Holding one position on the target is a very difficult task, but it is the most important part
of the fundamentals.

This is what truly keeps the best players consistent week to week. The best shooters make
it look easy because they are smooth and never rushed. Where do you think this smooth-
ness comes from? THE CONNECTION! No matter what lead system we use, the founda-
tion we start with is maintaining lead.

Notes:

44
Pull-Away
- This lead is used for crossing and long or fast deep quartering target presentations. These
are the most missed targets in sporting clays.

- Distance and speed will dictate how much lead is required for the shot; you must ensure
your barrel placements are correct.

- Once you have established your placement on the target, pull-away is the last mechanical
thing you will do before delivering the shot.

- The gun will hold its position until it enters the break zone. The moment the eyes lock
on the target you slowly pull away until the subconscious can read the lead and deliver the
shot.

- Most shooters pull away too soon. You must be patient and wait for the eyes to hard fo-
cus on the target before you pull away.

- Learning your barrel placements on the different distances and speeds is a must to be-
coming an awesome crossing shooter. Around 60 to 70 percent of the target presentations
require pull-away lead.

Notes:

45
 Pre-Mount Parallel Move
- This lead system is used on trap-style, quartering, fast crossers, or when you need to be
aggressive with the shot. This system is arguably the hardest to execute.

- The key to learning the parallel move is starting your hands moving on the flash of the
target. Your reaction time will dictate your hold points.

- When starting your hands on the flash, the gun will blend its speed to the target very
quickly. Your connection to the target is short but when executed properly it will feel like
slow motion.

-The term we use in teaching this system is, quick start slow hands. Hand and eye reac-
tion time is different with each person, so your hold points will vary from shooter to shoot-
er.

-The secret is keeping your hands and barrel on or on top of the clay the entire shot.

- This system allows for a very aggressive shot when needed. If it is a crossing-type pre-
sentation you must get your speed and placement on the target early. This will allow the
shooter to take the target in the beginning of the break zone.

Notes:

46
Pass Through
- This system is more of a correction-type lead. We dont recommend this lead style.

- This system is when the gun is mounted behind the target, accelerates through the target,
and then delivers the shot.

- When using this system, it is very difficult to control the pace at which the gun chases the
target.

- For this reason, this method is very inconsistent, and we use it only when forced to make
a correction.

Notes:

47
 Decreasing Lead
- This system is a correction style method. We do not recommend this lead system.

- This style is the most inconsistent of any system. The shooter can never control the speed
of the barrel when slowing to the target.

- The gun mounts too far ahead of the target, and the shooter must slow the gun down and
deliver the shot.

-This method is only used to correct a bad placement or mount.

Notes:

48
Move-Mount-Fire
- The lead system is used on very fast target presentations where your break zones are
small.

- This method requires a low gun ready position.

- The gun moves laterally to the target and mounts to the shoulder at the same time.

- The gun mount and lead placement are timed to the break zone.

- When the gun hits the shoulder the target is in hard focus as you take the shot.

- We only recommend this system for fast targets or very short visual break zones.

Notes:

49
Lesson 5

Lead Systems

Learning Objectives:
Mounting Technique
Report pairs
Doubles
Target Presentations

Although sporting clays competition was developed to sim-

ulate relatively simple hunting situations, it has grown into
a very technical sport requiring mastery of many differ-
ent target presentations. For this reason, the sporting clays
world produces some of the best all-around gun pointers in
the competitive shooting sports arena. In this lesson, we
will apply the Carlisle Method to the various target presen-
tations encountered in sporting clays competition.

50
Mounting Technique
- Mounting the gun is a huge part of sporting clays
and hunting.

- Mounting with a low or out of the shoulder gun

allows a better feel of matching the speed of the
target with your hands and barrel.

- There are also times when the gun must be

mounted fully. In order to be great, you must mas-
ter these mounting techniques.

- The presentation of the targets dictates the type

of mount you use.

- Low gun mounts are not the same. For example,

your mount must be adjusted to the speed of the
targets.

-On fast targets the gun is only 1 inch or so off the

shoulder.

- On long or slow target presentations, the gun

would be 4 to 6 inches below the shoulder.

- On trap style targets, the gun would be fully

mounted.

-Remember, the mount is timed to the target al-

ways in balance and connected well before your
break zone.

The Figures to the left show you the different

mounting positions

51
 - Once you have isolated the break zone
there is only so much time to make a
balanced shot.

- The zone dictates which mount it re-

quires.

(Refer to Figures on previous page)

- A dismounted gun should be under the

eye.

Figure 1: Correct. The gun is dismount-

ed under the eye.

Figure 2: Wrong. The gun is offset in

the dismount which causes an inefficient
mount to the bird.

Notes:

52
Report Pairs
- The second shot on a report pair is the key to success. Most people are not in a solid ready
position to take advantage of the second target.

- There is a simple formula to establishing this solid ready position:

- Dont admire your first shot when it breaks.

- Time your eyes and hands moving into the second target.
-When you deliver the first shot you know when you fire - this is
the edge you get to stay ahead of the trapper. You will get about 3 to 4 tenths of a second
before the trapper can react which allows you to get a good hold point and visual ready po-
sition for the second target.

Controlled move to the first target, quick transition to ready position for second target, con-
trolled second shot. When done properly this should feel like shooting two singles.

- This is a major technical flaw in the sporting clays world. People get caught up in the
speed of the first target and stay on that same pace going to the second target. This is a
huge mistake! Once you fire, transition quickly back so can you take advantage of the few
tenths of second you have.

-You will know when you are not in position in time because the second target will get past
your barrel or beat you, making you feel rushed.

Notes:

53
Doubles
- When shooting doubles, your position on the second target is controlled by the eyes.

- Once you have delivered the shot on the first target, it is very important your eyes and hands
come off the first target as early as possible.

- If you can remember how hard your break was on your first target, you looked at it too long.

- As you leave the first target, your peripheral vision will pick up the second target so your
hands will be able to connect before the eyes can hard focus (lock).

- Sometimes you are forced to be aggressive with the second target. These shots are long or
fast trap style shots or fast crossers with a small shooting window.

- The problem is the eye can only lock on to the second target for a split second. Remember
your break zone dictates where you can shoot the target. The fast or long going away targets
are getting away from you or your eye.

- It is very difficult to hold a long focus; you must shoot this style target quickly.

- Crossing targets are not putting distance between the shooter but are flying parallel with the
shooter so your break zone is much larger.

If you have visual time on the second target move into position, quickly get connected and
make a solid shot. Dont just dump it!

-When you are challenged visually, be aggressive going to the second target and let it happen.

Notes:

54
Crossing Targets
-First you must read the distance, speed, and angle correctly. The lead system used will be
pull-away about ninety percent of the time.

- The main ingredient for crossing targets is the precision in your placement on the target. The
placements will change according to the speed and distance.

-This is the scale you follow for crossing presentations:

Slow Speed Crossers

Inside 20 yards- mount front edge, use maintain lead
30 yards- mount front edge, use pull-away lead
40 yards- mount front edge, use pull-away lead
50 yards- mount inch gap in front, use pull-away lead

Medium Speed Crossers

Inside 20 yards- mount front edge, use maintain lead
20 yards- mount front edge, use pull-away lead
30 yards- mount inch gap in front, use pull-away lead
40 yards- mount 1 inch gap in front, use pull-away lead
50 yards- mount 2 inch gap in front, use pull-away lead

Fast Speed Crossers

Inside 20 yards- mount inch gap in front, use pull-away lead
30 yards- mount 1 inch gap in front, use pull-away lead
40 yards- mount 2 inch gap in front, use pull-away lead
50 yards- mount 4 inch gap in front, use pull-away lead

55
 Trap-Style Shots
- Trap-Style shots are considered the types of quartering going away targets where the
trap is out in front of you not beside you.

- Trap shots will be taken with a pre-mounted gun using the pre-mounted parallel move
method.

- Your pre-mounted ready position will be just below the break zone. The non-dominant
eye will be looking below the barrel and out in front of the trap with soft focus.

- The gun must move on the flash of the target so your hands can stay on or on top of the
target to achieve your connection. As the target enters the visual break zone, the shot will
be delivered.

- This method allows for a more aggressive approach to the target which is a must on the
long and fast presentations.

- The target is getting away from the eye so your break zones are much smaller.

Notes:

56
Rising Teal Shots
- These targets are vertical presentations where the trap is out in front of the shooter.

- A teal target can be taken in three separate areas along its flight path: on the way up, at
the top, or dropping. The lead methods will change depending on what area you shoot the
target in.

- The diagram above shows that the greater the distance of the target presentation, the
more the target angle is increased. When the target reaches its peak and begins to fall, the
speed also increases.

Area 1: On the Way Up

- This is the most preferred way to shoot a teal presentation.

- It is easiest to be most consistent in this area because the target is moving at its slowest
speed, allowing less lead on delivering the shot.

- Your placement will be on or near the top edge of the target.

- Then hold your position until just before the target stalls out and use pull-away method.

57
 Rising Teal Shots (continued)
Area 2: At the Top

- Use this area for slow close (fluff) teal shot. The target is shot just as it starts
to fall.

- Maintain the bottom edge of the target through the turn at the top. As soon
as the target stalls, take your shot.

- This is method also works great for the super long teals (70 yards or so).
There will be a small gap or placement under the target at that distance.

Area 3: Dropping

- The third area is dropping because of its 90 degree angle. These are cross-
ing presentations.

- Depending on the targets distance, your placement will be on the bottom

edge or more. You will be using the pull-away method.

Notes:

58
Overhead Shots
- These shots are coming from behind you usually on a tower.

- The height of the tower presentation dictates what lead method to apply.

Area 1
- These are close overhead targets of 20 yards or less. These angles are shal-
low quartering presentations. Placement is bottom edge, use maintain lead.

Area 2
-These are deep quartering presentations. This angle will require front edge
or bottom for placement. The pull-away method is used.

Area 3
- These are crossing presentations. They will require a 1 to 2 inch gap on
front or bottom edge for placement. The pull-away method is used.

Notes:

59
 Rabbits
- These target presentations have a bit of luck factor and it is always bad! The
shooter has to read the angle, distance, and speed.

- If the rabbit is inside 30 yards and normal speed, the placement will always be on
or near the bottom front edge of the target using the maintain lead method.

- Only long and fast rabbits of 40 yards or more will require a pull-away method.

Notes:

60
Incoming Targets
There are three types of incoming presentations. The shooter must read the target prop-
erly.

1. The low incomer that is falling towards the shooter: the placement is on the bottom
edge of the target and the maintain lead method is used. These targets are shallow quar-
tering presentations.

2. The medium height incomer: depending on the distance of the targets break zone and
what the target is doing in its flight path, the placement will vary. Bottom edge or more
is usually used with a pull-away method. These targets are deep quartering presenta-
tions.

3. The high incomer that is dropping in the break zone: depending on distance, this shot
will be a crossing presentation. Placement will be front edge or more according to the
distance. The pull-away method is used.

Notes:

61
 Quartering Targets
There are two types of quartering target presentations:

SHALLOW Quartering Targets:

- These angles are inside 20 degrees, which requires no lead.

- Your placement is on the target when shooting slow to medium speeds and front edge
on fast or long shallow quartering targets.
- Dont confuse this with trap style targets, these presentations are usually beside you
NOT out in front of you. These require a maintain lead system.

DEEP Quartering Targets:

- These angles are much greater.

- The placement is front edge; maintain lead on slow or close targets.
- For long or fast targets the pull-away lead must be used. These are the hardest targets
to read.

Notes:

62
Lesson 7

American Skeets
Hold Points
Vision
Routines
The Method
Station by Station

American skeet is no different than sporting clays when it comes

to applying the triangle method. The shooter must know the
break point, hold points, speed, where to place the gun, how
much feel to have, where the target becomes most clear, and
when the best time to execute the shot is. These steps are the
same for every skeet shooter-from basic beginner to Olympic
champion-with only very fine differences in hold points and soft
focus area. Skeet shooters also always know the path and speed
of the target. Because there are very few variables in skeet target
presentations, however, skeet shooters must be very disciplined
and execute their fundamentals flawlessly each time they pull the
trigger. In this lesson, we will break down skeet from a funda-
mentals standpoint and apply the Carlisle Method to the sport.

63
 Hold Points
- Hold points will vary from shooter to shooter but not by much. Your hold point should be
in a position that allows you to move on the flash of the target without the target ever pass-
ing your barrel.

- You should get a feeling of connection with the bird almost instantly, and the target
should clear up very quickly. This is when you know your hold point is spot on.

- If your hold point is too close to the house, the bird will feel disconnected and fast.

- If your hold point is too far from the house, you will feel like you are waiting on the bird
to get to you.

Vision
- Just like hold points, where you hold your soft focus before you call for the bird will vary
from shooter to shooter but not by much.

- Some people like to look right in the window and some look a little outside the window.
The key is to look in the approximate area in which the target will appear.

- When focusing before you call for the bird, you will use a soft focus, not a hard focus.
All you are looking for is the flash.

- The target will not be defined when it first comes out. It will take hold point, placement
and feel to slow it down so that you can clear it up during hard focus and then execute the
shot.

Notes:

64
Pre-Shot and Shot Routines
- This is what sets the best skeet shooters apart from the rest. Having a pre-shot and shot
routine will help remind the shooter of the fundamentals and control the mind. This is what
champions are made of!

- Keep routines short and simple.

- Words that have meaning like Front edge, Smooth and Relax will help remind the
shooter of the things that need to happen to execute a perfect shot. The shooter should not
be concerned with the result of the shot or the outcome of the competition.

- Using pre-shot and shot routine for every shot taken is something very basic, but it is a key
to success. This emphasis on fundamentals is particularly important in skeet shooting, where
other variables are limited and flawless execution is necessary.

- Most shooters, especially newer shooters take the fundamental part of the game too lightly.
All your National, World, and Olympic champions practice the fundamentals as much as
they practice the harder skills.

- When an athlete is struggling with a particular skill or finds herself in a slump, most often
GOING BACK TO THE FUNDAMENTALS will get that shooter back on the right track.

Notes:

65
The Method
- Applying the triangle method to skeet is much easier than sporting clays because the shooter
knows all the information needed to break the target before he or she ever calls for the bird.

- One of the most difficult things to do is read the speed of the bird. In other shooting sports, the
speed changes depending on break point and distances in which a shooter executes the shot.

- This is not the case in skeet; the speed is very consistent throughout the entire round.

- Knowing the speed makes it easier to find the proper hold points and have a consistent smooth
move with the bird.

- Using the diagram above, you can see that the shooter needs to answer a couple of questions in
order to be able to execute the perfect shot:

Where is the target coming from?

Where is my break zone?
What is the speed of the target?
Where is my hold point (where do I start the gun)?
Where am I going to first see the flash of the target (where is my soft focus area)?

(The key at the top of the page will be used for the skeet diagrams)

66
- In skeet, the shooter already knows the answer to most of these questions! The shooter
already knows where the trap is, the speed of the target, and the approximate area in which
to break the target.

- So if the shooter already knows all this information before he or she ever calls for the target
what must the shooter do to have the perfect shot?

- To have the perfect shot, the shooter must have all fundamentals in place and complete the
rest of the triangle before he pulls the trigger.

- In other words, the shooter must move on the flash of the target, placing the gun in the spot
where the hands match the speed of the target. This will give the shooter the proper feel:
when the hands and the target match each other, the target will appear to be moving in slow
motion.

- When the shooter obtains the proper feel, the shooter will be able to switch to a hard focus
on a pre-determined spot on the target (for example, the front ring or shine spot).

- The only other thing the shooter needs to do is pull the trigger and watch the target smoke!

Notes:

67
 Station One High Single
Hold Point and Visual Area:

-Your hold point on high one will be just below the flight path of the bird.

-Your visual area will be a couple of inches above the rib of your gun.

Notes:

68
Station One Low Single
Hold Point and Visual Area:

-Your hold point will be a couple of feet to the outside left of the window, on the flight
path of the bird.

- Your visual area will be just outside the window.

Notes:

69
 Station One Doubles
Hold Point and Visual Area:

- Your hold point and visual area on station one doubles will be the same as for the high
house single.

- Once the high house shot is executed, it is important that your eyes shift to the left,
picking up the low house with a soft focus.

- Once you have picked up the second target, lock your eyes into a hard focus on the clay
and establish a connection with the bird before executing the shot.

Notes:

70
Station Two High Single
Hold Point and Visual Area:

- Your hold point on station two will change a little bit due to the angle in which you are
facing the house.

- The hold point will be somewhere between nine and twelve feet outside the house on
the flight path of the bird. This measurement is just a general guideline; the actual differ-
ence will vary from shooter to shooter.

- The soft focus point will be outside the window two to three feet.

Notes:

71
 Station Two Low Single
Hold Point and Visual Area:

- Your hold point will be four to five feet outside the window.

- Your visual area will be just outside the left side of the window.

Notes:

72
Station Two Doubles
Hold Point and Visual Area:

- Your starting hold point and visual area for the doubles will be the same as your starting
hold point and visual area for the high house single.

- Again, it is important that once the high house shot is executed, you shift your eyes left
with a soft focus to pick up the low house bird. You then establish a connection, switch to
hard focus on the clay and execute the shot.

Notes:

73
 Station Three High Single
Hold Point and Visual Area:

- Your hold point will be slightly further out than your station two hold point.

- As a general rule, the station three hold point will be inside the nine to twelve foot
range.

- Due to the angle, your soft focus point will move a little closer to the window.

Notes:

74
Station Three Low Single
Hold Point and Visual Area:

- Since we are moving closer to the house working our way around the stations, our in-
coming hold points will start to move farther away from the window.

- Your hold point will be approximately six to nine feet outside the window on the flight
path of the bird.

- Your visual soft focus will still be near the window.

Notes:

75
 Station Four High Single
Hold Point and Visual Area:

- Your hold point will be nine to fifteen feet outside the window on the flight path of the
bird.

-Your soft focus point will be just to the right side of the window.

Notes:

76
Station Four Low Single
Hold Point and Visual Area:

- Your hold point will be nine to fifteen feet outside the window on the flight path of the
bird.

- Your soft focus point will be just to the left side of the window.

Notes:

77
 Station Five High Single
Hold Point and Visual Area:

- Your hold point will be six to nine feet outside the window on the flight path of the bird.

-Your visual area will be just to the right of the window.

Notes:

78
Station Five Low Single
Hold Point and Visual Area:

- Your hold point will be nine to twelve feet outside the window on the flight path of the
bird.

- Your visual area will be just to the left of the window.

Notes:

79
 Station Six High Single
Hold Point and Visual Area:

- Since we are getting farther away from the incoming targets, your hold point will start
to move closer to the window on the incoming bird.

- Your hold point will therefore be three to six feet outside the window on the flight path
of the bird.

- The visual area will be just outside the right side of the window.

Notes:

80
Station Six Low Single
Hold Point and Visual Area:

- Your hold point will be nine to twelve feet outside the window on the flight path of the
bird.

- Just like station two high house, your visual area will need to come away from the win-
dow a couple of feet due to the angle of the bird.

Notes:

81
 Station Six Doubles
Hold Point and Visual Area:

- For the station six doubles, you will set up just like you did for the low house single.

- Once you have executed the shot on the low house, it is important to shift your eyes
to the right with a soft focus to pick up the high bird. Then you establish a connection,
switch to hard focus and execute the shot.

Notes:

82
Station Seven High Single
Hold Point and Visual Area:

- Your hold point will be just outside the right side of the window on the flight path of the
bird.

- Your visual area will be just barely off the right side of the window.

Notes:

83
 Station Seven Low Single
Hold Point and Visual Area:

- Your hold point will be just below the flight path of the bird.

-Your visual area will be just above the rib of your gun.

Notes:

84
Station Seven Doubles
Hold Point and Visual Area:

- For the station 7 doubles, you will set up just like you did for the station 7 low house
single.

- Once the first shot is executed, you will shift your eyes up and to the left with a soft fo-
cus to pick up the high bird. Then you will establish a connection, switch to hard focus,
and execute the shot.

Notes:

85
 Station Eight High Single
Hold Point and Visual Area:

- Your hold point will be three to five feet outside the window on the flight path of the
bird.

- Your visual area will be on the upper right corner of the window.

Notes:

86
Station Eight Low Single
Hold Point and Visual Area:

- Your hold point will be three to five feet outside the window on the flight path of the
bird.

- Your visual area will be on the upper left corner of the window.

Notes:

87
 Hold Points
The hold point is just before the break zone. This area is critical to making the right move
to the target.

Visual Focus Area

Once the gun is mounted, the eyes look down through the barrel and out in front of the
trap. How far a shooter looks is different from shooter to shooter. The vision or your
central focus will be over a four foot area which changes depending on what station the
shooter is on. By holding the eyes down and out allows the eyes to come to the targets. It
is very important not to look too close to the trap house. If the eyes are too close they tend
to jump or panic when the target appears. If the eyes are too far out the shooter is to slow
to the target. You must find that spot where the hands and eyes are balanced to the target.

Notes:

90
The Move (Triangle Method)

The move to the target is when your eyes first see the flash of the target
below your barrel, coming out of the trap house. At that moment, the
hands will make a lateral move over to the target to form the triangle.
This is putting the gun on or near the bottom edge of the target.

Notes:

91
 Connection (Feel)
The connection or feel is what slows the target down in the minds eye. Without the FEEL
the target will appear fast or rushed to the shot.

Delivering the Shot

When delivering the shot, the target presentation will be quartering or deep quartering. If the
target is quartering, the gun will be on the target. If it is a deep quartering presentation like
your widest angles from position one or five, the gun will be on the front edge.

Notes:

92
 Hold Point and
Visual Area
Station by Station

- In the previous section regarding visual area we talked about focusing on a four foot area
over the trap house depending on what station the shooter is on.

- This is the most important part of scoring well in trapshooting.

- This allows the shooter to concentrate their central focus in a small area over the trap
house.

- Since the targets width is only 17 degrees, its more about what you dont see.

- We call this PRIME REAL-ESTATE. This is a huge advantage in acquiring the target with
very little gun movement.

- The shaded areas on the trap house are where you WILL NOT be looking over.

Notes:

93
 Station One
Hold Point and Visual Area:

-Your gun hold point will be between the front and back left corners of the trap house.

-Your visual area will be from the left corner to the center of the trap house.

Notes:

94
 Station Two
Hold Point and Visual Area:

- Your gun hold point will be just inside the back left corner.

- Your visual area will be one foot from the left front corner to three feet in from the right
front corner.

Notes:

95
 Station Three
Hold Point and Visual Area:

- Your gun hold point will be just left or right of center.

- Your visual area will be in the center part about two feet inside both from corners.

Notes:

96
 Station Four
Hold Point and Visual Area:

- Your gun hold point will be just left of the back right corner.

- Your visual area will be about three feet inside the left front 17 degree corner and about one
foot off the right.

Notes:

97
 Station Five
Hold Point and Visual Area:

- Your gun hold point will be between the front and back corners on the right side of the trap.

- Your focus area will be from the right front corner to the center of the 17 degree corner on
the trap house.

Notes:

98
Lesson 9

Running A Training Season

Learning Objectives:

Time line
Goals
Evaluation
Skill Level
Structure
Know your Students

One of our main motivations in founding the GMSA was to

develop future coaches who would conduct efficient and in-
formative training sessions. One of the questions we most
often get asked as coaches is how we create a road map to
help reach their goals. In this lesson, we will explain some
of the tips we have discovered throughout the years for
structuring training sessions that will optimally benefit your
athletes.

99
 Running a Training Session
There is a myth out there that if you shoot more than the next person then you will beat
that person. In most cases this is true - but only if you are training the correct way. If
you are training the wrong way, you can get the opposite result that youre looking for
even though you are putting in twice the effort.

So how do you conduct a proper training session?

First, you need to know who it is that you are coaching, whether it be a 4-H or SCTP
team or a camp full of seasoned athletes. You as the coach need to know everything
about everyone that is part of that group, including their skill levels, injuries, goals,
experience, among other things. Without knowing this information, it will be difficult to
develop a plan of execution. Once you get to know who it is you are going to teach, you
have taken the first critical step, and you can move on to developing the following key
components of a good training session:

100
1. A concrete time frame you want to spend with
your students.

- Your sessions shouldnt be too short or too long

- Under and over training both can be devastat-

ing to your goals

2. Specific goals you want to achieve.

- Your goals should be specific to that day. These

arent the same goals as long term or outcome
goals, which will be discussed in Lesson 11.

For example:
- Work on crossing birds, incomers, and baseline
- Work on fundamentals, gun mounts, hold
points, stance etc.

3. A way to evaluate how the day is going.

- Have back-up plans if youre not getting what

you want out of your practice. For example, you
may want to have additional drills in case you
are running ahead one day or a plan for weather
delays.

4. A plan to teach to the skill level of your stu-

dents.

-If you have a couple of different types of skill

levels, break them up into groups of matching
levels.

-Some students learn faster and/or can handle

more shooting.

101
 - Dont hold anyone up from learning more
just because others cant keep up, but also
dont move someone to a more advanced
group before they are ready - this could be
dangerous.

5. A structured training session.

- Be organized and on time.

- Demand this out of your student(s) also.

- If your students cant be on time or orga-

nized then they become a hazard to you and
your team.

- Know who is shooting with whom, what

they are shooting, and how much they are
going to shoot.

- Plan for breaks. Muscles and brains get

tired very easily! When students get tired
they tend to make more mistakes and get
distracted more easily. A couple of 5-10 min
breaks will help limit this type of distraction.

Notes:

102
Lesson 10

Goals Setting

Learning Objectives:

Importance of Setting Goals

Types of Goals
Measuring Goals
Examples

Goal setting is one of the most important tools good

coaches can use to keep their athletesand themselves
accountable. Long term goals, such as an Olympic medal
or an All-American team, are easy to define. The more
difficult task is coming up with a map of intermediate and
short-term goals that will help the athlete reach his or her
main goal. Goals are the foundation from which an entire
training plan is developed. In this lesson, we will teach you
how to develop this foundation and form a road map for
your athletes to reach their highest level of potential.

103
 There are three basic kinds of goals:

1) Training Goals: Goals the athlete sets to achieve during daily training.
- Setting training goals involves breaking down the athletes daily training into a series of out-
comes that you would like the athlete to achieve.

- Examples of training goals are making sure to execute a pre-shot and shot routine during
each shot of a practice session, or making 100 perfect moves during a practice session.

- Training goals are a series of goals that set the athletes focus on working hard on a specific
task rather than measuring the success of training purely on score.

- Most coaches and athletes gauge their success on hits and misses in practice instead of gaug-
ing their success on the achievement of specific performance goals.

If an athlete achieves their training goals for the day without performing well on score, the
athlete will still be on the road to success when the targets count.

- There is a saying, You have to miss targets to gain targets.

- Setting and achieving performance goals allows the athlete to focus on the task at hand with-
out worrying about their scores slipping and reassures the athlete that in the end, their scores
will be above where they started.

Notes:

104
2) Performance Goals: Goals the athlete can control.
- Performance goals are the goals that the athlete assumes responsibility for. These are the
goals that athletes tend to either love or hate to write down!

- Dont confuse these with outcome goalsoutcome goals are goals that the athlete has no
control over. The athlete can achieve all of his or her performance goals and still not win the
competition or reach their outcome goals.

- Instead, performance goals are goals that are set for the athlete and no one else. Perfor-
mance goals are designed to keep the athlete on track in competition.

- For example, if an athlete gets nervous during matches, then a performance goal might be
for the athlete to execute a routine to help him keep his focus during each shot of the match.

Being able to focus on his or her goal of a routine will allow for the goal to be reached with-
out thinking about the outcome.

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 3) Outcome Goals: Goals the athlete cannot control.
- There are two schools of thought on outcome goals.

1) Many coaches will tell their athletes not to focus on outcome goals because they tend to
add
additional pressure that may negatively affect the athletes performance.

2) On the other hand, we at GMSA think it is important to set outcome goals because
the
outcome goals are what normally motivate the athlete.

- It is important to remember, however, that while everyone wants to win, winning has
different meanings from person to person.

- An athlete may reach all of his or her performance goals and still not win.

- This should not discourage either the coach or the athlete, as consistently setting and achiev-
ing training and performance goals will ultimately lead to the podium!

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 In order for goals to work they must be:

(1) Written

(2) Specific or have significant meaning to you

(3) Measurable

(4) Attainable or action-oriented

(5) Rewarding

(6) Able to track by time.

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 Each of these three main categories of goals can
be further broken down into:
(1)Short-term goals

(2)Intermediate goals

(3)Long-term goals

- Short-term goals are those that are typically set to be achieved in a week to a month

- Intermediate goals are those that are typically set to be achieved quarterly to annually

- Long-term goals are those that are typically set to be achieved in anywhere from one to sev-
eral years.

- By working together to design a training plan that contains short-term, intermediate and
long-term training, performance, and outcome goals, coaches and athletes will build a road
map to future success.

Notes:

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Lesson 11

Mental Routines

Learning Objectives:

Conscious vs. Sub-Conscious

Hard Focus
Mechanical Routine
Pre-Shot Routine
Shot Routine
Post-Shot Analysis

It is often said that once a competitive shooter has mas-

tered the physical fundamentals, shooting is 99% men-
tal. What keeps top shooters separated from the rest of
the pack is their dedication to mental training and the
discipline to develop mental routines and follow them
for each and every shot. In this lesson, we will discuss
the importance of mental routines and provide you with
a framework for creating individualized pre-shot, shot,
and post-shot mental routines.

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 Conscious vs. Sub-conscious
Elite shotgun shooters are truly in a league of their own. But have you ever wondered why
there are only a small percentage of really great shooters?

- In this respect, shotgun shooting is similar to many other sports.

For example, shooting a shotgun is just like shooting free throws in basketball. In free throw
shooting, the basketball player can let the shot go anytime he wants; it is just the player
against the basket. Likewise, in shotgun shooting, the shooter can call pull anytime he
wants; it is just the shooter against the target. Also, like shooting free throws, once the athlete
has mastered the fundamental mechanics, it is 99% mental. Same as shotgun shooting.

- Whether you are trying to develop into an elite basketball player or an elite shotgun shooter,
you must master both the physical skills and the mental focus in order to become truly elite.

- With shotgun shooting, the critical mental skill is hard focus on the target.

Notes:

110
 When discussing the mental aspect of shotgun shooting, we must first
differentiate between the two parts of the brain:
The conscious and the sub-conscious

- Your conscious is your common sense, your wisdom, your intellect, and your problem solv-
er. Unfortunately, the conscious is also the part of the brain that gets in the way and negative-
ly affects many peoples shotgun shooting abilities.

- The subconscious is 100% the survival instinct area of the brain. Examples of your sub-
conscious survival instinct include:

(1) Pretend you are driving your car with someone you trust. You come to a stop sign. Your
trusted friend or loved one says its clear. Do you just pull out based on what your trusted
friend tells you, or do you look for yourself? Im betting you always look no matter who tells
you its clear. That is a survival instinct mechanism. This instinct has kept mankind on the
planet for thousands of years!

(2) Pretend you are walking down a path. You reach a fork in the road and you must go one
way or another. You look left, and there is a tiger waiting for you. You look right, and there
is a snake waiting for you. You have no weapons. Im betting youre going to fight a snake
today. Thats a survival instinct.

The subconscious or survival instinct is the part of the brain that we want to take over when
we are shooting shotgun!

-Shotgun sports are not played against another human opponentits just you against the tar-
get. In this way, it is truly a sport that is oriented around our survival instincts.

Notes:

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 LEAD. THE LOSING BATTLE
When shooters receive advice early on in their shooting career, the sub-conscious starts
to imprint this information onto the brain in the survival instinct area. Once this informa-
tion is stored, its there foreverits just like looking both ways at a stop sign. If your brain is
fed wrong information during the early stages of your shooting career, and that wrong infor-
mation becomes part of your subconscious, it will become an uphill battle to overcome that
survival instinct and re-fill your subconscious with the proper information.

One of the best and most common examples of the wrong information becoming a shooters
survival instinct is the concept of measuring lead.

- In the beginning of your shooting career you learned to measure lead. You may have heard a
coach or a buddy tell you to give that target a six foot lead or you may have read something
along the lines of lead in skeet on high four is four feet.
- For our purposes, lead is truly a four-letter word! If you are measuring your lead in this
manner, you will be continually checking your bird-barrel relationship.

This will cause you to miss targets.

- Unfortunately, however, most shooters have already taught their subconscious to measure
lead and check the bird-barrel relationship to see lead picture just before firing.

- Have you ever wondered why you look back at the barrel to see your lead picture just before
you fire? Its because your brain goes into survival mode and does what it believes it takes to
survive by killing the target.

Your brain is doing exactly what you have been teaching it to do!

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- There are very few shooters whose survival instinct tells them to hard focus on the front
edge of the target. Those few shooters have the rare ability to wait for the eyes to hard focus
before they take the shot.

- The only way your sub-conscious can truly achieve the correct lead without looking at the
barrel is to hard focus on the target and let your hands follow naturally.

- As weve mentioned before, the hands cannot do anything by themselves; they can only fol-
low the eyes. When you are looking at a round or whole target, instead of looking at a spe-
cific spot on the target, you are really looking short of the target and your subconscious will
calculate short on the lead.

- In order to fix this type of mental problem, we have to start imprinting the correct informa-
tion into the subconscious.

- One powerful tool we can use to do this is called auto suggestion. Because the brain can
think only one thought at a time, the athlete should make a conscious effort to look at the tar-
get before every shot, every timeeven in practice.
-
This is also sometimes referred to as the one at a time routine, and this mental magic will
allow you to teach your brain the proper pathway to follow.

- The next time you are out shooting and you are in the station, just before you call for the
target tell yourself which part of the target you are going to focus on when you fire.

- After the shot, ask yourself what you really saw on the target. Be honest with yourself!

-The target will either have detail on it or it will not; there is no in between.

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 -Most people see only about 20 percent of the targets with detail. Professionals see about 80
percent of the target in detail.

- If you saw the target as whole, that means your eyes were looking at the barrel relationship
or the lead.

- You will only hit about 60 to 80 percent of the targets this wayand its funny to note that
about 95 percent of shooters shoot between 60 and 80 percent on a round of clays!

- It is also important to remember that just because you hit a clay does not mean you did
everything right. Each time you shoot, you must visually analyze what you saw, whether you
broke the target or not.

- Over the past 10 years, we have seen a steady increase in the number of truly elite American
shooterstripling the number over the past 100 years.

- Part of this increase is due to a better understanding of how to teach athletes to hard focus on
the target and conquer their visual game.

- Once your shooters are on the right visual track, their brains will be able to create the proper
pathways and store the correct information in the subconscious.

- The more your athletes practice these routines, the larger and better-defined those pathways
become, and the better the scores will be at the end of the day.

- So, next time you hear someone tell you how to lead the target, you will know why you need
to let this advice go in one ear and out the other.
(For additional instruction on the above information, GMSA can recommend an instructor in
your area.)

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Hard Focus
The bottom line is that when a shooters eyes are not focused in detail on the targets edge,
the hands will not be able to stay connected.

- In the old days someone invented the term FOLLOW THROUGH. The term was meant
to convey the idea that it is important that your hands do not slow down or stop just before
the shot.

- But follow through is really a mythyour hands dont really know anything on their
own. They just follow the eyes.

- The only thing traditional follow through does is get your gun out of position for the sec-
ond target.

- This is why we put so much emphasis on connection. When the shooter stays focused and
connected, the subconscious creates a smooth and balanced move to the target.

Notes:

115
 Exercise:
- Try mounting on a slow, close, easy target then shift your eyes back to the bead of your shot-
gun and try to hold the bead on the target. You will find that it is impossible. As soon as you
shift your focus point to the barrel or the bead, the target gets away from you.

- Instead, try this on the next target: once mounted on the target stay hard focused on the edge
of the target. The gun will stay connected as long as you stay hard focused on the target.

- The real reason follow through was invented was because in the early days of shotgun
shooting, only a small group of elite shooters knew how to truly look at the target and connect
with it.

- Because of this, most shooters would shift to lead, and the gun would slow or stop (depend-
ing on how far the shooter was looking back to the barrel) just as the shooter was taking the
shot.

Following through does not correct this problem. Next time your buddies say youre not
following through you can set them straight!

Notes:

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Mechanical Routine
- Locate break zone

- Find angle, distance and speed

- Determine placements

This routine is a 100% mechanical routine that is done while the squad is viewing targets.
Make sure you locate the break zone; this will tell you the true angle, distance and speed of
the target. It doesnt matter where the target comes from; what matters is what the target is
doing in the zone. This also tells you where the placements are on the targets.

Notes:

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 Pre-Shot Routine
- What you think about behind the station or while the rest of your squad is shooting or view-
ing targets.

- What can you control

- Relatively short something you can remember under pressure

- Use key words or phrases that trigger a feeling or a focus for you

- Visualize targets

- Run the one at at a time routine. This is truly a visual routine. Tell or demand of yourself
to look at a spot on the target when you fire.

Notes:

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Shot Routine
- While you are on the station or your turn to shoot

- Short and to the point

- Specific words related to what you need to do at that moment only

- Front edge or leading edge should be the last thought you have before calling pull

- This routine is for when you are ready to shoot. It is all about your hard focus on the front
curve of the target. Remind yourself to look at a spot in detail on the targets. This should be
your last conscious thought. No matter how good your mechanics are, you must hard focus
on the target to let the sub-conscious make the shot.

Notes:

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 Post Shot Analysis
- What you think about after the shot before starting your pre shot routine again.

- Ask yourself, What just happened? and Did I really see the target?

- Be honest with yourself as to whether you broke the target or not.

- Go back to pre shot routine and focus on what it takes to break the next target.

- To really shoot one at a time your routine must have a beginning and an end. Most people
just focus on the beginning. When they hit the target, logic tells them it must be right. There
are a large percentage of targets hit when the target looks whole. This is a mistake! So tell
yourself the truth, what did I really see when I fired? You cant lie to yourself. The target was
fuzzy, whole, or clear with detail. There is not a single pro that doesnt run a post-shot analy-
sis.

Notes:

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