A story came to mind the other day about my oldest son. I remember him trying out for his high school varsity tennis team a few years ago. He loved tennis very much, ever since he started playing it when he was 10 or 11 years old, and practiced it almost daily during the summers, with great ambition. He was tall and athletic and everyone agreed that he had a lot of potential. However, when cuts had to be made during team selection, the coach approached him with a single question: “What type of formal tennis coaching have you had?” While my son was an avid watcher of tennis tournaments, and played regularly against many strong opponents, being able to hold his own even against peers who did play on their school teams, my son was one of the first to go when the varsity coach was putting together his varsity team for that season. The reason? You can’t go anywhere, and you can’t advance very fast in any technical sport if you don’t have a solid grasp of the basic fundamentals and well-formed habits of proper execution of the basic skills. I remembered this when thinking about the current state of Olympic Style Pistol Shooting in the U.S. and realized that there is an important parallel between these stories.

Like tennis and golf, Olympic Style Pistol Shooting is a very technical and psychological sport, and contrary to the prevalent opinion, it too requires a significant amount of formal coaching for athletes to be successful at even the very early competitive level. In fact, it is imperative that you get the fundamentals down right and proper so that you won’t have to worry about deconstructing bad habits when you do try to move up to a higher level of performance.

It surprises me to hear aspiring Pistol Shooting athletes talk about psychological and subconscious techniques to improve their performance, while they are performing well below 570 on AP and 545 on FP. Brother, it may be hard for you to hear this, but the truth is that if you cannot consistently show a 570+ AP or 545+ FP competitive result, it is too early for you to think about these deeper issues since this level shows that you do not yet have the proper basic technical skills mastered. This misallocation of concentration may only result in confusion and even lower results, and hurt your long-term performance.

We can get formal coaching in almost every sport, even when people are only interested in the recreational aspects of it: tennis, skiing, snowboarding, even skateboarding is becoming an organized, coached discipline. However, even to this day, very few aspiring U.S. Pistol Shooting athletes are seeking qualified coaching advice, while throwing thousands of dollars at top of the line brand-name equipment that they may not even need to demonstrate solid competitive results at their present level. There is a reason that pistol shooting is one of the oldest sports in the modern Olympics. It is a deep, technically and psychologically advanced discipline, with many levels of excellence to conquer for achieving an internationally worthy result. The first of these levels is a solid grasp of the technical skills and fundamentals of executing the perfect “10” shot, and failure to master this first level, through the help of a knowledgeable coach, is what sabotages an athlete’s continued progress in this discipline.

The last time a U.S. athlete won an Olympic medal in Free Pistol was 1964. Clearly, something is not right about the way we have been approaching this discipline for the past 40 or so years. If something doesn’t work one way, it’s time to analyze and reconsider your approach, and try something different. Constant, continuous improvement is necessary to adapt and succeed in today’s competitive world, professionally, as well as athletically.

So what does it take to be successful in this discipline, to complement the athlete’s own commitment and motivation? We have singled out sources of support that all Olympic Style Pistol Shooting athletes will need to become successful at a high level:

1) An appropriate place to train. Preferably a well-equipped shooting range at a local gun/pistol club.

2) Qualified coaching support.

3) Being part of a motivated team, members of which will mentor, challenge, and encourage each other to reach greater heights individually and as a group.

4) Financial support. Ammunition, equipment, and various miscellaneous expenses will need to be financed through donations, local clubs, friends and family, or personal savings to continue training and competing on a high level.

5) Family support is essential. It is important to have your family members support and encourage your athletic progress, motivating you to achieve the competitive goals you set for yourself on your journey to success.