If I want to get better, I have to do hard things
This past weekend I competed in my first rifle match. Outside my comfort zone? Yes. Pushing my boundaries? Yes. Potential for learning and growth? Off the charts. It was absolutely amazing.
The reality is performance in practice may not look the same as performance under competitive conditions. Competition introduces a whole bunch of stressors which may impact performance. These stressors act as a pressure test of my skills and reveal what I need to improve.
It’s not terribly difficult to be accurate when relaxed, taking your time to hit static targets. Add pressure and a ton of variables like distance and size of targets, high risk targets, multiple target transitions, vision barriers, movement and complex courses of fire, and only then will you see just how proficient you are and whether you can still hit targets accurately and at speed, manipulate the gun efficiently, move with urgency and remember your stage plan. And you get to see how adaptable you are when things don’t go the way you planned and you find yourself needing to clear an unexpected malfunction, conducting an emergency reload, or needing to take a make-up shot.
And performance on a competition stage is not subjective. All stages are Hit Factor (HF) scored (total points / time). There are objective standards. Performance is measured. There’s no deluding myself about my actual skill level. Plus I have video of my stage runs to drive it all home.
I find shooting rifle a bit more intimidating and physically demanding. I wasn’t prioritizing my rifle practice, and I wasn’t getting any better. So I decided to do the hard thing and register to participate in an All Rifle HF Match in the Poconos at Double Eagle hosted by Callahan Training Group. It was a forcing mechanism to prioritize my rifle training and commit to practice.
And while I have a great shooting partner, coach and mentor who tirelessly provides guidance, encouragement and accountability, I still need to do the work and put in the effort to get better.
There were six stages, with target arrays of anywhere from eight to 25 targets. Distances ranged from three yards out to 180 yards. Many of the targets were up close and personal scaled mini targets testing my understanding of holds with my specific offset. There was a lot of movement, down range and up range. The stages were meant to be challenging, testing not only technical skills, but also the ability to develop and execute an effective stage plan.
My goal was to simply hold my own with the technical execution of fundamentals that I’d been working on in practice. I was able to consistently get into a more aggressive stance when mounting the rifle. I was staying connected to the gun during a course of fire, keeping the gun up when transitioning between targets. And I worked on different ways to move aggressively from position to position. I executed stage plans well and I engaged all targets. Overall, my marksmanship was solid. However, I was slower to run the stages. Because stages are hit factor scored, shooters must be fast AND accurate.
Now, after seeing my scores and watching my performance on video, I have data, feedback and learnings that give me the insight I need to keep improving. Specifically:
Getting into an aggressive shooting platform
Maintaining consistent mount and connection to the gun
Conducting efficient and fast reloads
More quickly determine holds for precision at both close and far distances
Better visual discipline when transitioning from one target to the next
Maneuvering with the gun
No one is responsible for my development but me. So if I want to get better, I need to figure out what skills I need to develop. Participating in competition is one of the best ways to see in real time where I need to put in the work.
Now my rifle training has purpose.