Sunday, August 20, 2017

Train to Win: Where do we go from here?

Rodeo Romeo and I do not disagree on much when it comes too fastdraw, but he has said that if there is another human being doing something then he can do it too if he works hard enough, or words to that effect.  That is also the premise of the book "The Sports Gene," in the first few chapters, that it is all about learning and practice.  Then the author destroys that premise by showing that top performance sometimes results from genes, such as the cow stealing tribe in Kenyan that produce elite runners.

The truth is we are all given certain talents and abilities and how far we go depends on those abilities as well as how we use them. At Shady Mtn I have tested the reaction times and draw times of most of the shooters. It is an elite set of champions. The two fastest reaction times were Holli Day and her mother, Troublemaker.


Holli Day is a 175/150/30 shooter when she shoots to her ability. Troublemaker is a 180/400/30  shooter when on.  That is reaction time/draw time/flight time or .355 and .610 respectively. Where do we go from here?

Troublemaker has the most clear cut decision to make.  At the Colorado State Championship, she missed a total of five shots for the entire event and finished 2nd. She can keep her current draw and become a solid 6 flat shooter.  With enough events clearly she can move into the top ten of Top Gun shooters as 6 flat shooter.  She will be at the top of most events if she is shooting 80% or better.  Her choice is between staying with her current draw and being a top shooter with that draw or totally abandoning the draw to learn a draw that will move her down to maybe a 5 flat shooter or even a 4 flat shooter.  The room for improvement is clearly in her draw time.



Half Cock Willie (7th in Four Corners Territorial) faces a similar decision. He can stay where he is at as a 5 flat shooter, or abandon that draw to move to one with more potential.

I face a similar decision.  I am a 200/200/30 shooter. I have tried and tried to improve reaction time.  My only place for gain is draw time.  200/150/30 would be nice. My mentor is itching to tear down and rebuild. Been down that road before.

The point of this post is that after World a shooter should evaluate where they want to go in this sport.  It helps to know your reaction time/draw time/flight time.  You can get those by using a program such as coach's eye.  If you are in the Valley of the Sun, see me and I will video you and calculate those for you.   That information would be useful in trying to decide what to work on.

Rodeo says it takes at least 21 days to form a new habit and hence at least 21 days to rebuild your draw after abandonment. I agree with the "at least" statement.  Back to the premise, maybe you are at the limit of your ability, but you will not know until you try. Loverboy and Doc are on me constantly to get faster. We will see come October 11.

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