Dishearten on the Mtn!

 Many times it is more important to find out what does not work than what does.  I was somewhat dishearten how poorly Arizona Bigs worked but the sun came up this morning anyway.

Color:  Neither the red nor the green allowed the shooters to consistently see their hits which was the point of the target.  I think if we do this again we will have to go with all black targets with some sort of inscribed circle

Overall Results:  We shot four rounds. In rounds one and two, the hit percentage was 45% and 40% which is no better than the CFDA average for titled events.  The targets completely failed to allow the shooters to improve during a match.  I attribute this  in part to the color of the targets.  I was so disappointed that I moved the shooters to 10 feet for rounds 3 and 4 and the hit percentage improved to 57% and 55%, better, but not what you would expect.

Fundamental Error:  When I moved the shooters to 10 feet I did not adjust the target height.  I should have adjusted the target height to 44 inches which would be the standard for a typical CFDA shooter but did not do so.  This probably accounts for the poor shooting.  A clear example was the poster shooter, who hit 75% at 15 feet but hit 0% at 10 feet.  Having the targets at the incorrect target height is going to hurt the shooter with the more finalized draw more.

Individual Results:  The current National Champion crushed these targets hitting 80% with 25% of his hits in the black. You would expect these results because he has been using this training technique for years on blocker targets.  Only one shooter had a higher in the black percentage than his hit percentage.  Half of the shooters had a hit percentage above the CFDA average.  

Grumblings:  There were several instances where a quicker shooter lost to a "in the black" shooter.   The point of the match is to train the shooter to stay focus and put them "in the black."  Looking at the fastest time report, there was no lollygagging.  Nine out of ten shooters had in the black times.

I will post the results on the mountain.

Arizona Bigs

 The knock against blocker targets among CFDA shooters is that they ruin your draw for professional events.  Many of the good shooters in the valley of the sun refuse to shoot blockers for that reason. However, blockers can be beneficial for training if you have the proper focus. The advantages can be that:

 1. Because of the large size you see the actual hit of most of your shots.  If you see the actual hit, your mind and body will adjust your draw to bring the shots onto the center of the target.  A shooter that is hitting 30% on a small target is wasting 70% of his wax, his effort and his time.  Why not hit 100% and get the benefit of the subconscious moving the hits to the light.

2.  Because of the large size of the target, some of the stress of trying to hit the target is removed.  When we shoot up close at 5 feet and then move back to 15 feet, our times are always much slower than what is accounted for by the distance.  The additional time results from the stress of trying to hit the target.  Larger targets remove some of this additional stress.

ARIZONA BIGS:  The target is a standard 24 inch CFDA target with a 10 inch black circle in the middle.  We initially painted the outer circle grey which did not work well.  We are experimenting with red or green.  The grey color did not allow the shooter to see the hits which is the whole point of the target.  If the shooter hits "in the black" the time is divided by 2.  If he hits in the outer circle he gets  that time. 

The target is designed to be shot at 10 feet but we probably will be shooting it at 15 feet.  At 10 feet target height is 44 5/16 based on the CFDA's calculation of standard muzzle height of 39".  At 15 feet target height would be 47".  Shooters would benefit more at 10 feet because higher hit percentage, but there seems to be some resistances to that distance so we will try it at 15.

Poster Shooter:  At our first test Holli Day hit 93% of 14 shots, her first shot being .375 and her final shot being .348.  Her final 5 shots were all "in the black" and were all within a 3 inch circle.  The speed was not remarkable, but the  consistency was.  She got better and better, quicker and more accurate.  That is the point of the target.  The goal is to finalize your draw and to walk your hits to the light.

"We don't practice missing and we don't lollygag." Alleluia Ruah