practice
Moderators: pilkguns, Marcus, m1963
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Brian Gardner
practice
Can some of you tell me what you have your kids do at practice? Just wondering, I taking over a 4-H club. Right now we have them shoot at least a certian score on each bull. Tyler will shoot at each bull till he gets a 9 or better. It changes with the skill level of the kids.
Brian .... a lot is going to depend on how much time you can invest in the kids. I am fortunate that I can go in to work very early two days per week and have practice going by 4pm on those days. I run three practices per week ... Tues, Thurs and then Sunday afternoon.
We start our "year" after the state fair .... basically about the same time as school starts.
I have about 10 Novices ... 4 are serious and I have them shooting all three positions now, just in the last month or so for the newer ones. This is sort of heresy I think, but I start them off a bench, and when they can shoot 75 or so, I'll move them into prone. At 60-70 in prone I'll move them to kneeling, and then it depends how strong they are before I'll move them to standing. Some of my little 9 year olds have a rough time even with an XSV-40 with a mousepad buttplate, so I really don't rush them.
My juniors and seniors, once they learn all the positions, pretty much get the same drill. Maybe 1/5 of the time I'll have them shoot a 3x10 ... not a whole lot, just to keep them in touch with moving from position to position.
Maybe 2/5ths of just standing & NPA drills in standing. Lots of ideas there.
Another 2/5ths of 2-position "combos". Prone-Standing or Standing-Kneeling .... mostly standing kneeling. For my kids it's a special day when they get to shoot on a prone target. If you look at our backstops, standing gets torn up pretty quickly, kneeling has large gaps, and the prone you could shoot a match on. We change out the cardboard when they cannot find a good place to pin the standing targets on.
Do you have time to take the Coach School? That probably helps me the most. Here's a link: http://www.nrahq.org/education/training ... chools.asp
I try not to stress the score so much in practice. I'd rather they know how to work those "knobby things", and not be afraid to do so as well as to stress the importance of NPA. Many of our practices now, I have my shootes hang a single target in the standing position and then shoot around it 3-4 times .... not 3-4 shots in each bull, but around the bulls 3-4 times. It helps them see the patterns in their shooting that are not apparant when they continually fire at a single bull then move on.
(I do keep track of their scores if they fire 1 shot per bull on targets, but that is for my own nerdy purposes .... I take the targets home, score them, enter into the spreadsheets and then give them back to them)
I prefer not to have them total up the targets the night they shoot them ... they do of course, while they are bringing them back to my table, but I like to go over the target with them looking for patterns or discussing with them why that looks like a good (or bad) target.
One of the marine JROTC instructors taught me to have them shoot good groups ... I don't care where the good groups are .... them "knobby thingy's" will move the groups where we want them.
Keep it fun as well, especially the younger kids .... I sometimes bring a set of computer speakers and plug in an MP3 player and dance around behind them ... a real good way to embarass your daughters. (I tell them I was a pretty good dancer in my youth) Have cookouts .... hamburgers, hotdogs, and good desserts after practice every once in a while is good. Not all will join in, but if you get a trickle of a team going, they will work for their friends as well.
Ramble .... ramble, ramble ..... the best advise .... hit the coach school....
We start our "year" after the state fair .... basically about the same time as school starts.
I have about 10 Novices ... 4 are serious and I have them shooting all three positions now, just in the last month or so for the newer ones. This is sort of heresy I think, but I start them off a bench, and when they can shoot 75 or so, I'll move them into prone. At 60-70 in prone I'll move them to kneeling, and then it depends how strong they are before I'll move them to standing. Some of my little 9 year olds have a rough time even with an XSV-40 with a mousepad buttplate, so I really don't rush them.
My juniors and seniors, once they learn all the positions, pretty much get the same drill. Maybe 1/5 of the time I'll have them shoot a 3x10 ... not a whole lot, just to keep them in touch with moving from position to position.
Maybe 2/5ths of just standing & NPA drills in standing. Lots of ideas there.
Another 2/5ths of 2-position "combos". Prone-Standing or Standing-Kneeling .... mostly standing kneeling. For my kids it's a special day when they get to shoot on a prone target. If you look at our backstops, standing gets torn up pretty quickly, kneeling has large gaps, and the prone you could shoot a match on. We change out the cardboard when they cannot find a good place to pin the standing targets on.
Do you have time to take the Coach School? That probably helps me the most. Here's a link: http://www.nrahq.org/education/training ... chools.asp
I try not to stress the score so much in practice. I'd rather they know how to work those "knobby things", and not be afraid to do so as well as to stress the importance of NPA. Many of our practices now, I have my shootes hang a single target in the standing position and then shoot around it 3-4 times .... not 3-4 shots in each bull, but around the bulls 3-4 times. It helps them see the patterns in their shooting that are not apparant when they continually fire at a single bull then move on.
(I do keep track of their scores if they fire 1 shot per bull on targets, but that is for my own nerdy purposes .... I take the targets home, score them, enter into the spreadsheets and then give them back to them)
I prefer not to have them total up the targets the night they shoot them ... they do of course, while they are bringing them back to my table, but I like to go over the target with them looking for patterns or discussing with them why that looks like a good (or bad) target.
One of the marine JROTC instructors taught me to have them shoot good groups ... I don't care where the good groups are .... them "knobby thingy's" will move the groups where we want them.
Keep it fun as well, especially the younger kids .... I sometimes bring a set of computer speakers and plug in an MP3 player and dance around behind them ... a real good way to embarass your daughters. (I tell them I was a pretty good dancer in my youth) Have cookouts .... hamburgers, hotdogs, and good desserts after practice every once in a while is good. Not all will join in, but if you get a trickle of a team going, they will work for their friends as well.
Ramble .... ramble, ramble ..... the best advise .... hit the coach school....
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isuguncoach
- Posts: 99
- Joined: Wed Nov 16, 2005 1:49 pm
- Location: central illinois
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Stressing center shots and not scores, I will have them shoot a one shot match for a small bag of gummy bears. Even the beginning shooters can win on a one shot match and win a bag of gummy bears. Another idea is to get the Shoot and C targets, the little dots that turn yellow when you hit them, get the smaller ones, or better yet a mixture of larger and smaller, put them on a sheet of paper that is hung on the backer. In teams of two (I try to put a better shooter with a new shooter) and have a side by side match with two teams and the winner "breaks" them the quickest/fewest shots. Working on centering shots and getting the NPA on the target. Matching a better shooter with a new shooter helps with a team attitude and helping each other. It is surprising how often the new shooter "saves" a team effort.
I do several other games, that stress center shots, and work to emphasis form and balance and not the score. Any thing to help the young shooter realize that what happens on the shooters side of the firing line controls what happens on the target.
I do several other games, that stress center shots, and work to emphasis form and balance and not the score. Any thing to help the young shooter realize that what happens on the shooters side of the firing line controls what happens on the target.
If you're an NRA member, perhaps you could get a Marksmanship program going? It gives the shooters something to work for, giving them reason to come back weekly.
http://www.nrahq.org/education/training ... /index.asp
Kinda' new here, so forgive if I'm doing something wrong.
http://www.nrahq.org/education/training ... /index.asp
Kinda' new here, so forgive if I'm doing something wrong.