TargetTalk

I want to know what is a good way to measure progress.
So far I have been mostly shooting for score the entire AP and FP course.

I have gone up about 25-30 points in AP and not had a chance to check FP as I am just starting to shoot FP.

What is the best way to measure progress and how?
I also want to know under ideal circumstances, what can I expect to gain in two months. That is training every day and working on drills.

I know this subject is very dependent on training conditions and individual but I guess I am looking for something to shoot for.

Jose

P.S. please don't make this post a look how much I can shoot post :)

I have gone up about 25-30 points in AP and not had a chance to check FP as I am just starting to shoot FP.

FORGET scores. how much are your groups tightening up, and how consistent are your group centres?

What is the best way to measure progress and how?

group size and consistency of group centres

I also want to know under ideal circumstances, what can I expect to gain in two months. That is training every day and working on drills.

you have missed mentioning how often you are in the training drills/sessions with your COACH(!)

I know this subject is very dependent on training conditions and individual but I guess I am looking for something to shoot for.

Better group size and consistency of group centres

(please forgive the 'terse' response: it has been a hard slog of a couple of days of running competition and one more day to go)

Spencer

When I started shooting (about 14 months ago now) I was on my own (no coach) and wasn't logged onto this site. I thought the only way to progress was to measure my scores, and shoot as best I could. Of course, ultimately, we all want to get good scores in competition.

A long search through the posts on this site, or 2 hours with a good coach, will convince you of the importance of focussing body and mind on the process. Process, process, process: Sight alignment, squeeze trigger. The frustrating thing for a beginer (which I still consider myself to be) is that there is not much 'feedback' on progress from concentrating on this process if you are on your own.

If its any help for you, I will share 2 methods I use for feedback. First, at the end of every session I score my cards and write them down in my diary. Once every three months I collate all my session scores (from my training excercises - i.e. not just standing there and shooting for scores)into monthly means and standard errors and plot them. By distancing the collation of scores (i.e. once every 3 months) from individual sessions I get a long-term over-view of my progress. In reality, progress (at least for me) happens over this time scale anyway - checking on your session scores and expecting to see dramatic changes probably re-enforces a score-driven mentality (ratehr than a process driven one). I am heartened by a steady linear increase - meaning there is still potential to tap AND focussing on the process IS working. That feedback keeps me fired up and hungry. Interestingly the main jumps in performance came when I (i) stopped stressing about scores and (ii) found a coach.
This leads me on to the second, most important and most proximate form of feedback: "GET A (good) COACH".

Everyone probably has a different way of measuring their progress, and differing needs for reassurance during their development: this is a personal view. Hope it helps.

Good luck.

Hi,
You can of course measure how high score you can get, the more you shoot the higher the top score will be. That is nice.
But, if you take a note as what was your LOWEST score every week, then you can probably look back in your calendar after a year and see progress or not.

Progress is when you learn more, not just working harder.

Kent

Suggestions for record keeping and measuring success

Training Sessions:

State the Goal - Number of perceived good executions versus total attempts.

Shooting Sesions:

Score 10 shot (or whatever number strings by shot.

Use this data to monitor:

1. First shot score (no warm up's, etc. the actual first shot)

2. Score strings - by shot and total (9,10,8,9,9,10,10,10,10,10 - 95; Do not score each individual shot as it is shot, too distracting.

3. Percentage of acceptable shots (For example if a 9 is acceptable, then all shots 9 or better are good so the 95 above would be 90% out of 100%)

4. Average of first 5 shots (Checking performance, not score)

5. Average of last 5 shots (Again, performance, not score at the end of the session)

Just some thoughts.


Cecil Rhodes

What can you control?

Behaviors.

Should you measure things you can't control?

Of course not.

Therefore

1) Identify the proper behaviors to be executed
2) Come up with performance criteria for these behaviors
3) Measure your performance on those behaviors, against those criteria

I use a 1-7 point Likert Scale (1 being "didn't execute at all" and 7 being "executed as perfectly as I have hte capacity to observe") on the following behaviors:

a- approach to target
b- time to settle/quality of settle
c- quality of maintaining alignment
d- quality of trigger release (conscious awareness = bad)
e- quality of trigger response curve (assessed using RIKA)
f- quality of follow through (assessed by eyeball and RIKA)

So, after every shot, I use my judgement and observation to score a, b, c, d, and f; and use Rika to score e and to compare with observation on f.

Each shot process then earns a score between 6 and 42.

This can be scored while either live or dry firing against either a blank surface or distraction (aiming) bull. Which is good, since training should take place in all four environments.

When live firing "for score" under "match conditions" (done only once a week) I simply assess "Behaviors" as either a Yes (everything executed properly) or No (some error in behavior).


One More Time, With Feeling:

HOLES IN PAPER ARE NOTHING MORE THAN A SIDE EFFECT OF YOUR BEHAVIORS!!!!

Steve Swartz

What, you're not using a weighted score for your seven behaviors? :-)