Re-Stating The Goal

Re-Stating Goals

One of the things that I always feel is important is keeping my goals in mind when I’m working on something. It’s easy to get wrapped up or sidetracked, but I need to focus to achieve my aims as far as shooting. I’ve got friends and co-workers who are not into shooting who just don’t understand the level of commitment that you need to have to excel in the sport. They think that shooting is simply a matter of pulling a trigger and the bullet will hit the center of the target, easy as can be. Putting it in perspective, current IPSC champ, and 2013 USPSA Production Champion, Eric Grauffel, shoots over 150,000 rounds a year. Think about what kind of a commitment that means, we are talking 12,500 rounds a month. Over the next 5 months, I’m anticipating shooting about 1,000 rounds a month in practice and match. Serious competitors will often shoot more. Natural talent, and hand eye coordination will get you someplace, but no matter who you are, you need to practice. It’s time consuming, it can get expensive, and it requires a commitment to consistently getting work in. Not many people just pick up a gun and can shoot, or shoot USPSA well.

Eric Grauffel

Les has not laid out the entirety of “Plan B”, but it’s going to require three sessions a week of dry fire, for 30 minutes each time. There will be a bi-weekly range session of class, using no more than 150-200 rounds of ammo. There will be a weekly practice session for Dave and I of about 2 hours, and that same 150-200 rounds of ammo. There will also be 4-5 boxes of .22 work thru the 5 months, or another 2,000 to 2,500 rounds in total.  In addition there will be 2-3 matches to shoot most months. I’m just not going to sleep walk thru this, and wake up a “B” shooter by March. I’m going to need to dedicate myself to the practice, and the education, and make it happen.

As part of the process, I’m going to set down with Les, and talk about some milestones, progress marks that I want to achieve over the next 5 months, so that I know I’m absorbing the material, but that I’m demonstrating the progress as well. It’s hard to have a goal without having a way to measure how you are doing.

While I’ve been adamant that B is a starting point for me, rather than an ending, I need to be clear about what B means to me. I think that a B Card will mean that I possess fundamental skills, the ability to be accurate, focus on my front sights, draw and reload comfortably, transition, shoot at a cadence, and more often than not, call my shots. The thing that I can’t quantify is that I expect that in learning those things, I’ll also have given myself the tools to better assess my performance, and see things that I can work on and improve. As an example, if I get my B card with a 1.2 second draw, will I then have the ability to see, and further work that number downwards? I expect that I will be able to do just that. In short, I want to be improving skills, rather than developing skills.

Ben Stoeger

I do have some longer term goals, I’d like to earn my A card by the end of 2014, and in the process shoot several major matches, and earn a plaque or two with good finishes. I want to show improvement all summer long. I would like to shoot my first USPSA Nationals event, as much for the experience, but also to watch, learn and test myself at that level. I have no illusions; but I need to get that level of experience. Beyond that, I’d like to work towards my Master card in the spring/summer of 2015, and then see if I can push myself to a GM card.

Lofty goals, short and long, but knowing that I have them, gives me an ending, now I need to get thru Plan B, develop my skills, and then start coming up with intermediate measuring sticks so I can stay on a path to achieve what I am setting out to do. To some it may sound crazy to be talking of earning a GM card, when I’m currently a 29.9% D shooter, but those are long term goals. Step one begins on Saturday, and that’s my focus, I’ll come back and take a look at these in March, and see if I’m on path.

It’s time to get to work.