Originally Posted by
Gio
I used to think this was the case, but after working with and coaching hundreds of shooters, I think some people just really don't have what it takes to make M or GM. I also think others have a much easier time moving up the classification ranks, especially if they played sports to a high level as a youth. I know several A, B, and C class shooters that have put in a tremendous amount of work, shoot more than I do annually, attend every class in the area with top instructors, and dry fire daily, and they cannot break that glass ceiling. One shooter in particular regularly beats M and sometimes GM level shooters at major matches, but he seems to crash and burn on classifiers and cannot get out of A class, despite desperately wanting to. His inability to move up is 100% mental and has nothing to do with physical shooting skills.
Another shooter I have trained with is stuck in B class and has been for a few years. He also regularly wins B class and finishes in the mid-A class range at major state and area level matches. For him, I think his biggest hurdle is overall coordination and athleticism. He does not seem to have any fast twitch muscles in his body. He has read all the books, done all the classes, dry fires regularly, live fires once a week, has access to unlimited ammo, and I have trained with him and seen him setup good beneficial drills and not just waste his time, and yet he still can't get over the hump to A or M.