I'll buck the trend, I guess.
Until you have an adequate grasp of shooting fundamentals, competition will be an inefficient use of resources at best and form bad habits at worst.
I think competition is great and definitely has a place in developing a solid shooter. But that place is not at the beginning. There is no point testing your skillset under stress when your skillset is essentially empty.
Holy crap - I agree with Todd!
I agree with Todd as well. I by no means want to encourage or suggest that anyone start any form of competition until they have developed a solid basic skill set.
If my previous post led anyone to believe otherwise, I apologize for my poor written English skills.
Scott
Only Hits Count - The Faster the Hit the more it Counts!!!!!!; DELIVER THE SHOT!
Stephen Hillier - "An amateur practices until he can do it right, a professional practices until he can't do it wrong."
From my experience as both a trainer for over 20 years, and a competitor for over 30, one can certainly get to point B, (very skilled) from point A (unskilled) by practice and competition. At the rate one would likely practice and compete, the journey would probably take 5-10 years.
Or, that same unskilled person can get to point B by dedicating a year to taking 80-120 hours of skill building training, from excellent, well known instructors. The savings in time and ammo should more than pay for the cost of instruction.
Here's how I look at it:
First, competition is fun. That's reason enough to do almost anything. And if you're not having fun with your shooting I dare say you're not motivated to practice as much as you could be. More on the effect of motivation later.
Second, competition is a great test of how good you really are. You know how really good shooters who can shoot sub 4 second FAST drills at their home range tend to blow up when they're in a real class? It's because when you set up drills on your own you tend to fool yourself as to how good you really are. "Oh that run didn't count." "Oops, missed my draw, better try again." "On the 20th attempt I'm finally shooting like myself!" At a competition you get one attempt to get it right - on a shooting test that someone else (usually) set up. If you miss, if you aren't consistent, if you have a bad run - it's because that's how good (or bad) you really are - and everyone sees it.
Third, how many people who just shoot drills ever burn out? Not many. But competition makes people burn out all the time. Why is that a good thing? It's a good thing because it means you're really pushing yourself. If you can avoid the burn out, competition will push you to improve at a rate practically impossible for someone who just shoots for training when they feel like it, even if they run some good drills when they do so. In competition, if you don't have good fundamentals you better be ok with losing (and few are). If you have holes in your technique you better fix them or you're going to be exposed. That drive to win will light a fire that brings with it the risk of burn out, but it also brings the passion that needed to achieve greatness.
Use competition to evaluate your skills against others, tests/standards to evaluate them solo, and drills to address weaknesses found in both. Tests/standards provide a more concise way to determine weaknesses, competition does not.
Think for yourself. Question authority.
Holy crap indeed!Originally Posted by ToddG
Thanks sir.
Having spent the last year or so using competition as most of my "practice", I'll second the advice to get some training and concentrate on drills and tests at first. I did take two excellent classes last year (from Todd and Tom Givens), but didn't put in the time to really ingrain what I was taught. This year I hope to correct that by doing a lot more dry fire and live drills, making the fundamentals more consistent.
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Your first two reasons are why I am looking to get into more competition shooting this year.
I see shades of myself in the second part of your post, especially in the past, and I don’t like it so I am working to change it. Participation on this site and public reporting of shooting drills is part of that process for me.
Your last sentence is very, very true for me as well. Nothing motivates me to want to do better more than objectively measuring my performance and getting a score or rank or grade or something.
Just my opinion ...
Regular competition, if approached correctly, will accelerate the learning of the mechanic's and application of said mechanics quicker then just about any other method. It is unlikely to teach proper tactics or self defense techniques but then it was never really been intended to do so. I must take exception with the above statement that 2-3 week of classes a year will provide the same amount of exposure and skill developement as a years worth of competition (most new guys locally are shooting several matches a month year around), assuming the individuals commitment to practice being equal regardless of which route taken. I do agree with the statement that if you are going to attend training classes you should spend the time to ensure you find an 'excellent' instructor but how famous he/she is has nothing to do with nothing. I have paid for the pleasure of attending several classes over the years taught by "well known" instructors that were a waste of time and money.
Competition is an excellent way to test your skills under pressure, highlight your weaknesses, discover alternative techniques and is an excellent method to develope your skills especially when supplemented with targeted training from quality intructors and regular practice.
Bob Hostetter
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