burninator

Brian, Would this be a change in direction in your training (A) away from traditional 'practice' on the range or ( an addition to your current training? Everyone, And assuming this is a state of mind which can be cultivated, and if so then when should it be? Can the 'zone' be trained specifically? As John Rambo said "you don't just turn it off", but hey he was a bit of a goon and it appears to me like you have been able to focus your 'zone' switch. I have noticed the 'zone' in other sports but it is something that I have not experienced much in shooting but I have been there in a couple stages although I am a relatively new shooter. What was the specific processes you found in your training to help you achieve the zone consistently? Is there a maturity element to the zone? And as a new shooter I am still working on my fundamentals but the few stages in the 'zone' were significantly above my regular performance and allowed me to win stages. So from what I can see getting into the 'zone' allows a shooter to exercise all of their talent, but could this also be a reinforcement of potentially learned bad habits which I try so hard to get rid of during regular practice (ie poor finger placement on the trigger or a flinch and can these habits become 'instinctive')? Did you find that you needed a certain proficiency in shooting or maturity in skills before changing your focus to creating the right conditions for the magic or do you find that the conditions can be applied to any endeavour to make the magic happen? To be honest I have never really thought about specifically training for finding the zone but it is definitely intriguing and I will be reviewing other areas of my life where I have experienced it but it appears others, including yourself, have succesfully recongized and exploited the phenomenon and I look forward to any insights!

How about what you look at when you are coming into a box and ready to shoot? I would imagine that with a memorized course of fire the most efficient thing to do would be to have your gun already on target and shooting the instant you stop moving so you would be focused on the front sight. Have you found this a practical thing to do? Or is there a better way of finishing your movement from one area to another to get shooting again?

Great 'big picture' view which I need but am not advanced enough to identify yet! Definitely a few good things now to conciously think about when going about trying to practice or shoot!

I took my Black Badge course with Frank Vass and Walter Hornby last month and it included about 50% safety and 50% shooting instruction and included a couple stages we shot as well with some other shooters that came in to help on the 2nd day. Of those 8 that took the course I believe there was 7 that attended the next 2 matches and likely 5 that will continue on in the sport (although 2 were already shooting IDPA) and I believe this is due to positive experiences at our Black Badge course and our first match. Everyone was helpful and even the match director asked us all after if there was any thing they could improve on for us and for future groups which are new to shooting. I think that is really the key to grow the sport with new shooters, that you not only recognize it but ask the new people what worked and what didn't and try to continually improve the experience. So kudos to all of the IPSC Alberta officials and contributors for making it happen!