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Shooting Great Points


Jake Di Vita

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At the Illinois Section this past week I completed a pretty major goal by shooting 94.01% of the available match points. Shooting Production, the entire match I had 1 D and 1 Mike, and a total of 21 Cs.

I was pretty happy with that, my finish would have been a tad better had I not had a bunch of misfires, but other than that I'm thrilled. :D

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BigDave,

The Mike should never have happened, it was on the last stage and I got seriously pimped by the RO. But I once heard you need to focus on the good rather than the bad.

....seriously pimped..... :D ....versus partially pimped..... :P

What did that dude do to offend your sensibilities?

(I agree with not dwelling on the bad events of life or shooting, but I like to learn from others)

Great job with 94%!......AND only 1 D

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BigDave,

The Mike should never have happened, it was on the last stage and I got seriously pimped by the RO. But I once heard you need to focus on the good rather than the bad.

I know and not that I'm anyone anyway, but I was just holding you up on the miss. I agree we should always find the positive, but some things (not shooting related) lately have reminded me that even when you focus on the good, the bad things are still there and need to be dealt with. That's all.

+94% in a big match is flat outstanding, BTW. ;) Great job.

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Thanks guys.

Ok well here is what happened. Looking back on it, it is as much my fault as the RO's. This was just the first time something like this happened and I wasn't sure how to deal with it.

So the story is. Last stage of the match. I'm shooting good with only 1 D and no penalties. This is going to be my first penalty free major match. I get up to the line and it's a fast stage with a lot of movement, those who know me know that is my strength.

I get up on the line and the RO says load and make ready. So I load the Beretta up and de-cock it. The RO then interupts me and says I decocked my gun over the berm. I just kinda look at him and he proceeds to tell me how unsafe that is because if the gun malfunctioned and a round went off it would go over their low berms. So I say OK and then try and get focused. He proceeds to continue talking for a good few minutes while I'm trying to be nice and acknowledge what he says. He mentions not wanting to see me DQ'd a few times (which is a big no no to say to any shooter that is about to shoot a stage). So after his few minutes of rambling when I am all screwed up and says immediately shooter ready, standby, beep. I kind of froze and then started shooting which caused me to seriously flub the draw and get a mike on my 6th shot in the stage.

I was extremely miffed. If you REALLY have a problem with how I handle my gun you have 2 options. DQ me if what I did was truly unsafe, or wait till the end of the freaking stage to start gabbing like a school girl at a slumber party to me.

Looking back on it I know I shouldn't have started at that time and since my head was so screwed up I should have requested being put one or two down in the shooting order so I could re-center myself.

Ultimately it didn't affect my placement at all, but it did keep me from achieving my biggest goal of the year which was to shoot a penalty free match.

So that is the story. ;)

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Jake,

That bites. Sorry to hear that.

I disagree a bit with the "only focus on the good" (Lanny, right?) theory. I think we need to acknowledge the bad, address it, then move on. If we don't have some closure on it, it seems to creep back in.

I'm glad you choose to share the RO story. It gets it out of your system, plus it is out there as a lesson to others.

Now...I really like hearing about all those points. Great work.

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BTW, don't feel too bad about the distraction. You were right. You don't need somebody talking, especially about a DQ, right when you get ready to shoot.

At this years Nationals, we watched as one of the very best in the world shot stage 3...the stage with the hand on the mug start and the two distant poppers.

This shooter noticed that the no-shoot guarding the wall next to the two close paper target (from that start position) needed taped up. He asked the RO to paste it. Sure enough...he hit that no-shoot.

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Jake,

Congratulations on your result, but I'm also disappointed to hear of your problem. I wasn't there, but I doubt the RO was intentionally trying to spook you - my bet is that he was being over zealous with a relative "youngster".

However I'm also pleased to note you realised that you could've asked the RO to stand you down so that you could compose yourself and, with the benefit of hindsight, that's exactly what you should've done.

Anyway, that's water under the bridge. Onwards and upwards, and I have no doubt we'll be hearing about your 100% in the near future, and, to that end, I wish you the very best of luck.

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Thanks Vince. I guess I'll chalk that one up as another learning experience. Even though I haven't placed all that great in matches this year, I've learned a TON.

Flex,

I agree that you do need to recognize the bad and I do. I try and make notes of what I consider I did bad on a stage but after I do that I don't think about it again till I can practice to get better at it.

You do have to recognize and accept what you did wrong to be able to improve.

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