Those "little Things"

[Stefano]

Months ago I've read a very-interesting page of Rob Leatham where he says:

"... Not all shooters have the same basic skills or natural talents, but if you want to badly enough, and you work at it, you can be better than you are now. You are probably stagnant. You have hit a plateau and are not improving. This is not unique, we have all been there. You are being held back by what you know and don’t know. It’s my job, as an instructor, to recognize the mistakes and omissions and help you understand and formulate methods to improve.

Attention to detail in my training is what has set me apart as a competitor. My personal success is based on that refinement

You must understand that it’s all in those small details. The little things really make the biggest differences. When you begin to identify those “little things” yourself, you’ll start making corrections, automatically. This is the opening of the flood gates. I wouldn’t call it an epiphany, but you’ll be amazed at how easy it is to fix big problems when you recognize the little problem that is causing them....".

Is there a method to recognize by myself what are "those littles things" that could make the difference for gain a real improvement of my actual level ?

It's only (like Steve Anderson fairly says... ) the ability to recognize your weaknesses and transform they in strength points or .... there's something more ?

Doing a practical example, what are the most important skills and the main areas of training over I have to work for climbing from my actual level (top "B" class) to the upper one ("A" class and then Master) ?

Any suggestion will be welcome !

[IronEqualizer]

Check out Saul Kirsch's Thinking Practical Shooting book. There is an excellent section in there about how to identify the areas you need to work on. If you really sit back and look at your shooting you probably already know what needs work. Be honest with yourself. There is no one thing that will magically move you up in class it is just the refinement of all the little things you already know. I am just starting to figure this out myself. Hope this helps.

[Stefano]

Check out Saul Kirsch's Thinking Practical Shooting book. There is an excellent section in there about how to identify the areas you need to work on. If you really sit back and look at your shooting you probably already know what needs work. Be honest with yourself. There is no one thing that will magically move you up in class it is just the refinement of all the little things you already know. I am just starting to figure this out myself. Hope this helps.

I've already read Saul's book ... it's really great !

About my weakest areas .... yes, perhaps I've just found a couple of "hot points" I need to work on seriously:

- shooting on the move

- entering/exiting shooting positions

I really want to work a lot on it !

[JFlowers]

One thing I found that helped was pictures. My girlfriend video taped me on some stages and used the action mode of the digital camera on some stages. I found the still images of the action mode (basically hold down the button and the shutter works at a rapid speed) more helpfull. I could step through them and see all kinds of small things I was doing wrong. In the video I tended to lose the small things in the overall stream of action.

[Micah]

+1 for video. I have obtained a wealth of information by watching video of myself shooting. When it's on camera, analysis of your technique is much easier, and you can show the film to master, gm level shooters and ask them questions.

Another great thing about video is that you have qualifiable evidance of your improvement. I've been uploading my video onto Goole Video, and it is amazing watching the differences in my shooting from 10 months ago.