USPSA Class with Matt Mink

[double_pedro]

Matt Mink came to our town in southern Louisiana and gave a two day class geared towards USPSA competition this past weekend. The conditions were less than ideal: temps in 90's, 100% humidity, and slightly soggy conditions (but no rain despite 30-50% chance each day), but we dodged the rain and enjoyed two full days of instruction from one of the top Production shooters in the world.

I can't say enough good things about Matt or the class. The first day we focused on a wide range of drills covering fundamentals and developing good technique for balancing accuracy and speed. Sprinkled throughout were pearls of wisdom that often made something suddenly "click". Matt took a very efficient approach - highlighting the proper technique and most important points of each drill, and then allowing the student to spend enough time on each to drive the points home. Additional drills were suggested and described to address specific problem areas brought up by the students. By the end of the first day (700 rounds later), everyone was totally exhausted.

The second day was devoted to shooting a large and deceptively difficult field course. Often times I have shot a stage in a match wishing I could shoot it again and to explore different strategies. This was that chance and to do it under the watchful eye of one of the best and get constant feedback on what you did well and what you could do better - and how to do it. We started out analyzing the stage ourselves to come up with an initial plan and then ran it a few times for a baseline. Then Matt walked each of us through the course and pointed out possible pitfalls and trade-offs. From this, we formulated new plans and ran it again and again with Matt continually watching and tweaking our technique at each point in the stage. For some things, improvement was immediate and substantial. In other cases, just identifying an area in need of improvement and understanding how to practice for improvement was a tremendous success. As before, everyone was thoroughly exhausted by the end of the day.

Let me say in closing that Matt is an excellent instructor and a wealth of information. After spending 16 hours on the range together, it would be very hard NOT to get your money's worth. If anyone has the opportunity to organize or attend one of his classes, by all means do so.

[BFDinLA]

Speed! Matt Mink has ratcheted-up my shooting in two HOT days.

Yeah, it was really hot; and yeah, it was really humid; and yeah, I was worn out; but Matt was always the professional. Moreover, I got faster. Faster than I thought I could. Best of all, I did not have to sacrifice my score (USPSA scoring system) or accuracy (hitting the A-Zone) for speed - both improved!

Matt pushed me to the edge of my shooting capabilities and just beyond. As Matt said, “Practice at 110%. Then for the match, shoot at 101%.”

Unless you push yourself just beyond your limits, you will never shoot through the confines you put on yourself.

How fast can you go? I know how fast I can go today. And I know, with practice and Matt’s techniques, I can go a little faster tomorrow.

If you want to shoot better and shoot better scores, you want a weekend of shooting with Matt Mink.