Train of thought

Malcolm Plant asks what use is a coach to both clay and game shooters?

- Malcolm Plant

I would say this wouldn’t I, but anyone keen on shotgun sports will, at some stage in their shooting career, find benefit from the advice of a qualified coach.

For the novice Shot and early developer, an understanding of all the basics for successfully and consistently hitting a moving target will make their early shooting years much more rewarding. Experienced participants frequently encounter a downturn or, for competition clay shooters, a plateau of capability, where for unknown reasons things are not going so well.

The role of the coach is to work themselves out of a job, not to create dependency. The good coach tries to convey an understanding of what is going wrong or hampering the capability of the client, and provides the information that allows the client to recognise and diagnose an underlying problem and develop a route to improvement. The more advanced the shooter, the more the coach listens and observes.

The early developer

There are fundamental pieces of information and practical learning that the shotgun shooter needs to acquire. I would suggest the newcomer books a couple of lessons to start with, but understand that people learn and develop their capabilities at different speeds. So, give yourself the appropriate time for you to digest the input you have been given. Also, you can assess how well you got on with the coach.

It is worth asking the coach you have identified what the training will include. The early lesson must contain the following bedrock information: