VERY FOUR YEARS at the Olympics, America gets a glimpse of the clay-target games the rest of the world shoots. International, or bunker, trap and international skeet are revved-up versions of the ones you know. The targets are faster, the degree of difficulty higher, and hardly anyone shoots a perfect score. Although the U.S. has produced dominant Olympic shooters in Kim Rhode and Vincent Hancock, there are still very few places in this country to practice the international games. One is the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, where I recently visited and met several U.S. team members and a legendary coach. What I learned from them can make you a better shot at birds or clays.

CHEYENNE WALDROP, ON MAKING SECOND SHOTS

HER STORY

Cheyenne Waldrop started shooting a .22 rifle at age 5, when a counselor told her parents that shooting would help Cheyenne resolve anger problems by making her calm down and focus. Her father insisted that she join her high-school trap team as a freshman in Forest Hill, Calif. “I didn’t want to. I was afraid the gun would knock me flat,” says the 5-foot 1-inch, 109-pound Waldrop. It didn’t, and now she’s on the National Junior Team.

HER TOP TIP

Find your rhythm for taking second shots. Coming to the two-shot game of international trap from the single-shot game of ATA trap, Waldrop had to learn how to deal with a second target quickly following the first one. In the beginning, she just threw her second shot immediately after the initial one, wasting it. Eventually she found her rhythm. “It’s like a heartbeat,” she says. “Allowing a little pause after the first shot gives you a chance to make micro- adjustments to make the second.”

HOW TO PRACTICE