Posted: 10/1/2007 3:53:10 PM EDT
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To a video of me and some other shooters, shooting a Texas star. Linkage |
Of course that's the video you post I'm sure glad that Jerry didn't put up video of the classifier. I think I took so long to finish it that his memory card probably got filled up. I'm going to have to miss this month's match though since I'll be at Front Site learning to shoot my rifle. I may make the Dundee match on the 27th though. |
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Actually, Mike had a good match. He came in at just under 50% within his division, competing against some good, experienced Production Division competitors. In this particular stage, his personal competitive style served him well. Essentially, this was a 'survival stage'. Difficult targets test accuracy; easy targets test speed. Mike's good at hitting difficult targets, because he's a conscientious shooter and always wants to hit what he's shooting at. Unfortunately, when we try to speed up at IPSC matches, our accuracy rate drops. Mike refused to sacrifice speed for accuracy, and this was exactly what was needed here. You who watched the video saw that he worked very hard at getting first-shot hits, and a lot of people who have been shooting longer forgot to match their shooting style to the competitive challenge. Mike didn't. That's why Norm, who is a Master-class shooter, looked very impressive only because he can miss faster than most people. He didn't do 'better' than Mike; he only did 'worse', but did it faster. This stage was a very good match to Mike's shooting style. Most IPSC shooters go through that awkward period when we realize that we can hit the targets, but we need to go faster. (I've been shooting IPSC for 24 years now, and I'm still not 'good' at this.) That typically causes a lot of problems until we learn when to slow down, when to speed up, and most important how to call our shots. And that's why the video/article is titled "There Will Be Trouble". This is an exceptionally challenging stage, because of the mix of small steel targets and big change-of-speed IPSC targets, plus the always challenging Texas Star, which Mike did 'just right'. That he did well on the Star speaks well for his technical skill. Actually, Mike is a better shooter than he realizes. If I had to offer a criticism, it would be that he forgets the need to shoot accurately on full-size IPSC (cardboard) targets, and gets the occasional miss. When he gets this part right, he'll jump up another class in no time. You heard it here first. Mike's a good guy to shoot with. We (SWMBO and I) always try to get him to squad with us at matches because he always does his share of the work, has a good sense of ethics and shooting etiquette, good sense of humor, highly developed gun-handling skills, and because he's a genuinely nice guy. As for filming the Classifiers, they're either boring or embarrassing when you screw up. I've filmed Classifiers, and I've posted some of them, but usually I'm the guy who screws up, so you won't see many of them on my website. Respectfully submitted; Jerry the Geek |
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Yeah, I'm getting a hundred hits a day on the video from here, tens of hits a day from the "Boise" forum. You're a real popular guy, Mike. I gotta take more pictures of you in the future! Well, you deserve the attention. You did a great job on the Texas Star stage, and you showed the rest of us how it should be shot. When are you going to start charging for shooting lessons? |