The Equalizer- Developing
the ability to move through a stage in practical shooting is truly on
of the things that allows certain shooters to dominate in the sport.
Some examples:
TGO-Rob Leatham:
Rob is the master of movement when it comes to finding areas in a
stage that he can move through rather than stand still. His "small"
continual movements keep him in position to be shooting sooner than
most shooters, and he often equalizes the faster sprints movers (the
young guys) by moving through areas and positioning himself better than
anyone else. I have spent hours watching his movement on video, and
have noticed that he is always moving. When most people look at a
shooter, they notice fast agressive movements, but rarely see the
subtle movements that someone like Rob uses to save time. Those
movements include slowing through a position while shooting, yet never
stopping, as well as exiting a position by shifting body weight and
taking subtle steps out of a position. Broken down in a purely time
equation, I would guess there are several tenths of time to gain on
both ends of a position, the entry and the exit. Rather than just
standing, and then trying to aggresively move, Rob will finish his last
several shots and will be leaning and moving out of position while he
is still shooting. Others shooters will finish shooting and then
move, losing precious time.
Eric Graufell (French World Champion):
Eric is arguably the most talented shooter on the planet when it
comes to executing correct movement on a stage. When I first began to
analyze Eric and how he moves, I did it by watching his DVD over and
over. I was amazed by how Eric almost never stops on a stage (hmm are
we seeing a trend here, Rob and Eric both arguable the best overall
competitors on the planet never stop moving on most stages). Eric
practices shooting on the move at distances where most shooters would
not even consider trying to hit a target while on the move. Eric uses
his athletic style combined with absolute attention to the sights or
dot to hit shots at these distances. I had the pleasure of training
with Eric and getting some of his movement skills broken down.
How to:
There are really only a certain number of ways we can move on a stage,
and I will try to simplify and provide tips and thoughts for each:
Shooting while walking/running (shooting on the move)-
Forward.
Roll the feet from heel to toe. Keep the feet narrow. Knees must
be bent to cushion out upper body movement. Steps must be short (and
quick). Timing is not possible, try to pay continual attention to the
sights and their reference to the target, pressing the trigger when
they are stable. Following through the shot, and WATCHING where the
sights were when the gun went bang is the critical factor.
Backward.
Roll the feet from toe to heel. When stepping the rear, push the
foot to the rear while "dragging" the toe lightly across the ground,
"feeling" what the foot will travel over. Once again, keep the steps
short, and the gate (width of the feet) narrow. The funny thing, is
we are usually more stable when moving to the rear.
Angles.
Nothing changes with most angles except that the upper body pivots
like a tank turret toward the targets. Beyond about 45 degrees from
the front, the toe of the foot in the direction of the target should
point roughly toward the target. This will pivot the hips enough so
that we can keep the muzzle on target.
Sideways. Usually we
move sideways at slower speeds and aren't really moving very fast.
This movement allows us to gain a few steps over our competitors (if we
get physically farther ahead on the course, we theoretically gain 1-2
tenths of a second per step. Movement should be by rolling from the
outer edge of the foot to the inner edge very much like movement
forward and backward. Crossing the feet is a must, even though the
"tactical" guys will rant that we may trip when moving like this (how
do professional sports players ever stay on their feet?).
Gunside
(pivoting on the foot where the gun is). The head HAS to move first,
and this critical point will cause the rest of our body to follow.
While the head moves, the upper body including the shoulders should
begin to pivot around. During this time, we are gripping the gun and
also starting to pivot our gunside foot (on the ball of the foot)
around. The direction would be clockwise for a right handed shooter,
and the opposite for a lefty. This is the pivot I feel is the most
consistent and easiest to do. I will try to post a video of the
footwork here.
Non-gunside. This pivot is done basically the
same, but obviously we must pay attention to our gun and when we
actually remove it from the holster. If we draw too quickly, we might
break the safety line and get disqualified! Be careful!
Stepping
Pivots- The difference in a stepping pivot and a regular pivot is that
a stepping pivot is initiated by stepping (to the front of rear, usually
the rear)
The strong or support side foot will step
forward or rearward directly in front of or behind the other foot.
During this step the upper body will begin to pivot in the same
direction while we grip our gun. The other foot simply steps into
position finalizing the shooting stance.
