Match Reports
World Shoot XV - Bali, Indonesia 2008
It was a long, long, long trip to Bali, but I guess in the end it turned out alright. 2008 was a difficult year for me, I started a new job in the middle of a very bad economy, and we had our 2nd child nearly the same day I started my new job. Morgan came out nearly 2 months too early but all ended well. Due to all of that, I did not get to practice at all the entire 2008 shooting season. The only 2 matches I shot was the USPSA Production Nationals, and I just tried to survive that match, and World Shoot XV in Bali, Indonesia. At Nationals all I managed to get was 5th overall, at the World Shoot, well that was a different story.It began months earlier with more than a few serious Production shooters vying for one of the coveted spots on the official USPSA team. After the selection process, the team ended up in order of points: Bob Vogel, myself, Angus Hobdell, and David Olhasso. Finally!!! A US Production team that could win the team title! By the way, the US had never won the Production title since its addition to the World Shoot in 2002. Not only that, but I believed that any one of us on the team could have a shot at the overall title. I was stoked, and began training for the World Shoot soon after I was on the team.
However in 2008, with a very stressful job change, and a very stressful birth of our son, my shooting schedule died. I didn't get to practice.....period. I believe I shot only 800 rds the entire year leading up to the World Shoot. Needless to say I was not happy with that nor did I feel good going into the match. I was despondant that I would let the team down and we would not capture the title.
On the very long plane trip over, Bob Vogel and I got to know each other better, and not only that, began to talk about each others technique. I told him I knew I was unprepared, out of shape, and slow, but I could only do as good as I could at that point in time. One of the techniques we talked about was grip strength and how I noticed he crushes the gun when shooting, I however use a very relaxed grip. I then told him I would shoot every shot at the World Shoot as an aimed shot, and I would firm up my grip just to change something to force me to aim the entire match.
The long and short of it is.....it worked! The first day of the match went well, with only a miss on a swinger. The 2nd day I ramped up the speed and had too many penalties, then I backed it down for days 3 thru 6 and Bob told me I shot the best days he had ever seen me shoot in the nearly 3 years we had known each other. I was never in contention for the lead position, that spot was Adam Tyc's and his alone. That kid is a wonder to behold while shooting, nobody could touch him. A good sport too and fun to be around. Bob and I clawed our way out of the hole we dug on day 2 and fought back and forth and by the 6th day we passed everyone but Adam and I ended up 2nd and Bob ended up 3rd, each with 4 stage wins. And most importantly....the US Production team cleaned house!!! We won by a huge margin over the Czech Republic team and brought home the gold in the team event.
Moral of the story is....aiming works.