When I wrote my first coaching book — The ISSF Academy Official Coaching Guide to Olympic Trap — it was in response to a constant series of requests from students for a book that would set out the coaching process and offer a guideline to teaching the technique. That first book was a great success and it quickly sold out.…
Thoughts on being a custodian of coaching knowledge and sharing coaching experience From my earliest days as a shooter, I have always searched for guidance and coaching but was always disappointed at the scarcity that was available. I wanted an experienced shotgun coach to set me off on my career. Being based in Ireland, Olympic shooting is not a big…
My Personal style and method of coaching The process of shotgun coaching has always been something the has been of great interest to me. Over the many years that I have been coaching, I have had the opportunity to learn many tried and trusted techniques to bring knowledge and education to the shooters that I have coached. I now find…
Tactics are defined as an action or method that is planned and used to achieve a particular goal.1In our case we can define tactics to refer to any activity we can plan for in advance of the competition to maximise the outcome of the competition or goals set for that competition. In this sense we can also include tactics with…
In the second in a series of coaching books covering Olympic Trap and Olympic Skeet, Kevin Kilty has written a complete guide for both coaches and shooters to the Olympic Skeet shotgun event. The book helps shooters and coaches to understand the principles of coaching and improving their performance. Based on the structured coaching system that Kilty has developed and…
We all have a built-in sense of timing and of rhythm. We rely on it subconsciously every day as we go about our activities. It permeates all that we do from walking and running, to the speed at which we speak to even how fast we type on a keyboard. As coaches we might see timing as an essential component…
The importance of movement control and the efficient performance of skill based actions during the shooting technique and how they relate to the initial movement of the athlete and gun in the Clay Target disciplines. Movement to the target “Smooth, Smooth, Smooth!” was a coaching phrase I learned from a well respected and successful shotgun coach. He would say this…
In the previous post we explored the wider scope of performance planning and how it can help coaches to structure their yearly programme. Within that process we distilled the requirements of the performance down through a series of training periods until we arrived at the day to day training activity which is controlled through the use of session plans. For…
A coaches guide to building performance plans Over the past few months, many coaches will have been quietly working on their competition and training plans for the coming year and these plans will for many be the key feature in achieving their success. The planning process within shooting sports is no different from any other sport. Considerable research has been…
Photo: Cory Cogdell (USA) showing the initial saccade of the eye from the hold point to the target as it emerges from the trap. I often ask a specific question on the ISSF Academy courses and it goes something like; “What is the reaction of your eyes when the target comes out from the trap house?” The answers are always…
