Three-time Olympian and 1992 Olympic Medalist Bob Foth is the Director of Training for the CMP. Bob was a principle contributor to the CMP’s first CD-ROM, Rifle Safety and Marksmanship Training, and is now preparing the CMP Junior 3-Position air rifle summer camp series. During the rest of the year, Bob represents CMP by teaching clinics for junior shooters, coaches and clubs. If you have a question for Bob, you can drop us an e-mail at ontarget@odcmp.com. We may use your question in his column.

Question: I have a question about training techniques as compared to match techniques. I've been having trouble trying to apply the same techniques in matches that I do in practice. For instance, all season in kneeling I worked on staying relaxed and not staring at my shots, but when I get in a match I want to look at it too long. I'm getting the relaxed part, but I seem to hold too long on some shots, which is making a big difference in my kneeling scores. This seems to happen mostly in kneeling, but this can be a problem in all three positions. If you have any suggestions I would be very appreciative. Thanks

Answer: Relaxation is a key for kneeling and for all three positions. I have observed many great practice shooters struggle in matches (or good local shooters struggle in national competitions). Their Their positions are great when they are relaxed, but they don't hold up under pressure.

I have a couple of things for you to try.

Position: Try working on a kneeling position that allows you to stay relaxed in big matches as well as in practice. This could work if match pressure is causing a tiny bit more movement, or even just less confidence. That could be enough to make you look longer without realizing why. To get this type of position, shorten your stock length to zero. Try moving the butt plate further to the right, so the recoil is coming back into your body. Reorient your position so that you are around behind the rifle. When you relax, you should slump directly toward the target. This gets tight shoulder-buttplate contact and controls recoil better ( another possible source for a lack of confidence). Keep your left forearm in a straight line with your thigh. Make sure your left shin is vertical or foot a tiny bit forward, not back. Use the roll thickness to get the right body elevation. You may need to stretch the outside of the left hip and shoulder if the muscles there are tight.

Technique: One way to deal with the match situation is to plan in advance to be particularly watchful for overholding and to expect to abort more holds in the match. You may be able to formalize a time period or number of breaths in the pre-shot cycle. You could also try video taping yourself in practice. Report results verbally, so that when you watch the tape you can correlate what you see with outcomes. Look for patterns of overholding (if any in practice). Does it vary during a string of 40 shots, or with the number of shots between breaks/position resets? Make a log of shot timing and results from the video.