I would like to wish all of you [who celebrate it] a Merry Christmas. May the season be filled with joy for you and your loved ones and may the new year bring many "clean" strings for you. In this issue: Re: calling the shot / visualization Using a target scope for training? Current status of Sydney ranges ******************************************************************** Re: Calling the Shot. I have not had an opportunity to follow this thread all the way along and may therefore have a wrong impression. However, it appears that someone is expecting far more from CTS than I ever thought that it could provide. I have always believed that CTS was no more than a method where by the shooter is able to confirm proper technique execution, no more, no less. I have never believed that CTS produced any training benefit other than this. ie. If you call a 10 and you get a 7, then you need to correct something. I encourage its use during the sighting period to confirm technique execution and sight adjustment especially in beginning and intermediate shooters. I generally discourage the observation of results during competition for any number of reasons, thus no CTS is possible during a match. (Nor should it be required unless something untoward has occured.) Re: Visualization My understanding of proper visualization techniques agrees with Chet's. The recent research showing that 6-8 hours are required to properly store a motor program may explain the success of visualization exercises just prior to sleep at night. I have previously encouraged visualization exercises just before sleep and just after waking because I believed that the extremely relaxed state at these times encouraged the brains acceptance of these mental pictures. Would someone care to comment on the use of "affirmation statements" in light of this new work? Re: Misc. The general understanding that the competitor must engage in "one shot" matches is widely accepted. It is my anaecdotal observation that beginning and imtermediate shooters do much better when they are forced to shoot each shot according to the actual time limits. ie. When new shooters are left to their own rhythm they will almost invariably shoot through in 1/2 the time allowed. They are therefore not taking the time to clear their minds and to mentally prepare for the next "match" (shot). However, when they are forced to wait the entire time allowed for each shot, their scores go up dramatically. It is my own, undocumented observation that shooters and chess players both go through a development process where they at first go much too fast, then gradually slow down to a point that will occasionally get them into time trouble and then speed up just slightly and maintain that speed for the duration of their competitive career. The only exception to this are those times when a "flow" is experienced and the shooter/player may shoot/move very rapidly. I have not previously felt that forcing a slowing of a new shooters pace was helpful, believing that this change would occur naturally in time, however I am beginning to question that. Comments? Best regards, Phillip Williams ****************************************************************** Hello Mr Ray Scope for training. I have a scope Simmons 40X9 that i mount on my anschutz 2013, in such manner i can sight with almost the same head position i use with the diopter in prone. When i am in prone i can see trough the scope the impacts i make on the target and have a tremendous big picture of the target also with all movements increased. The questions about this thing: It is useful to train with a scope, increasing the attention with relaxation, find the centered natural position and balance in general ? This is useful with the tree positions? It is a reliable way to test ammo , shooting in prone? Despite of everything my anschutz get an "amazing" look :) Thank you Fabio Coelho - Brazil fjc@mandic.com.br http://www.geocities.com/colosseum/arena/7456 ****************************************************************** Everyone is entitled to their opinion on the status of the Anzac Rifle Range, Sydney, Australia. Tricia Van Nus, whose location is further away from Sydney than London's to Moscow, does not reflect the true position and anyone consulting the Net would be misled. This message is prepared by the Executive Director of the NSW Smallbore and Air Rifle Association [SBARA] who has handled all negotiations since Anzac Range was identified for sale in 1986. The Olympic Games 2000 will be held in Sydney, Australia. SBARA has assisted authorities, made its enthusiasm known and offered to provide Pre-Olympic Training opportunities. However, authorities preparing for the Games prefer to keep SBARA peripheral in planning and preparation. SBARA Shooting Sport is UIT and its active membership is over 40% of Australia's smallbore and air UIT shooters. Active shooting in Australia is administered at state level, not national. The Smallbore Malabar Range will remain in use after the Olympic Games. It is available for Pre-Olympic Training and subject to expressions of interest SBARA Council has set an unassisted budget for first stage of restoration for 30 lanes. SBARA was pursuaded by the Army to build, in 1980, at its own expense, a Headquarters and Range on land at Malabar. This was the culmination of overtures to locate there, begun in 1972. The term of the "lease" was forever. The complex was approved as a range in 1983. In 1986, the Commonwealth Budget included capital conversion to sell land on the Malabar Peninsula. Malabar was used by the Army until 1988 (at practical level it remains a desirable defence and security training ground in 1997) and lawfully used by the Associations. The value of the ranges themselves are, say, 5/8ths of the $1.5m valuation of the land. The shooting sport use of this range comprises probably the greatest number of regular shooters of any one range in the world. In 1986, the annual single event use of the ranges was 72,000. Every Saturday afternoon not less than 700 individuals were shooting. Requests by the Associations to negotiate a purchase of the land have apparently been ignored. As Leader of the Opposition, John Howard, leading to his becoming Prime Minister, wrote and promised that hte land would be available to the Associations until alternate ranges were ready for use at Holsworthy (at the time the State and Olympic international shooting complex development site). Mr John Fahey, then Premier of NSW, assured the SBARA Executive Director that Holsworthy was a firm commitment by the Government of NSW. In 1996, the Australian Estate Management prepared a contract of licence for NSWRA and a similar one to SBARA to assure continued use as a Rifle Range and occupation to July 2001. It follows that the Anzac Range is open for shooting in almost all disciplines until at least July 2001. After that promises might lead to the hope of an alternative site, but Cecil Park (the new Olympic Shooting Complex venue) has not been offered and may be under threat of housing development. It follows that if the Associations are evicted from Malabar it might bring their activities to an end. The shooting sports as encouraged by the Commonwealth since 1860 might cease in the Olympic Host State of NSW. UIT Shooting would suffer a severe setback. The movement of fill on the smallbore range has sculptured the covered firing points and headquarters but it is suitable for UIT club practices. Five diagram targets are the norm for Target Rifle Australia. In Australia only two ranges have single card target changers. A small facility at the Australian Institute of Sport has electronic targets, part funded by SBARA. In the Sydney Region there are six club 50 metre ranges up to 15 lanes. The Anzac Headquarter Range is equal to any of them for the purpose of training and has the advantage of being free of local planning noise and time restrictions on use. Sydney is a basin similar to Los Angeles with a high average humidity of say 70%, late September temperatures average about 21 degrees C with highs to 28 degrees C. Ambiet wind is fluctuating from 12 to 20 mph across the Basin, the littoral regions in climate/wind do not differ significantly from the inland rim of the basin. It follows these weather conditons affect every range in the Sydney region. Sydney shooters travel 300 miles inland in search of light to gentle winds. Plans for Malabar as the major international and Olympic site were prepared in 1978. The Olmypic design plan of 1978 addressed the preception of weather effects by landscaping and design technologies. In general there are no local controls which exclude the use of the ranges for Olympic Training from dawn to dusk. There is only one reservation. The present facilities are in need of maintenance. This is the inevitable effect, as would be expected, where the occupier has been under threat of eviction since 1986. At this time to prepare the smallbore range for visiting Olympic Teams would call for about $15,000 on buildings and the installation of single target changers [electronic targets are a matter aside]. The upgrading would be achieved in less than 6 months. There is no other realistic opportunity in Sydney to provide that the world might reasonably expect of the host. It may be guessed that Cecil Park will need supplementary ranges at the time of the Olympic Games and presently there are none. Cecil Park's availability before the Games Test Shoot has not been disclosed. Given the levels of expenditure on other sporting venues for the Games in Sydney, it is hard to understand the recalcitrant approach to the Shooting Sports, which have nothing comparable to Munich, Suhl, Zurich and others overseas. Ever since the preparation of the Sydney bid for the Olympic Games, the Anzac Range has been the pre-eminent site for the Olympic Games. In 1988 it catered for one of the World's greatest and largest shooting events - the Bicentennial Queens and Palma Match, which was acknowledged as an unquestioned success and attended by over 1,200 competitors. It is very difficult to understand the previous net messages other than they reflected someone's wish list. Clearly the sources were not researched and the information was incorrect. NSW Smallbore and Air Rifle Association has stood firm and loyal to the UIT and international shooting sports. It is resolute in the face of adversity to put upon it by those whose duty it is to encourage and foster its activities. The members of all the shooting disciplines in NSW have formed the cornerstone of the effective introduction of the recent firearms laws, even though the sentiments in those laws have been an unjustified reflection upon them and the sport. Through this they have shown exemplary voluntary contribution to government initiatives in law and sport. Clive Halnan Executive Director New South Wales Smallbore and Air Rifle Association Sydney, Australia ****************************************************************** End of UIT Mailing List #11 Michael Ray - Systems Engineer Rose-Hulman Inst. of Tech. Rifle Coach UIT Shooting Page - http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/1190/index.htm