The competitive year for my two youth shooters is over. Dismal River Kid finishes the year as a 8 flat shooter. (.75 to .85 at 80%) Lil' James finishes as a 9 flat shooter. (.85 to .95 at 90%) Both have a gunfighter rating of 1.0, Dismal being .8 plus .2 for 1.0 and Lil' James .9 plus .1 for 1.0 without the mental toughness factor.
A gunfighter rating of 1.0 or higher means you are in the top 25% of all CFDA shooters. Both Lil' James and Dismal shot with the best in the Valley of the Sun and generally were competitive. I have posted on some of the matches in previous posts. Thirsty loves to tell the story of challenging Dismal with Thirsty's holster on the line. Dismal has ever since been shooting from Thirsty's shaniko holster.
When you are starting out a young shooter or a new shooter, give them a chance to be successful. Shoot up close. They learn nothing from missing. If they shoot from 6 feet, they can see all of their shots. The young mind is marvelous. They learn so quickly to be accurate. The larger the target the better. If you have blockers shoot blockers or shoot 24 inches at 6 feet. If you have neither, shoot cardboard. The important thing is to see every hit. Let the subconscious walk the hits to the target zone. It will. Finalize those draws.
This is fast draw, so always encourage them to shoot as fast as they can, but understand that they have to progress at their own pace. They will want to go fast soon enough. Sunday, Lil' James showed great maturity. I offered to shoot with him and give him 400 mls handicap. He adamantly refused. He was winning shooting his draw at his speed and was not going to be baited into racing with me.
It has been a pleasure working with these young gentlemen. I hope they keep shooting.
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