Robert GB Preparations - Part 2
Continuing the GB Squads preparations update
with this report from Team Adjutant, Christopher Hunter.
Roberts Squad Training & Friendly Match at Staveley RPC 14th & 15th June
Ben Stubbins and Robert Grice of Staveley RPC kindly enabled a weekend of training with friendly match on the Sunday in support of the Roberts Squad training schedule on their home range.
Athletes congregated at Staveley on the Saturday – the range was set up and ready to go for a start at 10:00am, and the range was calm, with clear sunny skies.
Dave Phelps outlined the aims of the training session, specifically:
The “buddy” system;
Wind reading and calling.
I ran a presentation on wind, and a common set of terms for the squad to use, which were specifically:
Still
Light
Moderate
Strong
Gusting
And, with a clock-face as the reference, the wind direction is called FROM its point of origin e.g.:
“STRONG from 9 o’clock!”
After some discussion with highly experienced athletes sharing their thoughts and experiences of wind reading and the effect of wind on the bullet and conditions such as mirage, aiming, and how it impacts the outcome, the squad then split into groups of 3 to shoot on a personally-coached basis with each pair of athletes having a coach between them.
When we went out onto the range, the previously calm range had changed VERY much! The wind was now blasting through with strong fish-tailing gusts between 4 and 8 o’clock, with the wind moving so fast, trying to read and effectively call it was an art in itself!
The athletes shot 2 cards each at 50M and then 2 cards each at 100 yards, so this took 3 details in the morning and the afternoon, with David Sherwood kindly acting as Range Officer.
Results were mixed, though generally positive, with a recognition that potentially just calling the wind (“…strong from 5, strong from 5, strong from 5...”) might not be that helpful on its own a) because at Staveley the wind had other ideas, and b) because some interaction and dialogue with the athletes was more helpful in seeking to understand how best the coach could support their shooting.
A typical wind call for the Staveley range might have been “…strong from 5, strong from 4, moderate from 6, strong from 7, strong from 8, moderate from 5…” all in one breath! This was so fast-moving that trying to read and respond and call accurately was particularly difficult.
Squad member Paul Guilloud had travelled up with his father Eric, who, thankfully is a class B scorer, and came in very handy indeed in scoring the cards for the squad – we are very grateful to him!
A bleary-eyed and taxed squad finally trotted off the range around 5:00pm; we then met up in Chesterfield for 10-pin bowling. Rob Grice thought he had it in the bag with 159, only to admit that his night had been “ruined” when “Dynamite Duncan” (Farmer!) put in a 167!
Under the careful guidance of Ben Stubbins the squad relocated to Chutney Spice in Brimington, where we had an excellent curry, and looked forward to the following day’s match.
The Sunday held similar conditions to the Saturday, and the yellow wind socks on the Staveley range were dancing from the get-go. Dave Phelps kindly ran the range as RO; David Sherwood, Mike Arnstein and I formed a squad – Mike and I will need the wind-coach buddy skills on match day too!
Staveley put in 2 teams – one of 3, and one of 4, with their best 3 shooters being counted in the friendly match. The Roberts Squad teams were mixed up again in an effort to continue to ensure a degree of familiarity between all the shooters.
Eric Guilloud again kindly scored the cards for the match and entered the scores into the match database.
All teams performed well with a general sense that the buddy system personalised coaching had enabled the athlete to delegate some responsibility of reading every element of the wind to the coach, and could then focus on taking perfectly executed shots in a preferred condition, checking in with the buddy coach along the way. Adam Fowler, whose overlap with fullbore, was a particularly successful buddy coach, both with communication with his athletes (Ken Bowley and Louise Aiken) giving them more of a “shoot/don’t shoot” direction, and also providing encouragement: “…Great shooting Louise – that’s it – another nice 10 – you can do this..!”. Not only did their team win, but also Louise won top score on the day – let’s hope she shares the bottle of wine with Adam!!!
The match finished around 3:00pm with prize-giving and a quick feedback/wash-up session with the squad athletes. Plans for the next Roberts Squad training at Appleton on the Sunday after the Dewar Trials are to both consider the mental preparation for matches, and to continue and seek to hone the buddy coaching system with feedback from athletes to be sought and sifted for a “best practice” to be instigated within the squad.
Staveley range proved an excellent training venue – well equipped with club room, indoor ranges; cleaning/set up area; screens for presentation; 50M and 100 yard outdoor ranges, and PLENTY of wind! The squad is very grateful to both Rob Grice and Ben Stubbins for providing their support, but also that of the club secretary and chair who agreed to provide a weekend’s access to the Roberts Squad at very competitive cost.
You can see the friendly match results here
