BY ROB KRAKOWITZ, M.D.
People are often surprised to find out at I am competitive target shooter. Somehow the image of a holistic doctor doesn’t fit someone who enjoys shooting guns. I shoot stationary targets with hand guns, and recently bought a .223 scoped rifle, but my favorite and most enjoyable shooting is with a shotgun at moving targets. Competitively, I am a sporting clays enthusiasts, in various formats of this most challenging games.
As I’ve progressed up the ladder of competitive classes, I have often noticed how many of the qualities necessary to becoming an accomplished shooter are the same as those that help us become more aware “comfortable in our skin,” happy human beings. Hunter Thompson’s fascination with guns was well known, and I’m sure he realized many of these similarities. Once you can control and manage a gun’s recoil into your shoulder and ignore the noise, shooting a gun can take on the rare Zen qualities of archery.
Precision: To be precise is absolutely essential in target shooting, and when achieved is what allows the shooter to build consistency, a crucial attainment when repeated pairs of targets are presented. Precision and consistency in living one’s life account for a good job done well, efficiently, and in a timely manner. These are all qualities that most of us admire and appreciate in people’s work.
Accuracy: This trait is obviously essential to succeed in any target-shooting sport, as well as one that we appreciate in people.
Focus and Concentration: To me, these are the heart and soul of success in sporting clays competitions. Absolute, 100-percent attention to eye focus and concentration on the target usually results in a break. The singularity of focus and concentration in our daily lives brings satisfaction and peace while we are engaged in the job at hand. If we can stay focused 1OO percent on what we are engaged in doing — be it skiing, shooting, or washing the dishes — we will always be at peace. I believe that “multitasking,” so valued as an asset by some people, is not in fact a good practice, as doing too many things at once fragments our focus and concentration, creating anxiety and a hurried feeling.
TOP-QUALITY SHOOTERS SEEM TO LET GO OF THEIR MISSES QUICKLY, SO THAT THEY CAN FOCUS THEIR FULL ATTENTION ON THE NEXT SHOT.
Being in the Moment: Many gurus and philosophies teach the apprentice to be focused “in the moment,” without thoughts, to generate peace within. The same quality is also essential for successful sporting clays shooting.
Patience and Compassion: Feeling patience and compassion for both ourselves and others is essential in order for learn-ing to take place while mistakes are being made. Most of us are better at extending these qualities toward others, and are often very tough on ourselves. Learning to shoot involves lots of misses, so one either learns patience and compassion quickly or leaves the sport. I have noticed in competitions that the top-quality shooters seem to let go of their misses quickly, so that they can focus their full attention on the next shot.
Those shooters who lack these qualities carry their misses with them, which breaks their total concentration and results in additional misses.
Relaxation: One shoots better, as one lives life better, in a state of relaxation. More joy and appreciation are the results.
Elegance: It is a pleasure both to perform and to watch sophisticated achievement with an economy of movement and the least apparent expenditure of energy. People who are good at doing anything typically seem elegant doing it, and make the task look easy. The same is true with top shooters.
All of these qualities contribute to achieving excellence in the shooting sports, just as they do to living a happy, healthy, and successful life.
