This one goes under the better late than never category.  Here are two videos of the Target Line Cup I intended to have done back in May.  Unfortunately, I ran into a computer glich and the files were corrupted.  I have now been able to recover most of them.  They probably won’t make a lot of since because I just cut together what I had available but at least you can see the action that went down.

Various shoot offs, DeeAnn Massey, Andy Duffy, Scott Robertson, Kevin McMillan, Brandon Powell, Curtis Maulden and others.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoVOdI0RNcc

FITASC shoot off between Shane Tiquin and John Imboden.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5QMyb-TwiA

It’s official HOA BRAD KIDD, RU BRANDON POWELL and 3rd KEVIN DE MICHIEL and PAT LIESKE, waiting on the shoot off.  Brandon Powell shot an awesome 72 on Green but it wasn’t enough to catch Brad who put in a more consistent performance all weekend shooting 71, 63, 70 and 69.  Saturday’s overnight leader Steve Edmondson couldn’t keep up the pace posting only 61 on Green. Brad recently said he had been using a new pre-shot mental routine.  I guess it is working!

Looks like Lady champ will be a shoot off between Ashleigh Hafley and Amy Rule and Diego Duarte shot a solid 90 in the wind on FITASC which held all weekend.  I’ll have a full shoot report later.  For all the scores check the link,

2010 NSCA Sporting Clays Championship Results

[Edit] Amy Rule took Lady Champ over Hafley and Kevin De Michiel took 3rd over Lieske.

Hundreds of worshipers of the sport known as the Course of Hunting descended upon a small town in Kansas June 18-20 to compete in the North American FITASC Grand Prix or more properly said, the North American Parcours de Chasse Grand Prix and Finale of the North American Cup but we’ll just say GP.  OK? 

What’s all this North American Cup stuff about?  Well, of the three major Parcours de Chasse events that take place in North America, the North American FITASC Championship, the North American FITASC Grand Prix and the National FITASC Championship, two of those are designated by FITASC as World Cup Qualifier events.  The two with "North American" in the name are the qualifiers.  In order to win the World Cup you must first win the North American Cup which used to be called the Pan-American Cup before they decided to split it into North and South Cups. Follow me?  Now it seems like the North American FITASC GP is always held in the U.S. though theoretically I guess it could be held in Mexico, Canada or even the Arctic Circle really. 

Anyway, in order to win the N.A. Cup you have to have the highest combined score in both of the N.A. Cup qualifiers.  This year that person is John Kruger even though he didn’t win either event.  Doesn’t matter, the Cups are about consistency and some people hold them in higher regard than the event wins.  So John has a shot at the World Cup this July in Italy.

We don’t seem to be in Kansas anymore so lets all click the heels of our Crocs and return to Claythorne Lodge where we see a young lad by the name of Brody Sikes.  [Smoke clears, cue harp music] Brody all of 20 years old is a Junior shooter and he is smashing clays left, right, up and down to get himself into a shoot-off with Brandon Powell.  Now Powell is seen by some as sort of a Darth Vader figure.  Maybe so, but if Darth Vader ever shot sporting clays that guy would always shoot 100 straights.  Even without firing his gun he would just smoke clays with the Force.  The point is Brandon Powell is arguably the best FITASC shot in the country and he is overdue for a big win.  Not the best guy to get into a shoot-off with.

"I knew Brandon has been enduring the RU spot for some time so I knew he was wanting the win bad." said Sikes.  "I knew if I shot like I did all weekend and just focused on shooting rather than winning, my shooting would get me the win.  I just focused and shot my game."  Sikes’ game plan paid off, shooting 184+20 to Powell’s 184+19.  "Claythorne Lodge is my favorite place to shoot in the country.  The people, the atmosphere are always top notch.  The targets I shot at the GP were great targets and knowing Neil’s (Chadwick) targets from the past I kind of knew what to expect." said Sikes. "Claiming such a big title as a junior is pretty awesome I must say.  Being only 20 and accomplishing as much as I have is great.  I couldn’t have done any of it with out the help of my Dad, Dave (Stunkel), and Andy (Duffy).

When asked about gun and ammo choices and coaching Sikes replied, " I shoot a browning 525 Golden Clays and my favorite ammo is Winchester AA Super Sports, one ounce of course.  My coach is Andy Duffy, who has helped me out a lot the past couple years.  Our relationship is more than a shooter/coach relationship.  We also hunt and fish together when we can make time."

In the classes AA went to Sean O’Meara, A to Frank Dway Marcum, B to Roberto Scaccia, C to Nick Rampino, D to Angelo Papa and E to John Stube.  Ladies Champ was Sandra Cogdill followed by the Wampler’s Alexandra and Michelle in RU and 3rd respectively.   Jr RU was Theo Ribbs and 3rd to Trevor Sorenson.  Vet Champ Paul Oppegard, RU Rick Mein and S-Vet Champ was Bob Davis, RU Joe Cantey.

SCORES

Pictures courtesy of: Brody Sikes and Elizabeth Cogdill

One of the fun things about writing this blog is that if I have a question, I can usually get an answer from someone very experienced on the subject.  Recently I was thinking I spent a lot of time this year feeling negative after I missed a target.  This cannot be a good thing especially in competition.  Naturally I began to wonder what the top shots of the game do when they miss.  I sent an email to every top shot and coach I could find and asked them this simple question, "How do YOU handle a miss?"  Here are the replies I received.

Look harder at the next pair or target.  After the 2nd miss if the shot felt perfect and I know I saw the bird clearly, I will insert my gun closer the to target to get more feel…

- Anthony Matarese Jr., Team USA, NSCA and World Champion

For myself, I first self diagnose immediately what kind of miss just happened. There are basically three different kinds of misses that I encounter on the field. The first, being the most common, would be one where I didn’t look (Focus/Stare) at  the target as well as I should have. The next would be if something went wrong fundamentally or in my approach (Hold Point/Focal/Mental/etc). The third would be where I executed the shot exactly how I planned and resulted in a miss.  

Once I have categorized that miss, I then go forward taking the necessary steps to not allow that mistake to happen again and as they say "Minimize the Bleeding," on that given stand or peg.

- Zachary Kienbaum, mulitple NSCA California State and Zone 7 Champion

I try not to do it again.

- Brad Kidd Jr., Team USA, 2009 World Sporting All-Around Champ

When I miss a target, the first thing I do is (as calmly as possible) ask myself if I saw the bird crisply and clearly when the gun went off? If the answer is “no”, and it usually is when I miss, I understand the lead is not the problem. It is important to get this issue squared away first. If I did not see the bird well when the gun exploded, then I need to understand why…..was the gun moving too fast? was I measuring? was the gun moving too slow?……these answers will help me much more in correcting the problem than getting wrapped around the axle about where the shot went.

Besides, if I saw the target crisp and clear when the gun went off, I’ll most likely know where I missed.

- Will Fennell, Team USA, multiple NSCA South Carolina state champ, Pan-Am FITASC gold medalist.

Learn from it and move on.

- Gil Ash, Level III Instructor

Firstly try to avoid missing full stop!!  But, I treat it as say a hundred one bird competitions so hit or miss, that competition is over and that shot has no impact on the next.  It’s hard to master but works very well!

- Ben Husthwaite, multiple ESP and FITASC Champion, 2008 Euro FITASC and World Cup Champion

If in a tournament, I try and make corrections while I’m in the box, you never want to miss in the same place twice.  Once I walk out of the box and I’m headed to the next station I think of nothing but the targets I broke and forget about the ones I did not.  If you ever read any of Lanny Bassham and his mental management system he teaches you to call them non-hits instead of misses.  I agree 100% with his teachings.  Once you’ve developed proper shooting fundamentals your mental game has to be honed to gain that razor sharp competive edge.

- Stephen Biello, Level II Instructor

I usually shake my head and try to forget.

- Theo Ribbs, 2009 Texas State FITASC Champ among many others.

"Nail it and press on!" I use this term that I learned in Athletes in Action. It refers to the Biblical principle of casting all your worries on to Jesus. So I nail a miss to the cross and press on.

- Gebben Miles, 2009 NSCA National Champ.

Now I ask you reader, How do YOU handle a miss?  Leave your comments below.

International Sporting Clays.com thanks the people who contributed to this post.

Well we have gotten our hearts started in the 2009 season. I started my season with some club shoots getting in some competition time with the new gun, a Browning Gold Sporting I bought last November. I have been shooting it well, maybe the best I have ever, so I think I will stick with it this year. It’s a 30in barrel gun with the only mods being a recoil pad to 14 3/4 inches LOP, Briley chokes and extended bolt handle.

In other parts of the U.S. things started as usual with the Rhino Rally in Williston, Florida. Doug Vine was on form in the southeast again for the main event win and Andy Duffy looked sharp in his FITASC win. The following weekend things heated up as Wendell Cherry claimed his first major of the season with a win at the Seminole Cup in Okeechobee, Florida. Brandon Powell knocked off enough cobwebs to take runner-up in the main and win the FITASC event while Duffy was still looking good in FITASC with the runner-up slot.

Things then moved a bit west to Jennings, Louisiana for the Browning/Briley Mardi Gras Open. Anthony Matarese Jr. was in for the win on his first major this year after looking a little off at the Seminole. Brandon Powell was still on a tear with main event runner-up and FITASC 3rd. Cory Kruse looked strong but perhaps unusual wielding an O/U for M1. Brian Flemming and Tom Mack took the FITASC in 1 and 2 style. In the west Zach Kienbaum picked up the win at the Silver Buckle in Mesquite, NV while Jon Kruger got busy at the DU Ducks in the Desert shoot in Henderson.

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On the international scene George Digweed (GBR) and the Brits looked like they were trying to crush the scoreboard at the Africa Cup finale in Tangier, Morocco. A small defense was mounted by Jean Francoise Loyen (FRA) and Ian Grimbacher (RSA) but to no avail. The Brits were dominant with George, Tony Manvell, Matt Hance and Simon Warbrick-Smith all bunched at the top.

From here we look to get the FITASC season started on this side of the pond with the North American Grand Prix in Camden, South Carolina. The Grand Prix is a North America and World Cup event. New this year is the North America Cup and South America Cup. Gone is the Americas Cup combining the north and south continents as in years past. To win the North America Cup you have to compete over 400 targets at both the North American Grand Prix in Camden and the North American Championship at Northbrook, Illinois.

Next up on the English Sporting scene is the World English in San Antonio and several state and Zone shoots and the international circuit heads down under for the Oceana Champs in New Zealand and the Grand Prix of Australia for the Oceana Cup.