One of my favorite parts about what I do is the opportunity to meat new people that are just getting into our sport. I love to help people learn, grow, and have fun. The moment that light flicks on and they realize something new.
This past weekend I saw a father and son come out to a NRLH match for their first time. They were not new to precision rifle but they were new to our format. I had the chance to talk to them and they were both really cool people.
The first day of the match I didn’t have the chance to really watch them compete but on the second day they happen to come to a stage I was photographing and so I stopped to watch the young man take his turn at the stage. It was a 4 position on target stage across a pile of rocks. You could see in the fathers face how excited he was for his son and you could see in his sons face how happy and determined he was to tackle the stage.
Unfortunately the stage didn’t go as planned and the son was struggling a bit and missing the target. You could see his father trying to help as much as he could but the advice just wasn’t getting through. I asked the young man to stop as I walked up to him and suggested that he slow down, get into a comfortable position and just relax for a second. I had him find his target in his optic and close his bolt. I asked him to breath in and out 3 times to calm down, then I asked him to breath in and out another 3 times before he squeezed the trigger. Impact! What was not a hard target became more difficult because of frustration and the perceived need to rush through the stage. He turned around and thanked me with a big smile on his face.
After the stage his father told me he had been getting frustrated at a couple of different stages and was even getting a bad attitude about the situation. I told him sometimes its hard to listed to our parents even when they are trying to help, but when a friend gives the same advice for some reason it gets heard.
Later that afternoon the young man found me at the awards ceremony and thanked me again and told me that he cleaned his last stage because of my help. I told him I was supper excited and proud of him, but that the advice I gave him was the same thing his father was telling him. I just said it a little different.
Sometimes the expectations we create for ourselves at the moment are so important that we forget to just relax and have fun. I have given this advice more than once to both adults and young guns. The NRL HUNTER is a great place to come out and learn, share stories, make friends, and have fun.
Try not to get frustrated and remember this is a game we should all enjoy doing.