Nov 2nd, 2019 we organized and hosted a 1 day Pistol Practice session.
What was expected to happen?
Nothing too fancy, no “teaching”, just a group of shooters getting together to practice and #dowork. The idea was to observe and provide feedback to each other to improve performance… and maybe meet a few new local shooters who share the interest of getting better (whether that is for work, competition, defensive purposes or just for fun).
What actually occurred?
We met as a group at 9 am out at the range. Most everyone was on time and excited to shoot! After a general safety briefing (and geeking out on deliberate practice and how we could help each other improve quickly) we walked through the drills that we had set up for the day, which included:
- ZEE cold start
- Dot torture
- 5×5 drill
- Transition work on steel
- Barricade work with some problem solving / cognitive stress components thrown in
- A variation of the “T-drill”
- Head to head dual falling tree
People also worked on variations of the above drills as well as some other fun and productive drills (depending on what they felt they needed more work on).
There were no official groups, but the larger group quickly split into several smaller groups across the various drills to maximize our opportunities to shoot throughout the morning and early afternoon. Several shooters left around lunch time and we were wrapped up, packed up and headed out by around 15:00.
What went well and why?
The first thing that went very well, was everyone was safe! As far as I know, there were no major safety concerns or violations, which was our number one priority for a group of 18 shooter with mixed backgrounds and levels of experience. Even with some slightly competitive drills, the shooters focused on safety first, then fundamentals, then speed.
As with all of our events thus far, it was also nice to meet and shoot with a great group of like minded humans. Not only was it good practice, but it was good fun!
What can be improved and how?
Host / Organizer
This was the first, formal Pew Pew Solutions Practice Day we have hosted, and there is always room for improvement! As the organizer, I would like to streamline and optimize our briefing and process for getting the practice day rolling. My plan to complete this involves:
- Better communication prior to the event
- More obvious direction and organization in the morning before beginning
- A more thought out and thorough, but concise briefing
Participant
My suggestions for this largely depend on what the participant hopes to get out of these practice days. If the participants’ goal is to improve as much and as quickly as possible, I would like to stress my two follow up questions (emailed out to the group after the practice day):
- What was one thing you did well and WHY did you do it well?
- What is one thing you would like to improve, and HOW will you improve it?
(You may recognize these two questions from the AAR format I have been using). Learning does not always happen with what has happened in that particular practice session or even discussed afterwards – it often requires follow up and application in future sessions. Without identifying and focusing on the WHY and HOW in the questions above, our progress will be unnecessarily impeded.
Summary
In short, the event was very successful. Based on the feedback received from participants, we will be organizing and hosting more regular structured practice days in the future. By focusing on deliberate practice and improving our performance, we hope to progress at a much faster rate than we were previously!
