Clay Target Nation, December 2017

u John Shima is a former five time World Skeet Champion For more information about the Shima Shooting MethodSM or to arrange a private consultation contact John via email at john@ johnshima com To view previous articles or order Johns books go to www johnshima com DECEMBER 2017 CLAY TARGET NATION 65 perception They take their vision for granted He wrote Their visual centering concentration and control begin to slow Their eye reflexes which tell them the what why where and when begin to stutter How we look determines what we see was selected as the subtitle to my first book because as Dr Martin stated Vision is the process of reacting to what we see It can be controlled Controlling vision controls centering Controlling centering improves concentration Improving concentration provides consistency and increases scoring Centering visual focus must be controlled The target must be acquired and lateral gun speed must be synchronized with the target speed before the shooter attempts to hard focus on the target Target acquisition allows the saccade movement to complete the job of locating the target and determining its speed and direction Synchronization of gun speed to target speed with the gun below the target path provides time for the shooting eye to transition from saccade movement to pursuit movement This visual process creates the perception of a larger slower and clearer target which allows the shooting eye to center hard focus on a specific point on the target The magic of the Shooting Reflex is such that target engagement occurs naturally if the shooter manages the process of centering visual focus to explain that when our ego lacks discipline it dictates our intentions In Chapter 16 of my book I advise shooters to make the right effort to do the right things the right way Merely allowing the ego to dictate an intention to try harder to break the next target doesnt work This is why I believe the intention to watch the target must override the egos desire to break the target WATCH THE TARGET BREAK The ability of a shooter to discipline his or her ego to watch the target until it breaks has more to do with managing emotional issues than developing mechanical or visual skills What a shooter needs to do to break targets consistently isnt usually what his or her ego wants to do Merely watching the target until it breaks is not very exciting for the ego Yet physiologically continuous visual focus on the target is the only way the visual cortex can transmit the location speed and direction of the target to the brain stem to create the appropriate pre planned move to engage the target correctly When transmission of visual data from the shooting eye to the visual cortex is inconsistent it affects the shooters reaction and response to the target CENTERING VISUAL FOCUS Dr Martin explained that the career of most great athletes ends prematurely due to problems with their visual u Settle into expanded soft focus at your eye hold correctly When shooters hard focus too soon the high 2 and low 6 targets usually beat them Yet to their amazement when they just settle their vision into expanded soft focus at the correct eye hold these targets seem to slow down and appear much larger This is the hallmark of proper target detection acquisition centering of visual focus and tracking t Center your visual focus correctly and target engagement will be natural