Hi, my name is Emily. Today we're here at
South Florida Shooting Club. We've got Brad Kidd National Champion. We've got
David Radulovich FITASC World Champion. Today we're going to be
comparing some of their similarities and some of their differences, how they think
through the different shots. Brad, what are you gonna teach us today? Well
hopefully, a lot. We're going to talk about technique, form, stance, movement, a lot of good stuff.
You'll be able to compare and you know see what I do versus what you know, one
of the best in the world do David Radulovich does they can learn a lot.
Yeah, it's gonna be really interesting. We'll work a little bit on body
mechanics, hold point, stance, break points, how to read a target line better.
So hopefully, you guys get a lot of good information out of this and it'll be
good. Alright, David so talk us through how you set up and how you approach every single shot. Right so basically one thing we've really got to pay attention to while we're shooting targets is our central balance in our body. If our
balance goes off-center we totally lose control of the gun and we have to
compensate other parts of our body and our movement to bring the gun back to
the target. So if we have a really conscious focus on the way that our body
is standing and balanced while we move and what we're using to move while we do
it we can we can shoot a target much more efficiently much more slowly and
calmly. That's why you see a lot of the really good shooters look like they're
shooting really effortlessly when they're out on the course. And how what's
your foot positioning? What's your where's your weight? Is it 50/50 on both
legs? Right, yeah, so the weight distribution is really important to
balance, obviously. So the only way you can truly be perfectly balanced, like
a central point of balance within your body, is to have 50/50 weight
distribution on each foot. But not just on each foot also in the front in the
back of our feet. So if we're leaning forward on our toes, that's bad. It creates
tension and we have to fight our body and gravity throughout the shot. If we're
leaning on our heels and you finish the shot stepping backwards, it's just like
golf you lose accuracy. So yeah weight distribution has got to be
perfectly even. The other part about it is in terms of your stance,
you know rotation is really important in shooting too. We don't want a lot of
people move in wrong spot of their body. So you know
you'll see a lot of people moving with their hands and there's a lot of tension
in the shot and you'll see that if your body is moving like this. Well if we
bring that movement down lower and we're rotating in our whole body, okay, then we
want to have more of a closed stance. Because the further apart your stance is
the more boxed you are in that rotation and then you'll end up forced into using
your upper body or your shoulders to move the gun.
Okay so 50/50 50 forward 50 back and talk us through where, what is your gun mount
like? Where are you putting it on your face? Yeah, so posture is also extremely
important with that. So not just your body posture but the gun the way that
the gun comes into your body. So not only do we want the weight distribution and
all that stuff but we also want to stay stand pretty straight.
Any bending in our body we're going to get some tension and lock our
rotation up and not be able to do it. So you take that and then in terms of the
way that the gun comes into your shoulder kind of the most natural
position for the gun to come into anybody's shoulder and I'll demonstrate
right here. Is if I take the gun and I basically pointed up at a 45-degree
angle off of the ground. If I do that that's when the gun comes most naturally
into my cheek and my shoulder. Okay, if I don't do that watch what happens in my
shoulder pocket right here. Okay, you see how it's on my face right but not
on my shoulder. If I do it you know there's it's all wrong. So basically what
I need to do mount at a 45-degree angle off the ground, okay, with the gun in my
shoulder. And then to get at the target level, what I want to do is bend the core
of my body down. But it's also important while I'm doing that to make sure that I
maintain a central point of balance. So there's a difference between leaning
forward and bending forward. Okay, cool. So here, we've got too hard crossing targets.
Yeah, let's see a show pair and then just maybe walk us through your breakpoint
your look point. Yeah, of course. So we'll go ahead and look at them. Pull. Okay, so for this shot. Once I've
established my breakpoint which is gonna be somewhere out here. For me, it's going
to be right as it starts to fall. So I'm keeping it in a flat line.
I've established my breakpoint, I'm gonna come back about 65% of the way of
the line for my hold point. Just so I'm not so close that I get beat by the
target or too far out that I have to wait for it. We want to have enough time to
establish a connection. My focal point is going to be as far back in the line as I
can be and see the bird. So for me I'm all the way on the trap. If your eyes
don't work that fast just put your eyes in the spot that you
can be so that the target doesn't go past them. So basically as we've finished the shot
we want to make sure that you don't have to stand back up. It's going to be a good
way to understand if you're staying in balance with good posture
throughout the whole shot. Alright, Brad so we just saw David take that shot. Tell us your similarities and differences with that exact target. Well,
there's a lot of similarities in how we you know stand and move and how we think
in terms of that regard. There's a little technical difference, what I'm really
trying to do is cut the bird off. So I'm trying to figure out where in the sky
can I get to the bird get in the gun and on the bird. My game is all about feel and
vision. If I can match that speed from somewhere between the bird and the lead
for a long enough period of time, what happens is the bird appears to slow
down to me. And once it feels slow that's what I'm gonna deliver the shots. All I'm
really trying to do is figure out how to get the bird cut off get to the bird
move with it for you know a given amount of time. Once it feels slow and deliver
the shot. Now what happens but what I think about in terms of autopilot for
me. My hands are gonna stretch to the lead. They're gonna kind of go out there
on their own. So my game is more of a feel based game less of a lead-based game. But all the things that are important to David: soft hands, balanced
movement you know matching the speed of the bird that's all very very
similar. I probably play the game from a little bit less lead and a little more time
in the gun. Okay so it sounds like you're saying I'm gonna match this speed and
then give it the lead that's required so we'll see you pull away in yours? Yeah,
you should see a pull away on mine now again I'm not the one that gives it the lead
required. That happens when the slacks out of the trigger without my knowledge.
It's all about me keeping my hands unbelievably soft and giving my hands to
the eyes. So if I keep my eyes on the bird, keep the tension out of my hands,
match the speed for a beat, my hand should go on their own at the end of the
shot. Alright, let's see a shot. You got it. Alright, now we're gonna take a look at a view bird, I'm gonna establish my pickup
points. Pull. Based on what I've seen, I like to look
about a yard out from that machine and based on what I felt with my hand, my
hold point is gonna be right there, about 10 to 15 yards out from the trap. I've
established my pickup points where I'm going to start my eyes and where I'm
going to start my hands. Basically, to be able to get my
hands and eyes to the bird of the earliest possible moment. I'll get in the
gun. I'll get the gun shouldered and on the bird at the hold point, or to that
little bit of space that I'm looking for on this fast crosser. I'm gonna match
that speed till the bird feels slow. Real important that I set my feet, my stance,
my ankle to toe line from my break zone. I want my body to unwind through the shot. I'm
very critical about keeping my hands soft keep my eyes out there in the field on
the bird, not on the gun. I'm gonna get a little bit of feel when the bird feels
slow I'm going to deliver the shot. You should see on the ShotKam video the
hands stretch away from the bird out to the lead when I fire the shot. So let's
see what that looks like. I'm gonna ask David and Brad some of the
questions that we often get asked in our comments. What is your left hand doing?
What is your right hand? Where are you steering and what is your
grip on that forend? All right well it's kind of funny about this is in a way, the
entire movement is the body. It's zero hands. What we're trying to do, envision that this shoulder is actually pointed somewhere, okay, and there's a
specific shoulder angle and body angle that is gonna be a fixed position for me. So
I'm using my ankles to rotate, I'm using my back and my torso to get you know my
up-and-down motion so my hands are really doing nothing. The body is
doing the entire move. Now truly what I've done is I put the entire game into
the hands. I'm looking for my hands just to die to leave all the tension to be
soft as they can be. The big movement of the clay is with the target, and I fully
give my eyes, give my hands to my eyes and just let my hands kind of tell my
eyes where to go. I kind of stay out of the way in terms of that. I want good
balance, good rotation, good physical motion with the bird, eyes on the bird
let the hands go. David, what is your are you kind of pointing with your left hand? Do you have what is your finger like? Yeah, so I'm very similar to
Brad in the way that he described that. But so my hand when I shoot is under the
gun. Okay, the reason for that is depending on your hand, whether it's go
ahead and demonstrate. We're the same, what we're looking is the support of the gun, we have to
be under. Alright, if I were to say hold up this heavyweight for as long as you
can. Are you gonna come in here and take that weight like that? No, you're not
gonna be able to hold it very long. You come in under, where you feel like this
elbow the shoulder everything's in a nice good line under the gun supporting
the weight of the gun. We like to point that finger that's a natural pointing
motion you know for pointed something look moving through the sky. So, I've got
good form, I really care about this wrist. This front hand wrist, I want that wrist
nice and straight not bowed and cocked. So, when you see guys get on the side
cock that wrist and get up in there that's bad form. I'm looking to come
underneath support the weight of the gun keeping that wrist straight is gonna
guide that gun more inside. I'm not looking to be out on the arm, so that's
the front hand shooting position for me. Okay.
The more, if your hand is less under the gun. So, I hold my hand like this
because it takes my hands out of the shot. I'm trying to move like Brad said with my body not my hands. If my hand comes over to the
side I'm gonna be pushing and pulling the gun and that's bad. You lose control
and precision. If my hand is underneath more and I bring this part of my elbow
down under then I gain more control in the movement of my gun. Yeah what you're
gonna see in motion with David and myself, when we you're not
gonna see this happen. You are not going to see our hands push the gun it's all gonna stay
as a fixed frame and kind of move together. Yeah, so when I see students
doing that, I know what's happening. You're using your hands for big motion
and you've taken them away from what they're really there for which is the
surgical part of the game, the precision motion, the micro-adjustments that need
to be made. So my hands are moving inside a zone of like that and my body is doing
you know the big move with the burden. The important thing when you're gonna get
jammed and let the bird pass you is not to panic. What kind of chokes are you guys using in your guns? I'm staying up higher on the line. I'm supplementing a lot of physical movement with more eye work. David, so we get a lot of questions about how guns pattern. Talk us through if that it's important to you what your gun does. So, my eyes are gonna
be down here and I'm watching the target come up to my gun and I'm gonna shoot it
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