Knowledge:
Last year, a group of shooters came together and their spokesperson asked me to hold a lecture session on the Basics of Air Pistol shooting.
When I informed them, that it will be impossible for me to cover the entire Basics, in a One Day Lecture (six hours duration).
They were surprised! One of them remarked – “Why can’t the lecture cover ALL the Basic topics in SIX Hours? It's just the Basics, isn’t it?”
The topics which were to be covered in the Basic Lecture were as follows;
1. Stance – How to take the correct stance/position.
2. Gripping the Pistol.
3. Lifting the pistol into the aiming area co-ordinated with Breathing.
4. Sight Alignment.
5. Focus
6. Trigger Operation.
7. Follow Through.
In the six hours that we spent together, we managed to cover only the FIRST TWO topics! Stance and Gripping, till we ran out of time and I promised to cover the remaining topics in future lectures.
I could have covered all the above topics in twenty minutes also! And that is what these fellows were used to- ‘Mere superficial and surficial information’, like the film of dust on a pool of water.
If you wish to touch Olympian heights, then you have to DIVE deep down in the OCEAN of knowledge.
Every Olympian you see in the finals has dived really deep into every aspect of pistol shooting, physical, technical, mental and yes even Spiritual!
The extent of their knowledge is so deep and so huge that they can easily earn SEPARATE PhDs in the above-mentioned list of topics – Stance, Gripping, Breathing/lifting, Sight Alignment, Focus, Trigger operation and Follow Through.
And that is the difference between the run of the mill shooters and an Olympian – the difference lies in the depth and extent of their KNOWLEDGE.
Run of the Mill shooters delude themselves with the thought, that all they have to do, is get hold of a top of the line pistol, go on the range, pick up a few scraps of knowledge here and there and lo and behold!
Like a caterpillar, they will eventually, in the fullness of time, unfold into a butterfly with the Olympic Rings emblazoned on their wings.
Wake up gentlemen, smell the coffee…
Acquiring KNOWLEDGE is the first step in your journey to be an Olympian. And this body of knowledge is NOT readily available. If it were, all of us would have been Olympians. Right? Wrong!
Because even after acquiring this knowledge, you still have to learn to apply it to yourself. This necessitates making changes in yourself – the way you think, your attitude towards life, the ability to work hard, self- discipline, the list can go on and on…
Making changes within ourselves is the TOUGHEST challenge. When we cannot do that, we manufacture excuses to cover our faults.
