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Motivation...

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  • PRE-K

    Active Member
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    3   0   0
    Aug 25, 2015
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    Tomball
    How do you motivate the old hands?! I mean the ones who have been in LE over 30 years, are barely passing quals, but are uninterested in anything new or different than the way its always been.
    Lynx Defense
     

    SIG_Fiend

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    Feb 21, 2008
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    I have no experience with this specifically, so take my words with a grain. That being said, I have instructed a number of older shooters that have been shooting for 3 and sometimes 4 decades or more. Not everyone is going to attain a USPSA GM level of performance, and some people simply will never take the care or initiative to grow beyond their current level. Ultimately, even though you might provide them with the tools necessary to achieve the "goal", the ball is in their court. The best advice I can give from my perspective, is to try and find ways that you can connect the "goal" with some of their current techniques or preferences. It may be less than ideal, but hey, if they improve a few percent, maybe it's better than nothing.

    For example, a LOT of younger instructors I've come across seem to be very absolute about, "This is how we do things now, so this is how you must do it.", which is a very limiting view. Case and point, the grip method. Yes, since roughly 1986, "thumbs forward" is the way to go and, for the most part, what most winners winning things use. That's great, but in the grand scheme of things, and based on the goal of the class, it's important to think about the point of diminishing returns. If a shooter is excelling or has a decent level of performance in most areas, and their grip method and/or upper body stance isn't quite ideal (say more Weaver-oriented), well it might just not be a big deal at all. I've known many shooters that have much more of a Weaver style upper body stance and thumb over thumb grip, but that had excellent fundamentals, could still maintain an acceptable level of speed, had good target discrimination....so it might not be worth pushing them adamantly to change one technique, when their overall performance might still be 80-95%+ of what it could be.

    There may also be motivational aspects, especially from those that have experience with the particular job (Mil/LE), that might help encourage people to push for more. Things like stories about particularly difficult past experiences, to highlight the seriousness the training demands. In some cases, even if the primary instructor doesn't have the experience to be able to legitimately do this, that could be an opportunity to bring in a guest speaker for part of the class, that does have that experience, and can have some sort of a mindset discussion. In some cases, this can be a great opportunity to give the students someone to admire, which might open the doors on previously unopened minds. Bringing in a guest speaker is something I think is often overlooked. Even if you have to pay a few hundred bucks for someone to talk for 30-60min, as long as you're still turning a profit, that can be well worth it and a great way to enhance the quality of a class.

    With all of the above, I'm just speaking generally, as I don't know your background PRE-K.
     

    StevenC.

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    Mar 10, 2013
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    San Antonio
    @Sig_Fiend

    Funny this. It's what I arrived at to counter the old dogma.

    I never tell a student that a stance or grip is best. There is no science which supports such claims. I do tell them this is what the best in the world use to beat everyone else. That may mean something, or it may not.

    @OP...

    Tough question.

    As posed I don't think you can.

    Barely passing is passing. He thinks he is adequate and may even readily declare that the gun work is a very small percentage of his day to day duties. He may have already been poisoned by in-house instructors (who are sad shots themselves) who declared, "That shit will get you killed in the street." I know you may shake your head at the stupidity of such a statement, but many fall victim to it when declared with certainty and venom.

    He likely has a hundred built in excuses for anything you point out. Those excuses are a defensive mechanism to protect ego. That ego is saying, "I am good enough."

    He doesn't want to hear differently. He does not want to face the reality that he is not.

    The question then becomes, "How do you show him he is not good enough?" Danger: People rarely react well to having their house of cards knocked down.

    Side by side comparisons may not work because even if you can draw 30% faster to a better shot, split 50% faster to better hits, move and shoot and make hits better in 40% less time than him, he still thinks his skill is sufficient. He thinks his vest, his badge, his back-up, his tactics, or his experience will trump reality.

    Maybe if you set up some use of force and ran a truck through his reality with a lot of pain as you pound sims into him repeatedly and show him that a 2 second faster (YES, TWO SECOND FASTER) draw to an ACCURATE shot might save his live you could get some where.
     
    Last edited:

    PRE-K

    Active Member
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    Aug 25, 2015
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    Tomball
    Thanks for the responses, gents.

    StevenC is, unfortunately, particularly right about egos and a perceived reality. It goes with the territory, I presume; the LEO is used to being in charge, the one with the answers, etc.. Gonna be tough to tell HIM what to do.
     
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