This weekend I had the pleasure of Hosting and assisting Randy Harris of Suarez International with Low Light Gunfighting and The Fundamentals of Hand to Hand Combatives. These classes were held at Sand Burr Gun Ranch in Rochester, IN. This is where I have most of my SI classes in Indiana. One of the students in both classes was our own INGO celebrity esrice.
This is not an AAR of the class, nor is it a butt kissing post. What I want to talk about is the ideal student and how I found Evan to be just that. What is the ideal student you might ask? Well it can vary, but lets start at the beginning. This was listed as an advanced class. In this case advanced relates to a lot of movement while shooting , in the dark. It should go without saying that this is not something you can just start out doing without having a little experience in safety and gunhandling. Many people like to think they are a bit further along the learning chain then they really are. This being the case, the instructor has to make some observations early on.
So, what did I observe in Evan's case? Well, the first thing I look for is how someone handles their weapon. Do they do it with confidence and efficiency. Even if it is not exactly the way you teach it, do they keep the gun pointed downrange and run the gun forcefully. It can become clear in short order how serious someone is about the subject and how much practice and work they put in, by how their gunhandling is. Evan (as well as a couple of other students) immediately impressed me with the crisp, safe, and postive manner they manipulated their guns. Loading and unloading, drawing, coming into ready positions, chamber checking, clearing malfunctions. All of these things can be practiced very easily and readily show the competency of a gunman, (or woman).
What else? Well another big thing is, are they willing to learn. Did this person set aside their preconceived opinions, and/or desire to show why what they already know is superior to what you are going to show them? Believe it or not, that happens. Does the student pay attention and follow along instead of trying to become the center of attention? Are they willing to try different things you show them, or do they stubbornly refuse to give it an effort. These are all big things. There are small things as well. Like do they make an effort to get their mags loaded and get back up on the line to be ready to roll? Do they get along well with the other students? You can all probably think of more things if you have been to a class or two.
It pleases me to say Evan passed all of these things with flying colors. Even if a student doesn't shoot great (Evan did), the fact that they can do all of these other things is a pretty good indicator that they are going to learn a lot in the class, if the teacher is up to the task. Can everyone be the perfect student? Maybe not, but I think the harder you try, the more you will get out of the class.
This is not an AAR of the class, nor is it a butt kissing post. What I want to talk about is the ideal student and how I found Evan to be just that. What is the ideal student you might ask? Well it can vary, but lets start at the beginning. This was listed as an advanced class. In this case advanced relates to a lot of movement while shooting , in the dark. It should go without saying that this is not something you can just start out doing without having a little experience in safety and gunhandling. Many people like to think they are a bit further along the learning chain then they really are. This being the case, the instructor has to make some observations early on.
So, what did I observe in Evan's case? Well, the first thing I look for is how someone handles their weapon. Do they do it with confidence and efficiency. Even if it is not exactly the way you teach it, do they keep the gun pointed downrange and run the gun forcefully. It can become clear in short order how serious someone is about the subject and how much practice and work they put in, by how their gunhandling is. Evan (as well as a couple of other students) immediately impressed me with the crisp, safe, and postive manner they manipulated their guns. Loading and unloading, drawing, coming into ready positions, chamber checking, clearing malfunctions. All of these things can be practiced very easily and readily show the competency of a gunman, (or woman).
What else? Well another big thing is, are they willing to learn. Did this person set aside their preconceived opinions, and/or desire to show why what they already know is superior to what you are going to show them? Believe it or not, that happens. Does the student pay attention and follow along instead of trying to become the center of attention? Are they willing to try different things you show them, or do they stubbornly refuse to give it an effort. These are all big things. There are small things as well. Like do they make an effort to get their mags loaded and get back up on the line to be ready to roll? Do they get along well with the other students? You can all probably think of more things if you have been to a class or two.
It pleases me to say Evan passed all of these things with flying colors. Even if a student doesn't shoot great (Evan did), the fact that they can do all of these other things is a pretty good indicator that they are going to learn a lot in the class, if the teacher is up to the task. Can everyone be the perfect student? Maybe not, but I think the harder you try, the more you will get out of the class.
