Volume: 17, Issue: 1 (1st Quarter 2013) - IDPA.com

Through the Eyes
of a Junior Shooter
by Austin Proulx
A39722
Priorities of the junior shooter
Prioritizing, the act of deciding
what comes first in your life,
deciding what one thing is more
important than another. If you’re
like me, shooting is right near
the top of the list. For a younger
person, prioritizing is a huge part
of learning responsibility. Setting
priorities is a way of organizing
your life. Usually, people will tell
you that school comes first. Sure,
that’s great, education is extremely
important. But where is the young
person, the junior shooter in
particular, to go from there?
important to you? Buying a video
game, or ammo? Going to see a
movie, or doing dry fire practice?
Obviously, there is usually time for
both; however occasionally you
will have to choose. What it really
comes down to is budgeting your
time, money, and focus. Some of
your focus and time will be taken
up by school; some money will be
taken up by other pursuits, and so
on and so forth. There are only so
many hours in the day, and time
spent on one thing is time lost
potentially doing another.
possible situations here are endless.
Once again, it all comes down to
budgeting your time.
I often have to choose between
shooting and spending time with
my friends. Ninety percent of the
time I’ll choose to shoot. When I
had to choose between shooting
and baseball, I chose shooting.
Shooting was the easy choice for
me for many reasons. I had been
playing baseball since I was five
years old, and had advanced to
the point of being the lead pitcher
on my team. That was when I fell
in love with IDPA, and I couldn’t
make time for both. I chose to
pursue shooting over baseball.
That’s probably the single biggest
sacrifice I’ve made, and I haven’t
second guessed the choice since.
There will always be some
So, what do you spend your time situations in which all the “want
doing? What else should you be
Aside from school, what is most
to” priorities have to be shoved
doing? And how will you change aside to make room for the “have
your schedule to fit the more to” priorities; that’s just a fact of
important of the two, if you can’t life. So, what will your priorities
do both? These three questions are
be? As I said before, for me,
critical to accomplishing what you
shooting is right near the top. The
have to do, while still having time
IDPA is a unique sport in which I
for the other things you want to
can compete with and against my
do. If you want to shoot (and your
dad, I get to travel to matches and
parents are like mine), you have
meet new people, and it opens up
to have good grades. If you want
other doors for me. This choice
to have good grades, you have to
is not without sacrifices, but the
spend time studying. Here lies the
ones I do make are minor by
dilemma of how to budget your
comparison, and well worth it.
“want to do” priorities around
your “have to do” priorities.
Consider this for yourself,
So let’s say you study for one think about your priorities. What
hour, and have an hour left to do will you do to budget your time
whatever you want. Do you go this year? What order will your
see a movie, or do you do dry fire priorities be in and how will these
practice in your room? Do you decisions affect you? Also, if asked
hang out with friends and spend how important shooting is to you,
twenty bucks on a dance and will your answer correspond with
gas, or do you save those twenty the amount of time you dedicate to
dollars and put it toward your next it over other things?
major purchase, a new pistol for “If I could only have one gun…I
example. The combinations of would.” AP
14 IDPA Tactical Journal First Quarter 2013