Ashleigh HAFLEY - Clay Shooting USA

ONETO ONEtime, if a lady feels uncomfortablein a place, she won’t put herself inthat situation again.As a Lady in Master class, are youresigned to the view that you are nolonger competitive in class and mustnow be content to compete in yourconcurrent class, perhaps with theambition to represent your country ina major international tournament? I have had that comment madeto me several times since punchinginto Master class – “Now thatyou’re in Master class you will justbe donating to the Big Boys”. I hopepeople don’t take this wrong – butwinning the concurrent classes isvery important to me, but if I reallythought I would never becompetitive in Master class I amnot sure my desire to competewould still be as intense as it is.I know the standards arehigher in Master class and to winyou must be on your best gameevery day. But to me, the way toachieve your best game and tocultivate your talent is throughhard work, determination andexperience. I feel I have the talentand the determination and I am notafraid to do the hard work. So, Ifeel all I really need is theexperience. I also know some ofmy goals will be achieved andsome won’t – but I really try not toput a limit on them. Beingcompetitive in Master class anddoing what it takes to get there hasbecome a huge part of myshooting commitment.As for representing the UnitedStates in any capacity as part ofTeam USA, that would be a dreamcome true. With the number ofevents that I attend each year Iregularly get to see the members ofTeam USA. The commitment thatthey have made, out of love of thissport, just astounds me. I wouldhave to think that one of the mostcherished memories that anysporting clays or FITASC shootercould have would be to representthe United States wearing theTeam USA vest.How do you mentally prepare for amajor championship? I like to think of tournamentsas applying the skills and methodsI have learned in practice. ThisI KNOW THE STANDARDSARE HIGHER IN MASTERCLASS AND TO WIN YOUMUST BE ON YOUR BESTGAME EVERY DAY. BUT TOME, THE WAY TO ACHIEVEYOUR BEST GAME AND TOCULTIVATE YOUR TALENT ISTHROUGH HARD WORK,DETERMINATION ANDEXPERIENCE.helps relieve any of the mentalstress about performing to acertain level. When I practice I doit in a serious manner and everytime I use the same mental routinethat I would use in a tournament. Ilook at my show pair, decidewhere I will acquire focus on atarget, and where I will kill it. Ithen visualize the complete shotprocess before I load the gun.After loading the gun, I tell myselfto see the rings on the target andthen call pull. I repeat the pre-shotprocess every time I changepositions or when I miss a target inpractice. That way, when I’m in atournament situation,every thing feels the same as itdoes in practice. I don’t introduceany new variables into thetournament that I don’t experienceevery day during practice. So tomy way of thinking, thetournament days and the practicedays are the same.What was your biggest mistakeduring a competition, or shoot-off,that cost you a podium place? My biggest mistake was at the2005 Zone 5 at Quail Ridge inSunman, Indiana. The first daystarted off great, I preformed welland was leading the Ladiesconcurrent with an 86. Sunday Ihad a great start and everythingwas going as planned. When I gotto the third station things started tounravel. The target presentationwas two standard targets thrown asa true pair – both of them wereincomers. The targets were closeand showed all bottom. I took thisset of targets for granted and whenI walked into the station, if I hadany game plan at all, it was a vagueone at best. By the time I walkedout of the station I had dropped sixout of ten of the targets!The five-bird lead that I hadgoing into the round hadevaporated on one station. I didn’thave a game plan to execute and soI didn’t perform as well I shouldhave. Something I try not to do isthinking about any missed targetsafter I leave the station. That day Icouldn’t let go of the six I had justdropped – and it cost me more inthe long run.I was upset with myself whenthe scores were tallied up – I hadlost by four targets. I really believethat it wasn’t the six I dropped atthe third station that cost me thetournament, it was the fact thatthey were easy targets and I justcouldn’t let go of it. I took thethought of those six targets withme to the next stations and that iswhat cost me the four I lost by.Since that incident I havemade an effort to let any station Ihave not done well at, stay at thatstation. I move on to the nextstation, concentrate on that set oftargets and my game plan. Afterthe round is finished I willmentally go back and look at themistakes I made and realize what Ishould have done – that way,when I come across a similartarget in future I will know what todo and not make the samemistake twice.Your age and build would suggestthat with so much competitiveshooting, the effects of recoil couldbe a future concern. What stepshave you taken in deciding on yourgun and shell choice to limit itslong-term effect? The first way I went aboutreducing recoil was to make surethat I had a good gun fit. I had myKemen fitted by Tom Smith, anOhio stock maker. I believe takingthe time to make sure you have aproper gun fit is critical to reducingfelt recoil.I also carry two types of ammowith me when I shoot. One is a softshooting 1oz or 1 1 /8 that I use forclose targets out to about 30 yards.CLAYSHOOTINGUSA 41