July2026 (1) - Flipbook - Page 86
Training for Big Matches
By Dustin Flint, via substack
What is the BEST way to prepare
for big matches? I have no idea. I
do know that being prepared is far
better than being unprepared; and
I have a system that I’ve used for
many years that has worked well
for me. Over the next two weeks,
I’m going to take you along with
me through my preparation for the
SK Lonestar Cup.
An extremely general, two-sentence overview of my annual
training philosophy is as follows:
Starting around January 1, I am
relatively consistently shooting
enough to keep my timing sharp
and my habits solid until the season is over, at which time I barely
shoot at all until the new year.
The two weeks leading up to each
championship match, I increase the
volume, focus, and consistency of
my training.
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Most all of my “serious” training
takes place during the two weeks
leading up to a championship
match. This is enough time to get
sharp and correct any issues. Most
importantly, it’s enough time to feel
confident that I am well prepared
and ready to perform at my best. I
believe that if I am going to spend
the time and incur the expense of
attending a match, I should adequately prepare for it. The two
weeks before the match is preparation time. It’s go time! Time to get a
bit serious.
Two weeks from today is the first
day of the SK Lonestar Cup in
Houston, Texas. This is the biggest match in the country with the
possible exception of the national
championship. Today is the first day
of training for that match. My plan
is to write several very short posts
over the next two weeks explaining
the goals behind each day’s specific
training, and how those goals are
met. This will be the longest post.
There will be nothing earth-shattering here, but it may help anyone
interested to understand my system and philosophy. Maybe copy it,
maybe not. Again, I’m not claiming
that this is the best way to train,
this is just the way I do it.
As far as volume goes, I usually
shoot around 20 shots a day on
a regular day during the season
then up it to 40 shots or more daily
during the two weeks before a big
match. Today is the perfect start
to this training block because this
is one of our regularly-scheduled
club matches. Shooting matches is
the BEST training in my opinion.
The more matches you can shoot,
the better! (Especially for new
shooters.)
July, 2026 - Issue #3
