Practice

[bill rutherford]

     I was a modest flyer till I met Al Rabe. I was teaching school in Waco and called him one day out of the blue. He lived in Irving Tx . I complimented him on his second place at the 69 nat's and his outstanding Bearcat. He invited me to come up and fly with him. Well every two or three weeks I would drive up to his place and we would practice. Now Al is a no B/S kind of guy and he coached me that way. I would go back to Waco and practice what he had taught me. Well I got better but he kept moving the Bar up. One Friday he called me and asked me if I was coming up and I said no. I got paid once a month and things were a little tight at the end of the month. I told him I was out of money and He said " come up . I got gas money for you. " And so it went. He showed me the plans for the new mustang which I used to get third at the 72 nat's.  He showed me how to practice, body position, landmarks, ect.
      Now a few years ago I was visiting my good friend Phil Granderson and we went to fly With Ted Fancher,  Brett Buck Jim Armor and ??. It was no casual flying session. After every flight the Flyer had the others around and they went over aspect of his flight. They made use of every minute while there. You cannot squander practice time  , it is to valuable . . Now a lot of guys might think this takes the fun out of it and it does, however that's the price you must pay to get really good.    Bill Rutherford

[Tim Wescott]

Now a lot of guys might think this takes the fun out of it and it does

I disagree.  It makes for a subtler, deeper sort of "fun".  Or maybe (to disagree with myself) it's not fun, but it's more rewarding.  However you define "fun" and "rewarding" -- it's how I prefer to run a practice session.

[Motorman]

After every flight the Flyer had the others around and they went over every aspect of his flight.

Can't imagine anything worse lol.

RRC

[Brett Buck]

      Now a few years ago I was visiting my good friend Phil Granderson and we went to fly With Ted Fancher,  Brett Buck Jim Armor and ??. It was no casual flying session. After every flight the Flyer had the others around and they went over aspect of his flight. They made use of every minute while there. You cannot squander practice time  , it is to valuable . . Now a lot of guys might think this takes the fun out of it and it does, however that's the price you must pay to get really good. 

   It's a lot more fun when you win.

    Brett

[Tim Wescott]

   It's a lot more fun when you win.

Even without winning (which I don't expect to do now that I'm in Expert) it's still a really satisfying feeling to know that you're constantly expanding the boundaries of what you can do.

[john e. holliday]

Grandpa Bill,  I still remember you coming to KCMo to compete at the old Swope Park site.   If I remember right the practice paid off for you.   Too bad it got un safe to be at the site by one self.

[Shultzie]

Great flyin' machine....remember our flying session when I lived near The airport in Seattle.

[Brett Buck]

Can't imagine anything worse lol.

   I have to tell you, it's a lot better finding out beforehand than at a contest! This sort of thing it a large part of the appeal for me, you are able to continually pursue perfection essentially forever. Bill was wrong above, this *is* the fun part.

     I would also note that the "perfect practice makes perfect" doesn't always work for everyone. I am the world's worst practice flier - the difference between my practice flights and official flights is probably as large as anyone that is currently competitive. My concentration wanders all over the place, I certainly don't have the level of focus that Dave has, or the natural ability that Ted seems to an uncanny degree. But we (Dave, Ted, Jim, and I) rarely just practice to be out there practicing  - we are always working on something specific.

     Many of the groups have one "leader" and a lot of followers, we also don't have that. Dave, Ted, Jim, Phil, me, etc. are all pretty competitive fliers and we act mostly as equals (although if you look at the record, we aren't, obviously) all working towards the same goal to try to raise ALL our games. We do the sort of coaching and corrections that Bill noted *all the way through the end of the Walker flyoff*, if applicable. Usually we work with primarily one person, with the others funneling suggestions through the "prime" coach. How well each person works with the other varies from year to year, so we change around. Jim might be able to correct something from Dave better than Ted or I at any particular time, for example. We can all do a decent job of coaching but sometime it just clicks better with one person. It's as much psychology as it is technical at times.

    This is actually a very interesting topic that is seldom discussed.

     Brett

[Chris McMillin]

Coaches and proper coaching is very important and is one of the things that doesn't get written about on the boards too much, I agree with Brett there. It should, and is the difference between being successful in the event and being disappointed in one's performance in the event. I was coached by several people through my years of Stunt and also agree with Brett that one can have different people contribute to successful improvement. One can find good coaches that fly, and some that do not. But most of the very successful flyers have coaching at some intensity level and initially had coaching at a high level.
My first coach was my Dad, but that often doesn't work optimally when parents coach young children, though later in life he was very helpful. Bob Whitely (also the best trimmer I know), Windy Urtnowski, Gary Hajek and fellow flyers Mark Hughes and Dan McEntee were always good coaches for me in various periods and interconnected ways. At various points Ted Fancher and David Fitzgerald were responsible for valuable changes to my flying through one day or two day contests during practice periods. It all depends on how one approaches new information and how well the information is relayed. In the case of many of my notables in coaching, I was very fortunate to have been able to fly with them to get that information that they communicated so well. Also, like Bill Rutherford intimates, one has to seek out the information from those that have it and sometimes that is a sacrifice or takes one out of the comfort zone.
One of the best things about getting coached is one's improvement. There is nothing like it when it shows up on the judges scorecard at a contest. When I coach others there is the satisfaction of helping another flyer and the side benefit of increasing your own perspective on the flight and it's nuances that are carried back to the handle.
Newer Stunt flyers can benefit in big ways when developing into a contest Stunt flyer by seeking out coaching and learning how to be coached. Trying it this spring benefits could be seen this season.
Chris...