Elie Arkin doesn’t spend much time shooting bullseye competition. For the past three years, he has competed in International Pistol shooting, a discipline that focuses only on Olympic events. But he decided to travel to Camp Perry this summer as an opportunity to improve his skills.
He walked away with the G.P. Perry DeFino Trophy after winning the Junior .22 National Trophy Individual Pistol Match, along with Overall High Junior .22 Pistol in the 2700 Aggregate.
Sixteen-year-old Arkin is a member of the NoVA Sharpshooters Youth Shooting Sports Program that’s based in Northern Virginia. He is a competitor at the Junior Olympics and at the USA Shooting Nationals each year.
“I try to go to USA Shooting Nationals as much as I can, but I’ve been dipping my toes into bullseye to see how that world works,” he said.
Arkin entered the summer matches with the goal of simply becoming familiar with the competition. If he liked it, he planned to return next year with a more serious focus.
“I was honestly a little bit surprised by my wins. Everything went really well,” he said. “I didn’t even realize I won the trophy until they said my name at the ceremony.”
Although Arkin was surprised by his strong performance at Camp Perry, his success was the result of dedicated training.
“My training is not a straight plan. I build up before a competition. In the months before, I try new things and swap pieces of equipment,” he said. “As I get [closer] to the match, I solidify everything and decide just how I want it to be. I don’t switch things close to a match because I want everything to be subconscious and click naturally. I want everything to be as consistent as possible.”
Arkin said he has been working on the mental aspects of shooting as well, which he believes is highly impacted by experience.
“You can’t replace experience,” he said.
Arkin said he shot well below his average at his first Junior Olympics competition because he didn’t have the experience to draw on for his mental game. On the other hand, his confidence became grounded after achieving a personal best score and tying for first place with an Ohio State University pistol team assistant coach at a USA Shooting National competition. Arkin’s X scores put him in second place, but the experience opened his mind to his own potential.
“A lot of it is just experience. If you train enough, you reach a level where it becomes automatic,” Arkin said. “Things click and fall into place, and you can just let it happen.”
Arkin also draws from the experience of other marksmen. He talks to as many experienced competitors as possible.
“I’ve talked to members of the Army Marksmanship Unit and Olympians, and the advice they give me about the mental aspect is train a lot and talk to people,” Arkin said. “And I read books. Again, that’s advice from other people.”
However, Arkin still incorporates mental training into his shooting regiment. A big part of his mental game involves following an unchangeable competition routine.
“I have a shot process. It’s like a lab procedure with every individual step,” he said. “It’s how I pick up my gun, the level of my gun when I shoot, how I stand, and the breaths I take at each step. It’s very, very meticulous.”
Arkin encourages marksmen to develop their own mental shooting technique.
“Form your own mental outlook. Your training is not going to be the same,” he said. “You are your own person with your own needs. You have to figure it out for yourself.”
And, in the end, his mental game relies on a realistic view of competition.
“In the grand scheme of things, it’s just one match,” he said. “This match is just training for the next one.”
Learn more about the NoVA Sharpshooters Youth Shooting Sports Program.
Find out the latest from CMP at thecmp.org.
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