For the remainder of August and most of September I’ll be in New Orleans, LA.
My slightly younger cousin, Mackenzie Hughes, is attending NOCCA Culinary Academy (New Orleans Center for Creative Arts). She auditioned to get a spot for her sophomore year, in the spring of her freshman year. She got in, excelled and is continuing there as a Junior this year. It’s really pretty incredible – the culinary academy was piloted by the Emeril Lagassee Foundation, it’s very difficult to get in and there are only a handful of students chosen from the applicants. I believe Mackenzie’s sophomore class only had 12 students, though don’t quote me on that number. I’m extremely proud of her!
Since both my aunt and uncle work full time and Kenzie doesn’t have her driver’s license yet, and no car pools were available – I headed to New Orleans to be the designated chauffeur for a while till something else can be worked out. I packed the essentials:
- Gi
- Kreighoff
- Mueller Chokes
- Briley Tube Inserts for Sub-Gauge competition
- Fishing Poles
- Tackle Box
And oh yeah, clothes, because ranges frown upon naked competition. Can’t say I’d argue with them about it. Ever had any shrapnel/bbs/casings fall back inside your shirt? Burn-your-flesh hot! I’m pretty sure nude shooting is about as advisable and cooking bacon while naked, for many reasons.
I have been checking out Shooterpages.com for NSCA events in Louisiana and Mississippi to keep things dialed in leading up to the Harvest Moon Classic in the beginning of October in Sarasota, FL and then of course, NSCA Nationals in San Antonio, TX at the end of October. Hoping to find some great events and competitors to team up with!
In JiuJitsu world I scored big and found three gyms near my aunt’s house. JiuJitsu is like sporting clays – once its in your blood – you gotta have it! You crave it! I’ll be visiting the local places, hopefully learning new techniques and styles and trying to improve my game all around.
As for the fishing – I’m in New Orleans with many types of water ways and places to choose from, from brackish, salt and fresh – who knows what I’ll land?! Maybe I’ll even return with a Cajun accent.
No matter where I go, or what I do I hope I can always find ways to improve my skills to make me better at what I do to help me achieve my goals and as always- have fun in the process!
I began shooting competitively in February of 2010 when I was 13. In the last year and a half I’ve done a large number of NSCA, ATA and charity events. To be honest – it’s become a blur and the exact number was lost somewhere in January of 2011. Since I live in Florida even though there are competitions in the summer I rarely turn out for them. May is generally when I stop competing and then pick it back up in mid to late August. So I cram as many events in as I can from September to May.
Saturday night I thought about the course over and over again. Why I’d shot a certain way, why I’d taken my face off the gun at the wrong moment, my follow through, my mount, why I’d stopped the gun when I shouldn’t have and then it dawned on me that I was letting all the technical points of shooting override the point – Hit the target. It’s really a pretty simple sport when you come right down to it. Clear out the techinical mumbo-jumbo, see the clay, shoot and hit it. It shouldn’t matter how far, how high or how fast. I’d forgotten all that.
The competitions I’ve done in the past few weeks since coming home have been amazing. Keeping in mind what I saw and learned that day, the targets that everyone else complain about look like nothing to my eyes now. It’s changed my perspective and my skill level. I guess sometimes even if you don’t place in the money, the knowledge you gain far outweighs the dollar amount in the long run.
