The above topic line might have you confused (tennis in a shooting range?). Those of you who are not new to shooting may well know this game by another name, but I know it as 'Tennis' and it's a great way to keep practice a little more fun and competitive.
Here's how it works:
You need
two shooters (A & B),
one target, and
one umpire.
Both shooters are given time to sight themselves in. After this, a numbering of the 10 targets is agreed. For example:
By virtue of a coin toss,
A goes first.
The
umpire randomly selects a target and calls out its number.
A shoots that target first, then
B shoots the same target.
The
umpire sees who has gotten closer to the bull and declares the winner of that target.
The
umpire selects another target.
B now shoots first, followed by
A.
The
umpire declares the winner of that target.
This continues until all 10 targets are shot.
Shooters get
2 points per target won,
1 point for a drawn target and
0 points for a lost one.
Here's how it benefits your shooting:
It's easy to get stuck in a downward spiral and stop trying if you know the card is going to be a bad one. This is a bad thing as what's important to remember is that a lot of this sport and some of its competitions are won or lost based on
average - so for the sake of your overall average it's still worth making every shot count (even if it's a bad card overall).
Tennis is a great way to get into the habit of focusing on your current shot, not the one you've just taken or the one that comes next. It's 10 one-shot games and once you've done one target you move on and focus on the next target.
Umpire-less Tennis
It is possible to play a game of tennis without an umpire. Providing both shooters have a spotting scope to see where their shots go, A selects the target, B shoots first followed by A. This alternates from shot to shot until the card is finished.
Range Etiquette
The rules on most ranges are that you
must be quiet on the firing point and not do anything that might distract a fellow shooter. This being the case, Tennis can really only be played if the two competitors have the detail to themselves (or providing any other shooters on the same detail are comfortable with the talking required during a tennis match, but this is quite unlikely).
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