INTERVIEW WITH TEEMU TIAINEN
Teemu Tiainen is one of the few junior shooters who made the transition to the senior ranks successfully, without first taking a few years’ break. In 1998, he won the Junior Air Pistol World Championship in Barcelona, Spain. After turning senior in 1999, he was a member of the Finnish national team. I spoke to him during the 2001 Munich airgun matches.
When did you start shooting?
About 12 years ago. I was ten.
You started with pistol?
Yes, I started with pistol. I have never trained rifle shooting. For two or three years I shot air pistol only, then I started with Sport Pistol. Three years after that I started Free Pistol.
What brand of pistol did you start out with?
It was a Feinwerkbau Model 65.
What do you shoot now?
Morini.
Why do you like the Morini?
There’s a little recoil – I like that. And I like the feel of the trigger and the grip.
How about Free Pistol?
Toz 35 with a Morini grip. I bought the grip last year. There are always some adjustments, it still needs some fitting.
What was your first club?
I’m still with it – Yla-Vuoksen Ampujat ry (YVA), Imatra. My parents are the president and secretary.
Who is your coach?
Risto Pilvinen. He was formerly in the military, and has been coaching me from 1998.
So it was after you won the world championship?
No, actually before. That was the same year I started with Risto.
Do you attribute a lot of your improvement to him?
Yes, a lot of it. Our relationship is not a normal shooter-coach relationship. I coach myself and I analyze my results and my shooting by myself. Then we discuss it further and he gives me a lot of feedback. He has also given me many training methods to test with myself.
What is your favorite practice drill?
Dry fire. Close to the wall, so that you can get the feedback very easily.
A lot of shooters say they find dry firing boring. Do you get enough out of it to feel good after you have finished a dry fire session?
Yes, I like dry fire because it’s so easy to check your technique. If you just turn a target around (shoot a blank target) it doesn’t give you the same feedback. It’s not boring if you don’t do hours at a time.
How long would your typical session be?
Half an hour to one hour. Sometimes I do it twice a day. But sometimes I’ll do fifteen minutes and fifteen minutes, with a break in between. I have lots of kinds of different kinds of dry firing. Then it’s more interesting.
What are your different types of dry fire?
Close to the wall. And then (concentrating on) different parts of the technique. I concentrate on triggering or aiming or positioning inside (inner stance). That’s important. I dry fire at a white target, a real target, or a black line, horizontal or vertical.
So you try to hold within that line?
Yes, so I can see any movement outside the line.
How do you handle the mental game?
I imagine my shooting before I do it. I imagine the perfect shot. Then I dry fire, then I shoot four or five shots. Then I either continue if it still feels good or start again from the beginning.
Is there anything you think about when you’re in a match, any saying or song maybe?
Nowadays I feel that the best way to concentrate is to not think about concentration, but let it come automatically.
Do you have a set shot sequence when you move from one part of the shot to another?
Yes, it’s all tied into the breathing. I take five or six breaths for one shot.
Do you have to think about doing it or does it all happen automatically?
Of course breathing comes naturally (laughs) but sometimes when my mind is running away to some wicked place, then I’ll just concentrate on my breathing. It brings my mind back.
We all get nervous in a big match. Do you find you perform better if you manage to get your arousal level down or have you found a way to shoot well when you’re nervous?
I don’t know. I’m just concentrating. It doesn’t mean anything if I’m in Munich or Finland shooting. Every time I concentrate the same way, in every competition. I don’t think, “I’m in a big competition now and I have to shoot well”.
So nerves don’t become a big issue?
Yes, they do, every time! But I can’t make a difference.
Finals can be a problem I find.
Yes. It´s hard to train finals by yourself, you need to have the atmosphere and eight guys on the line. One Final training for a year is not enough, you should do it every month.
How many hours per week would you train?
A minimum of ten hours. That’s dry firing and some shooting, also physical and mental exercises.
Do you batch test your ammunition?
Yes, I have found that Lapua: Pistol King ammunition is the best for me and my gun. There are very accurate and they give a good recoil.
What advice would you give to a junior just starting out?
You have to train hard. But always remember to relax also and have fun. Juniors should have also other hobbies than shooting.
You’ve been a senior for more than two years now? You have made the Finland senior team as well?
Yes, I have been on the senior team for almost three years.
Did you get much recognition back home when you won the World Championship?
Yes, some. My home town gave me some money and the Finnish Shooting Federation has been sponsoring me for the past three years. Also I have had a lot of help from the Olympic Association. But generally it’s hard to get recognition in my country for shooting.
So you didn’t have women throw themselves at your feet as soon as you got home?
Oh no. Luckily I have a good woman already so it didn’t matter. You don’t have to write that.
Of course I won’t.