INTERVIEW WITH DARYL SZARENSKI
Daryl Szarenski, is a former US Pistol Team member and former member of the USAMU at Fort Benning, Georgia. He won Gold at the Argentina World Cup in Air Pistol in 1998 and finished 4th in Free Pistol at the Barcelona World Championships the same year. He was the US National Champion in Free and Air several times over. Shot a Steyr LP10, but shot a LP1 for many years. Toz 35 for Free Pistol.
How did you start shooting?
I started shooting on the junior program. Shooting rifle back in 1979, my dad, brothers, back up in Saginaw, Michigan. Saginaw Gun Club.
Tell me a little about your history. I know you shot rifle at college.
I went to Tennessee Tech to shoot rifle, I got a rifle scholarship after I got there. And I started to shoot pistol in my junior year. Just started shooting collegiate, won collegiates and stuff. Ronnie Boles recruited me for the AMU and I’ve shot for the Army ever since. I went in the Army in October 1991.
Who was the greatest influence on your shooting?
Probably my dad. He coached me all the time I was a junior, then when I got up in college he was always helping me out, helping me with equipment. Getting equipment and stuff for college and then when I came in the Army, he’s like the only one that’s always been there to talk to me, bounce ideas off of and stuff.
What’s your most valuable practice drill?
I don’t know if I have one most valuable practice drill. Just the whole thing together, kinda you know the way I do it just breaking it down into sections, working on the hold, then working on trigger, then working on sights and working on all the basics everyday to make sure that, trying to make each one of them better every day, you can’t leave one out or else (pause). There’s not one that’s better than the rest. You have to do all of them.
How do you handle the mental game?
Just try to keep it with basics. Shoot, you know how to shoot tens, you start thinking about winning or you start thinking about the pressure or start thinking about what match you’re in or whatever, you’re gonna be hosed. But if you just pay attention to the basics and keep with what you’ve been practicing you know that’s how you keep your practice scores and your match scores half way the same, or else there will just be no correlation between your practice and match scores, and that’s just do what you do in practice, just keep your head there.
Is there anything you think about in a match that’s something that you can kind of just revert you mind to and sort of not think about, something to do with your kids or anything?
No. I just, like I say, you practice the basics and you know if you execute the basics correctly, its going to be a ten and that’s all you do. You don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched. You never know if you’re going to win or lose, all you can do is be in the present and shoot tens and the only way to shoot tens is to do the basics. So, its just technical, just breath and say (pause) squeeze the ball through. That’s all I do.
Do you have any advice to beginners as far as creating grips or trying to carve on grips? It seems that occupies so much time for beginners, that to me is misplaced.
Yes, I don’t think grips are that big a deal. I mean if you get a basic Morini grip, or the grips that come with the gun you can shoot up to 570’s (pause) standard cross grip or what ever it is, don’t even mess with it. When you start busting 550’s, pre 570’s in air then start playing with the grips and it will help get you a couple of points on the high end of the scale. But when you are first starting out don’t even mess with the grips because you don’t know enough about it to do any good.
How do you prepare for a match at the beginning of the season versus later in the year?
Well, I took a big long break, went off shooting half of November, all of December and half of January, and so this match here in Norway and Munich is kinda of a kick off to the season. When I take a long break when I come back I just do a lot more holding and a lot less shooting, and the closer you get to the matches if you’re in shape and stuff you don’t need to do as many holding exercises. You can work on shooting a ten and just get on the line, put lead down range and pay attention to shooting, shooting a ten.
Explain what you mean by holding exercises.
My holding exercises, I have several. I work it toward each individual ones. I put a dot on the wall, like just a pencil dot on the wall and get up close to it and just hold on that dot, just flex the muscles and just hold as long as I possibly can and that I think that builds up the muscles so you can hold forever and hold it as tight on that dot as you possibly can. So I work on my hold by holding on that dot and just making it just holding it as hard as I can just holding not as unmoving as I can and I’ll do that 25 – 30 times. At the beginning of season you might just do that all day you know, and then work on just a blank wall, you know, without anything down there, and just squeeze the trigger without cocking the trigger. Just squeeze it all the way through and do that without disturbing the cross sights. That’s the best, that shows a use for trigger control, and just be able to squeeze that trigger as hard or as fast or whatever without disturbing the sights. If you can get good trigger control without disturbing the gun its going to go where you point it. And then concentrating soley on sights. I don’t do it as much, but you shoot at blank targets and you’re usually in pretty good shape after you do the holding exercises. That kind of works on your sideline activity and so that’s the two holding exercises that I do.
What sort of shooting glasses do you use?
Champion
Any advice you can give a beginner shooter about selecting glasses?
Just I’ve seen people shoot with normal glasses. You’ve got the high speed Champions or Knoblochs, or shoot, you can just wear your normal eye glasses if you want to cover up the eye put a piece of tape on it. I’ve seen people do that, it works great for a lot of folks. After a while you want to try different filters and stuff, but when you’re first starting out just shoot with normal glasses on your eyes. Don’t worry about getting high speed equipment in the beginning. Even I’ve messed with the filters for so long most of the time I shoot with the straight lens. I don’t even need Champion glasses. I just have my normal eyeglasses, it’s all I need. But if you want something that won’t get beat up and stuff, normal eyeglasses get scratched, and don’t get any high speed equipment just grab a gun and start working on the basics and you’ll get farther than anybody else.
Do you train with weights?
In the off season I run, I run all the time. In the off season I’ll use free weights which everybody says are bad but I use just use light weights with a lot of repetitions. I don’t know if it does anything, it just makes me feel better, so that’s what I do with weights.
What one thing do you wish you have learned earlier in your shooting career?
It’s just been a long slow process. I just wish the whole thing would move faster. Like I say, it all goes together, so it’s kind of I guess the realization of moving the trigger, just being able to move the trigger without disturbing the cross sight. You know that there’s a certain feeling that you get when you do it right, to learn that feeling quicker would have put me further ahead quicker.
Trigger break, some people say you should let it go with no overtravel so you don’t disturb your sights, some folks want lots, so you don’t disturb your sights, whats your perspective?
I have a lot of over travel. When I squeeze the trigger I start to take up the first stage and then just start to hold it, just keep holding it, squeeze applying pressure. The breaking of the shot is not the end of the shot, it’s the middle of the shot to me. You start you take up the first stage you start squeezing somewhere in there the gun goes off and you keep squeezing and then you keep squeezing till the trigger doesn’t move any more. When the trigger doesn’t move any more you should be well past the shot breaking during the whole time, and it should be a ten down there somewhere. That’s the way I do it. You can have the trigger stop you know the over travel stops right at the break as long as you keep squeezing, it really doesn’t really matter how much over travel you have, as long as you are squeezing through it, following through. Because some of my guns you can’t have over travel on, I just keep squeezing on it the same way. Like the breaking of the shot is not the end of the shot, it’s the middle of the shot. You have to continue to follow through. You continue to hold the gun as tight on that ten ring as you can, keep squeezing that trigger as smoothly as possible without disturbing the cross sight. Both of my guns do not have a lot of over travel but they’ve got some, some movement, otherwise you couldn’t make a stop so like doing just exercising your finger.
How do you select what size your front sights should be in relation to the target?
I shoot from what I see is an unorthodox sightng system. My front sight is about as wide as the black is, but my rear sight is really tight to the front sight. There’s hardly any light showing, so left to right movement from the front sight in that rear sight is very small. So if your sight alignment is off, you really can’t have bad sight alignment. You can have bad sight picture where it’s not on the target but your sight alignment is always going to be right because if you see light beyond both sides of the front sight then you’ve got good sight alignment, because it’s so tight then if you don’t see light then don’t shoot the thing.
What about lighting conditions?
Yes, right, you know all I do is and I sometimes have to adjust it from place to place. Fort Benning has a really dark range to here. (Munich) is a really bright range and sometimes you have to adjust that rear sight and give you a little more light because some ranges you can’t put it up there and it’s too dark. You can’t see any light through there and so how I judge it is if I just put it up there and you know it just a feeling, movement in your wrist left to right and have that front sight move in that rear sight. You know if that’s your normal wobble and your wobble will stay in there then you’re good. You don’t want to tighten down your rear sight far enough where your wobble is greater than the gap, then that’s so just keep it as tight as you can and still be able to see light on both sides. But like I say, everybody I’ve talked to said that’s one way of doing it. But it works. So, yes, it works good for me, that’s the way I look at it.
Any advice you would give to junior shooters starting out, what one thing do you see juniors making mistakes on and what can they improve on?
Just this. I see a lot of them getting discouraged and they go to the wrong places for advice. If they’re not giving you positive advice they’re probably not giving you good advice. They say it can’t be done, then they’re probably not worth listening to because there’s a lot of negative influences from people who just don’t believe you can shoot . It doesn’t take a rocket scientist in this sport, you know you’ve just got to be dedicated. You know a lot of the younger kids get discouraged real quick and they’re like, “I’ll never get to that level”. They just give it up. Just stick to it and be positive, they will be all right. Just watch who you get your advice from.