Practice before 1st shoot

[Clifford Coal Train]

Howdy ALL!
I have finally got an account here, I have been reading posts for a couple of months now and though it was time to make some of my own.  I havent been in a match yet but plan to very soon, still gotta get one more six shooter.  I have been practicing my movement and gun handleing(without live ammo of course) and I have set some cans up similar to standard stages to shoot, but I am nervous about the actuall stages, how do you folks practice? 

[Adirondack Jack]

There's a limit to the utility of practice before ya actually shoot a match.  NOBODY expects anything great out of ya at first.  Your goal ought to be to follow RO instructions and SAFELY navigate the stage.  Keep yer muzzle downrange and pay attention to loading and unloading rules, etc.  A good club will assign ya a formal or informal "buddy" to keep ya straight the first time through.

THEN ya can worry about practicing drawing, reholstering, long gun transitions, LOADING the shotgun, etc, as well as shooting.  For me, the hardest part was NOT trying to shoot a bullseye, but rather to connect with the AREA of the plate (any hit is as good as a center hit) and so on....

Practice targets on the cheap can be a few paper plates clipped onto sticks with a clothespin taped to the stick (big llollipop) and jammed into the dirt.  A 9" paper plate at 5 to 7 yards is great for pistols, 50 feet for rifles....