 you know honestly there's a lot of days that I still miss James Yeager. Hello everyone, Dylan Schumacher, Citadel Defense, and I want to talk about what makes a good instructor. Now right at the outset this might be a little bit biased because of course I like to teach people how to use guns so maybe you know I'm just being a little bit biased or slanted or whatever here. Been thinking about this the past you know 24 48 hours whatever and what makes a good instructor a good shooting instructor specifically right and I think it kind of boils down in my mind to two things one of which is pretty obvious you need to know how to shoot right I mean if you can't shoot effectively it's going to be very hard to demonstrate drills it's going to be very hard to show them it's going to be very hard to teach someone how to do a sport thing if you can't accomplish the very basics of that sport right every basketball coach in the world up to professional athletes can shoot a basketball are they necessarily the best basketball shooter no of course not right that's what we have professionals for probably getting a little far ahead of myself we'll come back to that so they need to have the base requisite skills right they need to be good enough I don't necessarily know what that is but they need to be good enough now the second thing and the much more important thing in my mind is they need to be an effective teacher right they need to be an effective communicator it does not matter how good I can shoot if I can't help you get better right and teaching and shooting are different skill sets might come a surprise some people different skill sets right just because you're good at something shooting construction basketball whatever it doesn't really matter pick it okay just because you're good at that thing doesn't mean that therefore you can teach it that's why colleges are full of professors who are completely inept teachers because they have their doctorate and they do some super fancy study but they're horrible communicators right and so they can't teach with the damn but they're good at what they do so we hire as a teacher so you need to understand that teaching is a different skill set than shooting just because someone can shoot really well does not necessarily mean they are a good teacher now are there still things you can learn from them and all that kind of thing yeah sure of course obviously because they're really good and people who are really good at something and you're not there's a gap there and hopefully you can learn to close that gap but for them to reach down right and pull you up is it requires a teaching skill it also requires a teaching skill for them to reach down pull you up and then push you above them right like it does not matter at the end of the day how good or I can or can't shoot as long as I'm at base level good enough right well again whatever that means that I can show you the drill that you can conceptually understand what I'm trying to explain that I'm able to show you the technique or the whatever that's what matters and then from there it's my job to stand there next to you watch you do it say no no no fix this do that how'd that feel let's talk about this oh my god look at that you did what I said and now your group shrunk and your speed increase and whatever right whatever it is that we're trying to work on that's whatever that is and then it's another skill set right to reach down and pick someone up and bring them up to your level and then continue to shove them beyond your level right to make people better shooters than me that's my goal again doesn't matter how good I can can or cannot shoot what matters is can I make you better and that's really how I look at it as an instructor and honestly that's how I look at it as a student when I go to people's classes right if someone spends a lot of time demoing and name dropping and and showing me how fast they are I'm like okay I mean that's cool and I'm glad you're fast but that's not necessarily helping me get that fast right what I want from an instructor when I go take classes is how are you going to make me better right and so when I teach classes it's my job to show it you know show it a couple times two three times whatever enough so that you conceptually understand what you're trying to do and then I stand there and then I watch you do it you know and I say oh no no you know you draw a little hinkety hankety whatever you're you need to clean up this efficiency you know and then your groups go like this and your speed goes up and everything gets better right and that's the point that's what a good instructor in my opinion does is we're here to help make people better wherever you're at on the the field the journey right to pull you up a couple rungs and then like I said if you're already as good as me or you're better than me to push you further than me that's the point that you would be a better shooter at the end of that eight hours four hours 24 hours whatever however long the class is that you'd be a better shooter at the end than you were at the beginning and I think that the number one skill required there is teaching or communication or instructing or however we want to phrase that it's not my shooting ability it's just not this channel is a lot of me talking because hopefully you would look at that you would say yes Dylan is an effective communicator the way he he's able to communicate things clicks with my brain I understand what he's saying and I'm able to follow him yeah that would make a good instructor or oh my god this guy can't talk for anything I would never go see him right and then your mind's made up because you understand my communication style and how I would talk so next time you want to go see an instructor try to find out how they communicate right and if they have some socials or whatever that's a good way to kind of check that out right but try to understand how would what how are they on teaching not necessarily where are their skills at although again you need to have a base level whatever that exactly means for you they need to have that base level of skill but again the more important question is how are they effectively teaching and communicating that how are they effectively making people better how are they able to transfer that concept over to someone how is their coaching ability for their ability to stand they'd be like nope you shifted a grip a quarter of an inch I saw that and so that's why you threw your shot right like how are they able to do that that is one of the most important things and I've had really good instructors who do that very well and I've gone to some really bad instructors who haven't done that very well they're just crappy communicators might be great shooters but crappy communicators right and so that that's what you're looking for at the end of the day so I hope that's helpful for you in thinking about how do we evaluate these instructors and how do we evaluate who I should go spend my money on how do we figure that out what's what makes a good instructor and I just think again we need to talk more and more about teaching teaching is what makes a good instructor not necessarily shooting or how good or smooth or quick or whatever they are and every once in a while you find people right that that can bring those magical things together and that's of course you know where you want to be at so hope that's helpful hopefully gives us something to think about do brave deeds and endure