How Much Should I Practice?

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This is a great question that I receive every so often. So, here’s an example of how you can begin spinning a rifle (or any other type of practice) and progress to a level of proficiency with which you are comfortable.

Drill Team Technique

Running Practice for a Competitive Drill Team

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Training, Practice and Rehearsal, three different types of well, practice. Here is an article on the Difference Between Practice and Rehearsal and an article on the Difference Between Practice and Training. Whether you are on a first responder or military honor guard or a JROTC/ROTC drill team, your responsibilities are the same to a point: develop your skills, keep them …

The Difference Between Practicing and Training

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Practicing and training seem almost synonymous. But there are subtle differences. Dictionary.com gives us this information: Practice Noun: The actual application or use of an idea, belief, or method as opposed to theories about such application or use. Verb: Perform (an activity) or exercise (a skill) repeatedly or regularly in order to improve or maintain one’s proficiency. And from wikipedia.com: …

How to Run an Honor Guard Practice

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I’ve been asked this and similar questions before and I’d like to give you my best practices from my years working with honor guard units around the world. How to Practice If you have weekly or monthly practice for a couple of hours, make sure that the whole team is grounded and completely standardized in the basics: Standing Manual (everything …

Ask DrillMaster- Team Training Difficulties

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Question: What is a good way to run a team practice? I feel alot of the difficulties we’re having as a team is my fault for not running practices as efficiently, so would you have any advice please sir? Once again I cannot thank you enough for all the help. Answer: What are the difficulties? Below I can only give …

How to Train when not “Practicing”

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Here are some simple tips that you can do on your own each day to help you improve your body development which will help you improve your drill overall. When doing those simple daily tasks, change it up, keep the body guessing: When brushing your teeth, stand on one leg while you brush the bottom teeth; switch to the other …

Practice Makes Permanent- Feet

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“Practice makes permanent.” Lt. Col. Bernard C. Lorenz always told my drill team this phrase. He was my AFJROTC instructor when I was in high school and has now passed, but I have always remembered that phrase and included it in my training. Thanks, Sir. Practice makes permanent and education is key. We will tackle both in this article. Many …

Discipline at Practice

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FYI: rehearsal = practice The military (we can count college ROTC in this), LEOs, firefighters, EMS, etc. are all adults and have set rules of which one must follow. In many cases honor guard, color team or drill team is on a volunteer basis and out of 1000 rehearsals you might run across some bad behavior that requires discipline. Situations …

Why do we Practice the way we do?

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Sometimes students have a hard time understanding why it is we spend so much time working on individual skills, when it’s easy to see that most of the team can do the skills. I tell them it’s a lot like a sports team. Every experienced baseball player has skills – they already know how to run, how to hit, and …