The athletes (left to right) Allison Vericio, Leandro Boaventura, Igor Zander and Ildeu Heller participated in Guga Ribas' coaching
For over thirty years dedicated to competing, athlete Guga Ribas has developed a training methodology to enhance his own performance. Based on the maturing of this experience, his idea is to start a coaching program for other sports people. This is the athlete’s dream come true: working directly with competition.
“The great challenge of coaching is working to get the best out of the athlete”, explained Guga Ribas.
At the last Rio-Minas IPSC tournament in Petropolis on July 17, Guga began coaching athletes in the Brazilian Practical Shooting squad that will represent the country in this year’s World Shoot. All those participating work were unanimous in their comments that they made considerable progress with the experience, as Allison Vericio (Production) says, who managed to add to his knowledge gained from a lot of reading.
Guga guides Allison through the coaching
“It was an excellent opportunity to learn more about the aspects of competing (far beyond technique). Competing involves details and we need to keep an eye on them”, stressed Allison.
On the day before the match, the group trained together and had a chat with Guga. During the contest, the athletes analyzed the stands and the regulations and listened to the coach’s feedback.
“What I noticed was Guga Ribas’ capacity to analyze people’s different aspects (technique, behavior, etc.). I found this analysis very interesting and useful”, said Allison.
The development of the athletes
The athletes analyzed their performance and shot together in the same squad
Athlete Leandro Boaventura (Modified) commented that these two days were full of new information that was fundamental for his progress and made it easier for him to see and correct his mistakes.
“I’ve changed my way of drawing the gun. I think my performance will now improve on the IPSC stands”, said Leandro.
Guga also took part in the match and joined the athletes in the same squad. Despite the fast pace, this experience was important for the shooters to assimilate what he was conveying to them. Athlete Ildeu Heller (Modified) from Minas Gerais said that Guga has so much know-how to pass on to the contenders and praised his way of coaching.
“I think that the highpoint of training or instruction is precisely its legitimacy. It was very important for Guga to demonstrate to us, and in a match environment, everything he can tell us during the coaching”, analyzed Ildeu.
Guga observes Igor preparing for another stage
Ildeu also said that the best lesson was to be told how and what to train. This was another important point stressed by the coach: the need for material such as worksheets and reports to help analyze the training and competition results.
“When athletes do this control, very often they don’t understand or fail to do the necessary follow-up. It is very important for the athlete to starting training with a set goal”, said Guga.
Igor Zander (Standard), the only Rio member of the group, reckoned that he should be more professional in this aspect and left the match on Sunday with a new training program in mind.
“I need to pay more attention to my previous structure and all aspects of the competition”, said Igor.
At the end of the tournament, the athletes listened to feedback from Guga
This was complementary work to prepare a group of athletes for defending their country in the World Shoot in Greece this year. Although it’s hard to reconcile work routine, family and financial resources to stay in the sport, they find conditions to train, compete and strive for the excellence required in an international competition.
“Training shapes the technique, but only matches can give you the experience to face up to the challenges of a World Championship. Greece, here we come”, says Allison.