Yes. I dig Star Wars. Be honest. There is not one of you who would not want to be an apprentice Jedi.

What if you had the opportunity to train an apprentice Slinger. Someone who has never even touched a Sling and knows nothing about it, but saw you Slinging and wants to REALLY learn.

How and What would be your strategy??

Remember, you have someone who knows nothing, a clean slate.

If you had an (eager) apprentice Slinger that you had to teach to hit a target with:

A. Greatest Accuracy,
B. Over their Longest Range,
C. With solid impact,
D. With the best ammo for that SPECIFIC apprentice.

What would be your training?

Feel free to be as broad and specific as you need to be.

I would work the basics with him and let him fill in the rest with his own unique peculiarities.

That's awesome, Atlatlista! How did you manage to get that gig going?

Quote:


  Sounds to me like you've nailed it. 

I have a very strict rule in my life. My girlfriends must be able to sling!   Aside from a few girlfriends, I have also taught a few male friends.

My aim is to teach them how to sling in helicopter/sidearm in a general direction. It's just a relief getting them to this skill sometimes!

My recruits have an uncanny ability to possess beginners luck. I stand about 10-15 meters away and instruct them to sling a tennis ball to me lightly. To my consistent surprise the ball almost always flies straight into my hands the first few times.
(Very frustrating - I was never this good in the beginning! )

Afterwards I increase the distance, usually to 30 meters or 50. I instruct the recruits to aim between soccer goal posts; accuracy decreases quickly  


However, after an introductory class my recruits aren't so eager to continue practicing. It takes a certain type of person to hold an interest in slings. And exceptional people to push through certain failure to achieve accuracy.  

Ps. Teaching slinging makes a really fun action date!

I've taught a lot of people to sling.  I don't have a structured format for teaching; it's different every time.  It almost always starts with someone observing my slinging.  I try to get them to try it.  If I can get them to bite then usually I have them.  I let them sling with what ever form comes naturally to them then I'll help them work the bugs out and optimize that form.  If they're interested in sling making I'll sit down with them and we'll each make the same sort of sling.  Some want to learn everything I know so the whole process can take a few months.  One of my students, Mark, now slings a little better than me and often teaches groups of youngsters near his own age how to sling.  It's great to see the interest.

I've taught my best friend to sling and he saved took out a knife welding belligerent so I'd say that worked out pretty well. 

Basically just be patient. Whenever we sling we usually have a lot of small talk and such and it's just like normal friends talking, just while learning the useful skill of throwing rocks at lethal velocities.

If you want to know what it's like being a beginner again, try slinging with your non-dominant hand. 

I haven't had opportunity to teach anyone yet but the main thing I've found in teaching in general is to let them pursue what they want to pursue. If they care about power and distance, I'd help them with that. If they cared about accuracy at close range we'd work on that. A motivated student is the most important thing I think. So find what motivates them, whether it's a technique, goal, or method and work with them on that imho.