Instinctively, intuitively, through a combination of all your senses, gained through much practice, combined with a little bit of luck. 

I was taught a technique where you visualize the trajectory of the stone as it flies.

First.
You need to gain knowledge of where you stone will release when using a specific technique. For example, if you use a sidearm throw the stone will release somewhere at your side. If you use an underhand, somewhere over your head.

Second.
Gain experience at how the stone will fly (i.e. in a smooth or steep parabola, or something else) based of the amount of power in your throw, the technique you use and the time of the release.


Third.
With your knowledge of the technique, release point and the power you use in a throw, whenever you throw, visualize how you think the stone will fly as a stippled line, from the point of release, through the presumed trajectory, till it lands on target.

Slyngorn,

That is a little more technical. Thank you.

vetryan15 wrote on Dec 16^th, 2020 at 4:03pm:


Yikes!! So much for practicing in my backyard. That would be a disaster waiting to happen.

@Ravenkeep, I agree with what others have said... on a practical level, it takes practice and muscle memory... but if you want a more technical explanation of the mechanics, maybe this will help:

A sling is a resonant system.  This means that aiming is synonymous with control of the timing.  The way to aim is to be precise with the timing of your motions relative to the rotation of the sling around your hand.

Let's use a 2D simplified example.  Imagine, for example that you are looking down at the top of a slinger's head and they are facing a target while "helicoptering" the sling clockwise (from your top-down perspective).  Let's also assume that the slinger is somehow helicoptering while their hand is directly on top of their head for simplicity, so it doesn't matter if they are left or right handed.  If the ammo leaves the pouch when the sling is 90-degrees to the left of the slinger, it will fly straight ahead toward the target, but there will be a lateral offset to the left of the target that is equivalent to the length of the sling.

We'll call this straight-ahead throw your "zero point".  Relative to this, if you want to shift the aim to the right, then the ammo needs to be released later.  If you want to shift your aim to the left, you release earlier.

This is a gross oversimplification that ignores the forward motion of the arm during the throw, but it is a useful mental model for understanding the relationship between your aim point and your timing. 

SerKraus wrote on Dec 16^th, 2020 at 4:34pm:


OH! Now I get it! I have been viewing aiming in black and white. My view/understanding/expectation was too technical. OK. I understand how it works now. Thank you. 

The sling is just an assisted throw.
I find it useful to think of it that way.

Just like throwing, you need to get a sense for how things feel when you are successful. Like when you throw a ball, you can feel when you release to early, or too late, from how the ball rolls off your fingers. You need tactile feedback to compensate.  It will be slightly different with a sling, since there is no direct contact with the ball, but there is still feedback. Practice helps develop this feedback.

Haha great question but you will soon realize it's not the aiming that's the problem it's the consistency. That's what you will spend the next 20 years working on lol.