By Anette Katrine, 1.dan, POMW assistant trainer, October 2019

It has now been 3 years since I completed POMW, a unique shooting course that cannot be compared to any other shooting courses. In the course, you learn the essence of shooting technique and not, as is the norm in other shooting clubs, "just" get a weapon in your hand and most often shoot blindly. The spirit of martial arts, ethics, Shindenkan's value set permeated the entire process, from the time you get an air pistol in your hand, you dry train at home until you start with 0.22 and finally shoot with 9 mm - with a recoil you just have to learn to love.

The course with POMW is, like the other karate training, well thought out, mega structured, and there is a "common thread" throughout the course. Those of us who had already completed POMW have had shooting training in both autumn and spring since we finished the course. Every time we started after the summer holidays, we could feel that we were rusty because we hadn't remembered to practice approx. 10-20 minutes of dry training every 14 days.

Who learns from his mistakes?

Funnily enough, you definitely don't learn from your mistakes - everyday life and the hamster wheel take up all of your time, and then you don't get to prioritize the bit of training it requires. Do you think it's really boring when your shooting is, to say the least, miserable after the summer holidays. The answer is YES!

I think that the vast majority of us martial arts practitioners can nod in recognition of this when - speaking of KataFIT - Who hasn't experienced a KataFIT 5s presents great challenges after the summer holiday despite having just completed a KataFIT 15S before the summer holiday. Cause lack of maintenance of one's skills.

The mental state affects how you shoot

Those of us who had completed POWM, we started training with .22mm pistols first. And we trained over and over again – focusing on the mental state, breathing, foot placement, JEB (you tighten your butt muscles) and how you hold the gun.

And again, the mental state was crucial to your presentations. I was therefore just aware when I shot very badly. It was 100 % sure it wasn't the gun. The reason was 100% that my mental balance was not at its best. Other times it went really well and you could tell that mentally you had a good day. The more we trained, the closer we got to our previous top score, but it was exciting to see if the new POWM shooters will catch up with the old ones?

What was it like to train with the "new POMW"

It was very enriching, as you could recognize the phases they went through, which were exactly the same as what you yourself had experienced. One of the participants asked where our score ended up being in the final course and I replied that they could expect 2/3 of it to be between 260-280.

In addition, almost everyone would experience an increasing score curve – if you were humble about learning and entered as a white belt – even if you might have shooting experience from elsewhere. Isolated high results did not count - it was the development curve that mattered. The person had a steep curve and the last few shots were above 270 points, which was aware that it was not a passing thing.

POMW gives extra self-esteem and self-confidence"

Others initially did not believe in themselves and tried to belittle themselves, which is not accepted in Shindenkan. Anyone can if they want to. And what happened, those who were not very good at the beginning - they did very well in the end. I was completely proud on their behalf and I could see that they were also proud themselves - which made me the happiest. It meant that the training had made a difference for them personally – something had been moved mentally.

POWM is not just shooting, it is also self-confidence building, which the process with the last teams also showed. I am sure that all the participants had the same feeling as when I finished my course - more self-esteem and self-confidence and not least that you are a "hell of a shooter" and are probably quite a bit better than the professionals of this kind 🙂 Well, not quite!