I'm a new shooter and this really seemed obnoxious to me.  I've only been shooting skeet for less than a year and one my friends has been coaching me fairly regularly.  I've already shot several straight rounds.  But maybe like a lot of fairly new shooters, I'll shoot a 23 and 24 and then throw in a 20 and 21 to finish the 100 and 88 isn't so hot I would really like to begin to move up in the classes this year.

 

Anyway, this spring our club had its Chilly Open and feeling pretty rusty, I asked my friend Bob Noitall if he would mind watching me for the first couple of rounds and see if I was keeping fairly well to the fundamentals.  

 

I shot a 22 on the first round of the 12 gauge and didn't feel too bad, but Bob who had been watching from the porch said he thought that I was picking up my head on some of the low houses.  At any rate, when we started the second round, Bob came out with the squad and kind of stayed in the background while we shot station 1, but when I came up in third position on station 2, he stepped up fairly closely behind me to watch what I was doing.  

 

I broke both station 2 singles without a problem, but when I shot the doubles I missed the second bird.  Bob said, "There you go, the head came right off the stock, keep your head tight and strong follow through!"  The referee said, "Dead and lost, proof double for the second bird, but hold on a moment please".  

 

Then he comes us and says to Bob, "I'm sorry but what are you doing out here, you're not a member of the squad?"  Bob looked puzzled and just shrugged his shoulders and I think what he said was something like, "I've been coaching Jim and I was just looking over his shoulder to see what he was doing on the low houses he missed on the first round."

 

This referee has the gall to object.  He was fairly polite but what he essentially replied was the Bob would have to get off the field and that he was not allowed to coach me during the match!  Since then I've been doing a slow burn.  I even got out the copy of the rule book the NSSA sent me when I joined last year.  I can't find anything in it prohibiting coaching and it certainly isn't listed in the index!  So where does he get away with this?  I asked Bob and he just shrugged again and said "I don't generally argue with the referee, it's a losing game, and he's really the boss on the field."   So what's your call?

 

Mr. Newshooter, I'm obviously not privy to the conversation between Bob and your referee, but I think that he was correct and  I'm glad that despite your pique that you felt he was polite.  The rule you couldn't identify and that he undoubtedly was enforcing was Rule III-G. Safety Precautions. 15. No spectator shall be allowed on the skeet fields, and the referee shall be responsible for the enforcement of this rule.

 

Since your friend, Bob Noitall, was not a member of the squad, he clearly falls under the designation of spectator and as such certainly does not belong on the field during registered competition.  It is this prohibition, not that of the coaching, that caused the referee to ask him to leave.  If he had been a member of your squad, there is nothing in the rules that would have prevented him from doing exactly as he did in looking over your shoulder and making a [hopefully] useful comment.   International skeet prohibits coaching, even from squad mates, during a match, but not American skeet rules.  

 

However, even if Bob had been your squad mate, he would need to use marked discretion in coaching you, or you both would be treading on the margin of several other rules.  Both of these essentially address the fact that you and Bob could be considered to be interfering with the other shooters [who have the right to not be distracted by the behavior of the other shooters on the squad] and the right to a normal shooting sequence without interference.  These are Rule: III-B-4-c: No shooter shall unduly delay a squad without good and sufficient reason ... [I doubt that coaching would qualify]  and  IV-D-12: [disqualification] b. Any shooter who in his opinion has willfully interfered with  another shooter while the later is shooting.

 

Even if your squad mate, he should keep back, and make any comments to you well behind the rest of the squad, out of their hearing.  I have been a certified instructor of the NSSA for a number of years now with enough experience to be a Level 2 instructor.  As such I get asked more that my share of questions from squad mates.  Much of the time I cannot respond meaningfully as many errors are not apparent unless you are really concentrating on the shooters performance and are right over his shoulder.  And that is not conducive to my own decent shooting!  

 

Bob should really limit his coaching primarily to the practice field with you, and even then in such a fashion as to minimize possible annoyance to the other members of the squad.  The best coaching is one on one!  Keep your head down, follow through and work on two at low eight!