Front Sight
literature

Front Sight

Front Sight is not a traditional technique manual. Instead, it is a coach’s notebook, blending high-level training methodology, reflective coaching philosophy, and applied performance science drawn from Masetti’s work with elite Olympic shooters—including preparation leading to an Olympic silver medal.

The book’s strength lies in its process-driven thinking: planning, observing, measuring, adjusting, and repeating. Masetti deliberately avoids re-teaching classic fundamentals (grip, stance, trigger) and instead focuses on how elite performance is built, monitored, and sustained over time. Real training examples, competition anecdotes, SCATT-based analysis, and unconventional drills make it especially valuable for advanced athletes and coaches.

This is a book for readers who already understand how to shoot and want to understand how to train better.

Best suited for:

  • ISSF coaches (club → national level)
  • Advanced athletes (Air Pistol, Sport Pistol, Rapid Fire)
  • Readers interested in planning, feedback systems, and mental-perceptual skills

Chapter & Section Overview

1. Introduction & Background

  • The Beginning / Background / Presentation
  • Masetti’s motivation for writing: organizing years of elite coaching experience
  • A critical reflection on why “one perfect technical recipe” does not guarantee sustained high performance

2. Training Philosophy & Roles

  • Training?
  • The Coach / The Pupil
  • Defines the evolving coach–athlete relationship
  • Emphasizes responsibility, autonomy, and shared decision-making

3. Training Planning & Periodization

  • Training and Planning

    • Transition Period
    • Preparation Period
    • Competitive Period
  • How to structure seasons logically rather than emotionally

  • Focus on when and why to train certain qualities

4. MAP – Multi Action Plan

A core methodological chapter.

  • Theory
  • Research on the Field
  • The Kinetic Chain
  • Key Points & Verification
  • Data Registration & Sorting
  • Using objective data (especially SCATT) to guide decisions
  • Turning observations into measurable, actionable variables

5. Shot Evaluation & Performance Metrics

  • Determining optimal shots
  • Average values vs. peak performance
  • Evaluation methods that go beyond score alone

6. A High-Level Season in Practice

  • Training Camps (General & Special)
  • A 21-Week Program (selected weeks shown)
  • Week-by-week analysis and coach commentary
  • Demonstrates how theory translates into real elite preparation

7. SCATT and Technology in Training

  • Practical use of SCATT for analysis, not obsession
  • Understanding traces, timing, and stability in context

8. Work Plans for Coaches

  • Club Coach Work Plan
  • Rapid Fire Pistol Applications
  • Practical templates adaptable to different levels and environments

9. Unconventional Training & Perceptual Skills

  • Decision Training

  • Quiet Eye

    • Definition
    • Pistol and Rifle examples
    • Trainability
  • Developing perception, decision-making, and visual discipline

10. Error Management & Competition Thinking

  • Old Way vs. New Way
  • Reframing errors as information
  • Competition as a dynamic problem-solving environment

11. Technical Elements (Contextual, Not Prescriptive)

  • Holding the Grip
  • Position
  • Aiming
  • Trigger (Discussed as variables to manage, not fixed ideals)

12. Physical Training & Shooting Games

  • Integrating physical readiness with shooting demands
  • Games to increase engagement and learning transfer

13. Competition & Exercises

  • Practical drills linked directly to match demands

14. Conclusion & Appendices

  • Lectio Brevis
  • Conference material
  • Example work plans
  • Extensive bibliography for further study

Final Coach’s Takeaway

Front Sight is best read slowly, with a notebook. It challenges coaches and athletes to stop chasing perfect technique and start building robust systems that survive pressure, fatigue, and uncertainty.

If classic manuals teach what the shot should look like, Masetti explains how champions are actually trained.

Available as ebook and print from Amazon.

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