The Clay Lab Network Podcast

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Dean Blanchard joins Dawn Grant on Clay Mastermind: Mental Excellence and Industry Insights for a focused conversation on Sporting Clays instruction, target reading, visual connection, confidence, and the mental side of improvement. Dean is a Sporting Clays instructor, target setter, YouTube educator, and Master Class shooter whose path into the sport began with struggle rather than natural talent. After starting as one of the weakest shooters at a charity shoot, Dean worked his way through the game, eventually reaching Master Class and winning smaller events along the way. His experience gives him a practical understanding of what shooters struggle with because he has personally worked through many of the same problems.
In this episode, Dean shares how his outdoor background shaped his interest in shooting, hunting, fishing, and time in nature. Growing up in Virginia, he began with rifle shooting, spent time in 4-H, served in the Army Reserves, and developed a strong foundation in marksmanship before realizing that shotgun shooting required a very different skill set. He explains how looking at the gun, aiming, and using rifle habits made the transition to shotgun sports difficult, and how learning to trust the eyes, see the target, and move the gun efficiently became central to his progress.
Dawn and Dean discuss how instruction should go beyond simply telling a shooter they were in front of or behind a target. Dean explains his teaching approach through three primary questions: did you see the target well, did you move the gun well, and did you break the target. He also shares how he uses simple drills, stationary objects, and target presentations to help shooters understand why they must look at the target instead of the barrel and how they can still be aware of the gun through peripheral vision.
A major focus of the episode is the mental game in Sporting Clays. Dean and Dawn explore confidence, belief, self-talk, fear of longer targets, and the importance of helping shooters believe, “I can do this.” Dean shares how he uses small progressions, such as stepping back gradually on crossing targets, to help students build belief and extend their comfort zone without overwhelming them. Dawn expands on how repeated thoughts form beliefs and why shifting a shooter’s inner dialogue can directly affect performance.
The conversation also covers the differences between trap and Sporting Clays, including why trap shooters often recognize the mental game more quickly because they shoot repeated targets and must stay focused through long runs. Dean shares his own experience running 100 straight in trap while battling intense nerves, and Dawn explains how repetitive sports demand disciplined conscious focus.
This episode offers valuable insight for Sporting Clays shooters, instructors, and competitors who want to improve their target reading, visual focus, confidence, post-shot routine, and ability to self-coach. Dean’s practical teaching style and mental awareness make this a useful conversation for anyone working to become more consistent and efficient in the game.
 
Dean Blanchard Links
Facebook:
 https://www.facebook.com/dean.blanchard.963/
Instagram:
 https://www.instagram.com/deanblanchardshooting/
YouTube:
 https://www.youtube.com/@deanblanchardshooting
 
Dawn Grant Links  
https://dawngrant.com/ 
https://mindmastered.com/  
https://ameliashotgunsports.com/ 
 
Free webinar here: https://f.mtr.cool/wehmqlchqh
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 Will Van Dusen joins Dawn Grant on Clay Mastermind: Mental Excellence and Industry Insights for a conversation on Sporting Clays, college shooting, instruction, confidence, focus, and the mental side of performance. Will began shooting through the Texas 4-H shotgun program and became active in registered Sporting Clays as a young teenager. He went on to earn spots on Sub-Junior and Junior All-American teams and later competed for the Texas A&M Trap and Skeet team, where he served as team president and helped push the program toward Division I national success.
In this episode, Will shares how shooting became a family-centered sport for him, beginning with his brother, parents, and the Texas 4-H program. He discusses growing up around competitive shooting, developing through youth programs, and eventually choosing Texas A&M partly because of its strong shooting team. Will explains the intensity of college shotgun competition, where athletes must perform across trap, doubles trap, skeet, super sporting, and Sporting Clays. He also reflects on the rivalry between Texas A&M, Lindenwood, Schreiner, and the University of Texas, as well as the pride of helping build strong collegiate programs.
A major focus of the conversation is the connection between trap, skeet, Sporting Clays, and mental training. Will explains why Sporting Clays is his favorite discipline and why trap and skeet do not always transfer easily into Sporting Clays because of the repetition and more predictable target presentations. Dawn and Will discuss how repetitive targets can cause the conscious mind to wander, while Sporting Clays and FITASC require different levels of target awareness, focus, and adaptability.
The episode also explores why trap shooters often have a strong awareness of the mental game. Dawn shares her experience speaking to a room of trap shooters who fully understood the importance of mental training, and Will explains why shooting long runs in trap requires strong focus, emotional control, and the ability to stay mentally committed through repetitive shots.
Will also discusses his work as an instructor and assistant coach for the University of Texas Trap and Skeet team. He shares what he enjoys about helping new shooters build confidence, overcome hesitation, learn how to mount the gun, use their eyes, and trust the target. He also talks about coaching more advanced shooters through hold points, target connection, visual detail, and learning to stop being overly careful.
Dawn and Will go deeper into pre-shot and post-shot routines, fear of missing, anxiety, overthinking, staying present, and why one miss can easily turn into several without the right mental reset. Will also shares his involvement with the University of Texas team and the Aggie Clay Target Foundation, which supports Texas A&M Trap and Skeet through fundraising, resources, and future scholarship opportunities.
This episode offers valuable insight for Sporting Clays shooters, college athletes, coaches, instructors, and anyone interested in confidence, mental discipline, youth shooting, and the development of competitive clay target athletes.
 
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Will Van Dusen Links
Instagram:
 https://www.instagram.com/willvandusen/
University of Texas Trap & Skeet Team:
 https://www.instagram.com/uttrapandskeet/
Aggie Clay Target Foundation:
 https://www.instagram.com/aggieclaytargetfoundation/
Capital City Clays Instructor Page:
 https://capitalcityclays.com/
Phone:
 (903) 203-2468
 
Dawn Grant Links  
https://dawngrant.com/ 
https://mindmastered.com/  
https://ameliashotgunsports.com/ 
 
Free webinar here: https://dawngrant.com/pages/clay-shooters-mind-game-mastery 
Support the show

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Tom Fiumarello joins Dawn Grant on Clay Mastermind: Mental Excellence and Industry Insights for a detailed conversation on Sporting Clays instruction, teaching, coaching, mental performance, and the difference between being a great shooter and being a great instructor. Tom is the founder of Excel Shooting Sports and brings a lifetime of teaching and coaching experience to the shooting industry. Before becoming a Sporting Clays instructor, he spent 35 years as a physical education teacher, coached high school and collegiate athletics at a high level, played professional baseball, and earned a master’s degree in human performance and sports psychology.
In this episode, Tom shares how his journey into Sporting Clays began after a difficult period in his personal life, when a friend invited him to shoot and he broke only 11 out of 100 targets. Instead of walking away, that experience lit a fire in him. He pursued certifications, studied the game, trained through the Guild of Sporting Clay Instructors in the United Kingdom, and began transferring decades of teaching knowledge into the clay target world.
A major focus of the conversation is the difference between shooting ability and teaching ability. Tom and Dawn discuss why not every top shooter is automatically a strong instructor, and why a true teacher must be able to assess each student’s experience, age, confidence, physical ability, learning style, and mental state. They compare Sporting Clays instruction to coaching in other sports, emphasizing that elite performers often rely on specialized coaches, trainers, and mental experts rather than assuming performance alone creates teaching skill.
Dawn and Tom also explore the mental game in Sporting Clays, including confidence, failure, frustration, scorecard interpretation, pressure, focus, and the importance of recognizing progress. Tom explains how he helps students view missed targets as information rather than defeat, and Dawn expands on the value of a neutral post-shot or post-station routine that allows shooters to acknowledge what went well while identifying what still needs improvement.
The episode also addresses the role of target setters, competition pressure, and the tendency many shooters have to focus on what went wrong rather than celebrating meaningful progress. Tom shares how he reviews scorecards with students to highlight bright spots, helping them build confidence instead of mentally defeating themselves after a round.
Dawn and Tom also discuss the connection between clothing, identity, confidence, and performance; how outside distractions affect focus; and why the conscious mind must be trained to stay present during competition. This episode offers valuable insight for Sporting Clays shooters, instructors, coaches, and competitors who want to better understand how teaching, mechanics, confidence, mindset, and mental discipline all work together to improve performance.Top of Form
 
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Tom Fiumarello Links
Website:
 https://excelshooting.com/
Facebook:
 https://www.facebook.com/excelsporting/
Instagram:
 https://www.instagram.com/excelsporting/
YouTube:
 https://www.youtube.com/@excelsporting
Phone:
 (315) 447-2557
Email:
 tom@excelshooting.com
 
Dawn Grant Links  
https://dawngrant.com/ 
https://mindmastered.com/  
https://ameliashotgunsports.com/ 
 
Free webinar here: https://dawngrant.com/pages/clay-shooters-mind-game-mastery 
Support the show

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Visit Us at www.claylabusa.com for videos, podcasts, and articles about Sporting Clays.

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Thomas Grice joins Dawn Grant on Clay Mastermind: Mental Excellence and Industry Insights for a conversation focused on clay target shooting, Olympic trap, Sporting Clays comparisons, and the mental training required to perform at a high level. Thomas is an Australian IWSF trap shooter who represented Australia at the Tokyo Olympics and has competed in World Cups and World Championships. His achievements include winning gold in the mixed pairs event at the 2017 World Championships, earning bronze in the same event in 2019, and continuing to compete internationally for Australia.
In this episode, Thomas shares how his shooting career began at age twelve through the influence of his grandfather, who introduced him to clay target shooting and remained a major source of support throughout his early development. He discusses starting in DTL trap, the strong family culture around shooting in Australia, and the role his parents, brother, and grandfather played in helping him travel, train, and compete. Thomas also explains how he transitioned from domestic trap events into IWSF trap and began pursuing international competition.
Dawn and Thomas discuss the progression from junior competition into open-level shooting, including the challenge of competing against Australia’s top Olympic-level trap shooters. Thomas explains how he learned to set realistic performance goals, focus on personal bests, and build consistency over time rather than becoming discouraged by the gap between himself and more experienced competitors. He also shares how his early international experience in Germany became a turning point that confirmed his desire to pursue the sport at a higher level.
A central focus of the episode is the mental side of clay target shooting. Thomas discusses the importance of staying present, focusing on the process instead of the score, and trusting the work already done in training. Dawn and Thomas explore why trap shooters may recognize the mental game more quickly than some Sporting Clays shooters, because trap requires near-perfect execution and offers fewer external variables to blame when targets are missed.
The conversation also compares trap, Sporting Clays, and FITASC from a mental training perspective. Dawn explains how repetitive target presentations can challenge the conscious mind, making presence and focus essential. They discuss how Sporting Clays shooters may sometimes attribute misses to target difficulty, variety, or mechanics, while trap shooters are often forced to examine focus, pressure, confidence, and mental consistency more directly once their technique is established.
Thomas also reflects on competing at the Tokyo Olympics during COVID restrictions, including the unusual environment, limited social interaction, and the motivation it gave him to pursue another Olympic opportunity. He discusses continuing to train while working full-time, qualifying for World Championship teams, and staying committed to the next Olympic cycle.
This episode offers useful insight for Sporting Clays shooters, trap shooters, coaches, and competitive athletes who want to better understand the connection between technical skill, confidence, focus, repetition, process, and mental discipline. Thomas Grice’s experience provides a clear look at how elite competitors develop consistency, manage pressure, and keep improving over time.Top of Form
 
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Thomas Grice Links 
*No relevant links provided*
 
Dawn Grant Links  
https://dawngrant.com/ 
https://mindmastered.com/  
https://ameliashotgunsports.com/ 
 
Free webinar here: https://dawngrant.com/pages/clay-shooters-mind-game-mastery 
Support the show

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Visit Us at www.claylabusa.com for videos, podcasts, and articles about Sporting Clays.

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Michael Maskell brings decades of elite-level shooting experience, international competition, coaching knowledge, and mental discipline to this episode of Clay Mastermind. A five-time Olympian representing Barbados in International Skeet, Michael shares his journey from growing up in a shooting family to competing on the world stage against the best shotgun athletes in the world.
Throughout the conversation, Michael discusses the realities of competing at the highest levels of shotgun sports, including the discipline, sacrifice, preparation, and mindset required to sustain success over decades. He reflects on his Olympic experiences, the challenge of training from a small island nation with limited resources, and how mental preparation became one of the most important tools in his career.
Dawn and Michael focus heavily on the mental side of Sporting Clays and shotgun sports, including confidence, focus, target planning, pressure management, conscious preparation, and subconscious execution. Michael shares his perspective on why many shooters misunderstand the phrase “shooting from the subconscious,” explaining that instinctive shooting still requires conscious planning, presence, and clear intention before the shot.
The conversation also explores the evolution of Sporting Clays and how the sport has become increasingly mental as equipment, target-setting, and shooter skill levels have advanced. Michael explains why modern Sporting Clays does not always require extreme target difficulty to challenge top competitors, and why the mental game often becomes the deciding factor between winning, plateauing, or falling behind.
Michael also discusses Master Class competition, the mindset shift many shooters experience when they reach higher classifications, and why some competitors stop progressing once they begin measuring success only by class instead of true performance. His insight highlights the importance of mental training, preparation, and long-term commitment for shooters who want to compete at a higher level.
In addition to his Olympic and Sporting Clays experience, Michael shares how working with sports psychologists helped him develop relaxation techniques, mental triggers, visualization, and recovery skills. He also discusses the role of physical fitness in performance, including his recent personal transformation, significant weight loss, and renewed commitment to training.
This episode offers valuable perspective for Sporting Clays shooters, competitive athletes, coaches, and anyone interested in the connection between mental training and peak performance. Michael Maskell’s experience, honesty, and depth of knowledge provide a clear look at what it takes to improve, compete, and perform under pressure at the highest levels of shooting sports.
 
Michael Maskell Links 
https://www.maskellshotgunacademy.com/
Phone: (812) 322-6905
Email: maskellshotgunacademy@gmail.com 
American Shooting Centers Instructor Profile: https://americanshootingcenters.com/instruction-and-coaching/?utm_source=chatgpt.com 
Dawn Grant Links  
https://dawngrant.com/ 
https://mindmastered.com/  
https://ameliashotgunsports.com/ 
 
Free webinar here: https://dawngrant.com/pages/clay-shooters-mind-game-mastery 
Support the show

10% OFF ShotKam Coupon Code “TheClayLab”: https://bit.ly/TheClayLab-ShotKam
Visit Us at www.claylabusa.com for videos, podcasts, and articles about Sporting Clays.

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