Encontré fotografías en un viejo disco duro que me trajeron hermosos recuerdos de mi carrera de tiro olímpico en la década de 1990. Normalmente miro, sonrío y, a veces, comparto estas imágenes en las redes sociales y continúo con mi día. Sin embargo, hoy fue diferente. Mientras sonreía y apreciaba los recuerdos, tenía otros pensamientos contradictorios. Estos periódicos Venezolanos publicaron imágenes y artículos sobre mí, una adolescente con un arma de fuego en la mano. Celebraron las medallas que gane a nivel nacional e internacional. Estos artículos sobre mí no están en el rincón olvidado ..read more

I found pictures in an old hard drive that brought back beautiful memories of my Olympic shooting career in the 1990s. I usually look, smile, and sometimes share these pictures throughout my social media accounts and continue with my day. However, today was different. While I smiled and cherished the memories, I had other conflicting thoughts. These Venezuelan newspapers published images and articles about me, a teenage girl with a firearm in her hands. They celebrated my winning medals for my state at a National level and for the country every time I competed internationally. These articles ..read more

A la mayoría de la gente le gusta disparar en seco o practicar todas las técnicas de tiro a la vez. Si bien eso podría dar resultados positivos, yo entreno de manera diferente, así como lo haría en el gimnasio. Por ejemplo, un día ejercito un grupo muscular y otro día ejercito otro. Del mismo modo, prefiero entrenar menos técnicas de tiro por sesión, dándole tiempo a mi cerebro para procesar la información mientras mi cuerpo aprende a trabajar con el grupo de músculos correcto. Volviendo a lo básico, la semana UNO se centra en tres aspectos principales de la técnica de disparo: agarre, presi ..read more

Develop your Training Plan Most people like to dry fire or practice all the shooting techniques at once. While that could yield positive results, I train differently, just like I would at the gym. For instance, one day, I exercise one muscle group, and another day I exercise a different muscle group. Similarly, I prefer to train fewer techniques per session, giving my brain time to process the information while my body learns to engage the correct muscle group for optimal results. Going back to basics, week ONE, focuses on three main aspects of the shooting technique: grip, trigger press, and ..read more

Desde el 6 de Marzo hasta el 23 de Abril Breve trasfondo de por qué estoy haciendo esto: La vida tiene una forma interesante de desarrollar nuestro carácter y la resiliencia. Terminar mi licenciatura como estudiante de tiempo completo y recuperarme de un desgarro completo de mi ACL desvió drásticamente mi atención del deporte, lo que afectó mi entrenamiento y habilidades. No tener un plan de entrenamiento establecido me hizo vulnerable a imprevistos que me alejaban de mis objetivos. ¿Esto te suena familiar? Si bien terminé mi licenciatura hace una semana con un GPA de 3.98, tendré una reconst ..read more

From March 6th until April 23rd Brief background to why I am doing this: Life has an interesting way of building character and resilience. Finishing my bachelor’s degree as a full-time student and recovering from a complete tear of my ACL drastically drifted my attention from the sport, affecting my training and skills. Not having an established training plan made me vulnerable to unforeseen circumstances that moved me away from my goals. Does this sound familiar to you? While I finished my bachelor’s a week ago with a 3.98 GPA, I will have an anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR ..read more

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Gabby Franco OLY (@gabbyfrancots4) This drill consists in breaking down the draw into three steps. The goal is to work on every element of the draw individually to focus on smaller groups of techniques at a time maximizing learning. In the first step, you will work on reacting to the timer as fast as you can. Remember that you must react to the timer not only with your shooting hand but also with your support hand. Repeat the exercise for three minutes. The second step is essential to make sure you clear your gun from the holster. Continue ..read more

Honoring the men and women who died while serving in the U.S. military. Every year I hear more about you. Those who call you brother in arms talk about how brave you were. Even though I sense their sadness of not having you with them anymore, I know they feel blessed they had a chance to meet someone like you. Some of them might ask themselves why you and not them, they were right next to you; but it was you who made the ultimate sacrifice. I know many of your brothers are thinking about you today, and perhaps most won’t talk too much about it. I have learned to listen to the silent cry of th ..read more

A couple of years ago, I went to one of my local gun ranges to shoot a steel match. It was summer, and we were close to 100 degrees at 10 am in the morning. It was HOT! My first stage went well. I felt confident, and I was shooting very accurately. As I was getting ready to move from one position to another on the second stage, the RO kicked me on my calf, or so I thought. I lost my concentration, and I began to miss several steel plates. Reality hit me like thunder when I tried to move to the next shooting position. I realized, the RO did not hit me. I had torn the muscle of my calf, and I c ..read more

I have dedicated more than two-thirds of my life to the shooting sports and the industry. In over 25 years, I have traveled to more than a dozen countries. I have won several international medals. I participated in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. I competed in two seasons of the History Channel reality show Top Shot, and this is just a few of the many things I have been able to do in the firearms industry. I owe my success to my parents, the Olympic Shooting sports, and my coaches, who taught me about discipline, hard work, dedication, responsibility, and resilience. For this reason, even af ..read more