Pt. 3, Attitude and Approach to the Match

[Doc Shapiro]

The attitude that you bring to the match with you will affect how you prepare for a stage and how you shoot each stage.  A lot of this is anecdotal evidence from my experiences this year. 

Early in the year I identified something that I needed to work on, and that’s mental preparation for approaching matches.  I worked on fostering a competitive, aggressive attitude. Unfortunately, this made me a little grumpy as I was putting far too much stress on myself to perform well. I was difficult to be around, and I generally wasn’t as happy and cheerful as normal. As a result, I didn’t shoot well.  This lasted through May and Mule Camp. On my flight home from Atlanta I did a lot of thinking about the match and my performance.  I only shot one stage well, the rest were mediocre. I knew I needed to make a change, but wasn’t sure how or what. So I took a bit of a break.

My practice schedule just stopped, as I wasn’t sure how to proceed. I did a little bit of dry fire to keep up with gun handling skills, but that was about it. I then went and shot the Western States Championship in Fernley, NV in June. I went with no expectations and just to have a good time. I shot a little better, but still only had a couple of runs where I felt like I was shooting at my ability. I shot a clean match and ended up 4th overall, but I knew I could do better.

So I ordered a book, Brian Enos’ book – Practical Shooting, Beyond Fundamentals (http://www.brianenos.com). That sure opened my eyes! I set about changing my attitude from being competitive and trying to win to being much more relaxed and just trying to shoot as well as I can. I’m also trying to be more positive in general. That is making a world of difference! I’m less grumpy and more cheerful and far less stressed. As a result, I’m much more aware of what’s going on while I’m shooting. This is allowing me to shoot subconsciously and really see my sights. I’m still working on it, and I have a long way to go. But I’m again making progress! 

I know that I’m making progress because I shot a much better match this weekend at the Mason-Dixon Stampede in Maryland, the NE Regional. I shot several stages at my ability and those I didn’t shoot as well, I know why. That is a big improvement and change.

This leads to one other topic, how a bad stage affects you. When you shoot a bad stage, or have a miss, spend a few minutes analyzing what happened and why, but don’t dwell on the bad. Look for something positive to take out of the experience. This will help you to improve and keep your mental state up. You need to stay positive in order to perform well.

If you are shooting to win, then you are not going to be as focused on doing the best that you can. You will be worrying about what other shooters are doing and that will affect your performance. If you go in just trying to shoot the best that you can, you will be more relaxed and smoother. This will lead to better, faster shooting.

I hope that you can take something from these experiences.

Doc

[Prof. Bullspit]

Thanks Doc!

I have noticed lately that I shoot better when I relax a bit. If I "push" I tend to mess something up. Your tips on what to do if you mess up on a stage are helpful.

I shot the weekend before last at the Cajon Cowboys Legends of the West shoot. I had three great stages on Saturday. After lunch I  really messed up, in part because I was trying to do as well as I had done in the morning. I know that I don't shoot as well after lunch (if I eat) so I was overcompensating.

This brings me to a  question, which might not fit in this post but I wonder about it. If I eat lunch at the range I find that I don't shoot well for an hour or so after. If I bring a light snack instead of eating the range-provided food I tend to do better. I figure this is caused by the energy shifting from shooting to digestion. Do others find this to be true or is this in my head and thus a mental aspect of the game? How do  you get past it?

[Doc Shapiro]

Howdy Prof! Yup, that's a bit of thread drift.

To attempt to answer your question, 2 things to ponder...

1st.  When you wake up in the morning, you are as fast as you are going to be for the day.  You will not be able to shoot any faster.  Just make sure that you see what you need to see for each shot, and hit the spot on the target that you picked out. The time to push is practice!  It took me a long time to learn this lesson 

2nd. It is important that you keep your sugar, salt, and water levels at good levels. Too much of any of them (even water - though that's a little difficult when out shootin) will be detrimental to performance. Too little will be as well. Finding the right amount is something that only you can do. Experiment and you'll eventually get it worked out.  It might be helpful to keep a log and record how you feel (both before and after eating) and what you eat and when, and how it affects your performance. 

Doc

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[SIR WILLIAM]

Yes.  Educational studies prove that students performed poorly mentally and physically after lunch in school.  The brain is happy, the belly is full and the physical process of digestion/elimination diverts attention from tasks.  It is unavoidable.         The attitude I find best is to enjoy myself.  No life or limb is at risk.  I pay to play.  If I take home a trophy/prize I am glad.  If I just get a sunburn and gas from lunch?  A good day shooting STILL beats a good day at work!  Have fun.  Stress kills.

[Wrangler Rich]

Thanks for posting this.  I've been stressed at work since this spring, and my shooting (and home life) has suffered for it.  Can't seem to leave work problems at work.  My shooting partner (Bent Coffin) and I were talking about this very thing first thing this morning before heading off to our respective jobs.  He said that what ever it took, I had to learn to cope and that life will go on (if I let it)   My wife has been very supportive and understanding, but I know she would like a more relaxed husband.  I am going to try very hard to change.  If any of you guys have any tips on being able to just "Let it go" , I'd be interested. 

Thanks

[Mustang Gregg]

I am more relaxed at a SASS match than about any other time there is. 
I have never been so wound up whilst shootin', that it bugged me. 
I do sorta get uptight at some leg matches (combat pistol & HP rifle) that I need to think 'bout settlin' down. 
But not at SASS so far.

[Joyce (AnnieLee)]

While I am far from fast and not nearly good enough to consider myself to be "competitive," plus I stubbornly shoot the firearms, load, and style I want to shoot which nearly automatically take me out of the "top runners"...

I have the opposite experience with the lunch blahs. When I have a match, I am scrambling from the moment I get up to make sure everything is loaded, the dogs are walked, I am dressed, my son is dressed, and double checking to make sure everything is loaded, and oh yeah, do I have cash for the match fees? Do I have to stop and get breakfast and lunch? GAHHH Better hit the road, I am gonna be LATE, oh crap, traffic, I am going to be LATE, get to the range, sign up, unload the cart, put the cart together, do I have time to use the porta potty after the 90+ minute drive? Then rush to the safety briefing, then gads, it's time to shoot!!

My best stage is usually the one right after lunch, when I have finally had time to relax, compose myself, and just shoot.

I'm working on being more organized and getting some of the stuff loaded and ready the night before. It's an effort in progress.

AnnieLee

[Matthew Duncan]

I go into a match with I don’t care attitude.  As the stage rules permit I try to shoot the targets in a different order then the rest of the posse.  I surprise myself and finish in the middle.

So at the next shoot I figure if I concentrate, hustle and shoot the targets in the most efficient order I can really improve my ranking.  I then finish in towards the bottom!

[Delmonico]

But by tryin' real hard you'll eliminate the fun.   I thought that was what it was all about, being so serious ya don't have fun.

I guess that is the problem with livin' on borrowed time, ya worry more about fun than anything else.

[Curley Cole]

Howdy

Three months ago, I shot a match with 27 misses. But by the end of the match I knew what I was doing wrong. I was looking at way too much sight. I probably could see most of the barrel too. So, I spent the month (well only 2-3 times ) practicing bring my gun up and placing the sight in the right perspective. My next shoot...I had 6 clean stages and 2 stages with only 1 miss each...

NOW, I was at my next shoot and was going to prove to myself that it was not a fluke. (unfortunately, on occasion, I am on call with my work.) I was working on having only one miss for the day, and as I am loading my guns, I get a message to call work. Since I was loaded up, I went to shoot, and I was so distracted, I had 4 misses. In retrospect, I suppose I could have left my guns with the person watching the table and called work (only to find it was a really stupid question anyway) and not worried about other things while shooting.  I did finish the shoot with only one more miss, so my shooting has improved hughly from that one correction....NOW to work on the time......
Curley