TargetTalk

So I shot my first match last weekend since Nationals (and elbow problems/surgery) last summer. Recovery + Rediscovery has been very enlightening; it's amazing what you can (re) learn when you have to start over!

With tongue planted firmly in cheek [note to newbies: reverse every single piece of advice given to make them *positive* statements!] and wry humor mode switched "ON:"


Top Ten Rules For Shooting A Personal Worst

10. Make sure you eat the right food, listen to the right music, and otherwise obsess over making sure all your preparations are absolutely optimized. The pre-match routine is critical- so if anything goes in the slightest way wrong, you know you will be unable to do your best (low fat yogurt! Oh No! There goes my perfect score . . . ).

9. Keep track of your score. Have a goal for the match, and keep count of how well you are doing as the match progresses!

8. Concentrate on fixing what you did wrong on the last shot. The old AMU "Wheel of Misfortune" is an excellent aid for inventing new and creative ways to mess up a shot.

7. Prevention is the best medicine; be sure to run the mental checklist of "don't dos . . . " during your shot process. Did I mention the "Wheel of Misfortune?"

6. Be sure to tinker with your technique during the match. How else will you improve your performance without experimenting?

5. Obsess over having every gizmo and aid at the ready during the match. Note what neat toys all the other shooters have, and chat with them about their gear during the match.

4. Be sure to scope/assess on monitor each shot as soon as it is fired. Bonus points if you can physically watch the paper tear through the scope and/or see the shot register on the monitor!

3. Make sure your sights are properly adjusted, by plotting every five shot string and adjusting accordingly.

2. Concentrate on minimizing your wobble area. "Mind Over Matter," after all! You can't shoot a ten without a ten ring hold.

And the number one way to ensure you shoot a personal worst score . . .

1. Be sure to concentrate on aligning the rear sight, front sight, and the target, so you know when things are right for you to snatch the trigger before the perfect sight picture goes away!


Steve Swartz


[It was a successful match in that I was able to fire 60 record shots in the time allowed. With only a little bit of pain. Since June, I have neither live nor dry fired more than 20 shots in a row (and that with all kinds of braces etc.). And no, I didn't personally make every single one of the mistakes listed above! I barely made two or three of them off and on . . . ]

Steve,
So glad to see you back shooting again! May you be blessed with many more tens than you've already shot!!!
Ted

Never say,"I just shot my worst match"!...Theres always next week!

Good to see you back at it, we missed you at the Grand Prix.

Great things happen on the same day!

Stan shot an entire match of FP for the first time in a year on Sunday at Lafayette.

I shoot both AP and FP and elbow pain was not the major issue for me...of course I worn and ice pack home from the range on my elbow.

Now it is off the physical training to continue the improvements

Pete in Richmond

Hey Steve,

First of all, welcome back. I didn't get a chance to introduce myself Saturday. I was the big ex-con/linebacker lookin' dude with the shaved head and beard that walked up on you, Brooks, and Dave right before you left. Not for nothin', but I can only imagine the thought process leading up to a first full match return after a surgery that impacts pistol shooting as much as yours. For your perseverance and tenacity, you get my kudos. I'm sure you will be in top form before you know it, and we will all be cursing your return to the firing line. Hope to get a chance to introduce myself in April or June!

cricman

Thanks for the top ten listing, very well done. Unfortunately, it seems of late with my shooting in a slump I may be using some of these to my dismay. A good reminder for sure. Good luck with your return and recovery. Joe G.

A couple of others for consideration:

- Rushing on to the range in the last minutes of Preparation Time prevents you from having idle time to fill in.

- Realising that an important part of your gear is still in the car helps elevate your arousal level.

- Having a row with the Equipment Control personnel always lets you feel that you are a misunderstood genius.

Spencer

I've got to add my "Top One" to this wonderful list...

Leave your ammunition in the car. Wave happily as you watch your wife and kids drive off in the car and then realize all your ammo is in the car.

Yup, that mad scramble to bum ammo before the match is a really great way to get "into the zone" for an FP match... ;-)

Great to hear you're back to having a pistol in your hands, Steve. Here's wishing you a complete recovery!

Have your trigger set to the hairy edge of the minimum pull weight so that if it passes at all, it requires many tries by the tester (all the while, your gut is churning, of course). Of course, this has the advantage of riling all those waiting behind you for their trigger test, too.

Do not take the gun's manual to the match. There must be someone there that knows how to adjust the trigger on every gun.

HEY - thats NOT fair.

Those are MY secret top-ten ways to screw up.

At least I still have one you dont know about -

11). Hang onto that shot - its going to break, its going to break - just a little longer - just a little longer... NOW - Kapow - chicken finger.

: |

M

Here is what you do...you stay up really late and get about 4 hours of sleep the night before and when you get up you are not sure if you are just really tired or still slightly buzzed. Shake it off you are late. Say good by to the girl you met the night before and ask her to lock up and leave her number.

At least you put all your gear out the night before so all you have to do is pull the pistols out of the safe in the morning.

Eat b-fast if you do not feel too hung over.

perfect you made it to the match and there is a point available. prep time starts in 5...fill out paper work after free pistol.

Ok free went OK could have been much better.

now I am hungry and thirsty....

Shoot standard...that was fun do not care about the score as much.

time for Air...WOW shocked...broke 580 for the first time.

That is not good match prep but I had a good result.

. . . the list grows . . . !

Excellent point Chris.

I shot my PR at the New Orleans PTO after a "late night" followed by an "early morning" that included a lot of walking around, coffee, beignets, and fatty rich breakfast.

Tired, "just didn't care" attitude.

At teh end of the match I thought I shot a 570-something . . . but much to my surprise it was actually [a bit] higher.

Hmmm . . . tired hangover as a prep plan?

At least that gives us "S Class" shooters another advantage over "J Class" shooters!

Steve Swartz

Steve,
I'm a little disappointed in your top 10 list. There were no 25-cent words in it. Not one did I have to go to the dictionary to find out the meaning of any words you used. Perhaps the injury affected more than your shooting arm?
elliott dushkin

Insightful as usual my friend.

It definitely affected my humility (or lack thereof).

I'm experiencing something of a "total rebuilding from the ground up" type moment . . .

I'll try to be more of a pompous ass in the future!

Steve

Best match I have shot in Air involved 'enjoying' the college life the night before, being woke up at the wee hours of the morning by a fire alarm, standing outside for 30min, going back in, hitting the sack, and sleeping through my alarm. Woke up the next morning by my phone ringing, wondering where I was, hurried my self out of bed and drove a little to fast to the range and then shot.

Now its the joke that I need to sleep in for every match and get there late...

Just before you pull the trigger, think " wow Im about to shot my first competion shot in my first olympic trial" It was a great feeling almost as good as having a kid but it did leed to my worst AP score ever, soon to be followed by my best AP competion score ever. WHAT A WEEKEND!

Scope out your closest competition so you can keep a running total of how far behind (or ahead) of them you are in points.

If there are winds flags, concentrate on their mesmerizing fluttering, this helps ensure you know what the wind is doing and understand how it affects every shot.

[quote="NY_Rifle"]Scope out your closest competition so you can keep a running total of how far behind (or ahead) of them you are in points.
quote]

It's not something I do, however, something similar actually worked for me once. The guy next to me, whose target I was scoring, was two points ahead of me with one free pistol target to shoot. I decided I couldn't win if I didn't beat him. I worked hard, beat him by 4 points, and won the match by one point. My first free pistol victory in my first year of shooting.{Although, the best shooters were at Nationals. . .}

Hi

First rule for your first match:

"DO NOT SHOOT THE RANGE OFFICER"

Signed

Mike
Your Range Officer