TargetTalk

I've struggled with competition "nerves" and with allowing extraneous thoughts enter my mind while shooting. Seems a symptom of not reaching the point where all thought is "non-verbal" as one of the authors put it.

To give the conscious part of my brain something to do, I play a favorite piece of music in my head while on the firing line. Something slow and relaxing. I've never studied meditation but for me this technique shuts down or blocks out the part of my brain that engages in worry, nervousness and allows random thoughts to pop into my head.

Kevin and 'New Mexico': thank you both very much for your kind interest and helpful experiences. Everything is useful as I try to build up a battery of techniques to address this problem. My latest, non-mental idea is to place a very small fan beside me to cool my brow as I shoot - we are having a real heat wave in England at the moment. I'm going to try it out this evening at the range (indoor). I don't think it will disturb anybody at its lowest setting. We shall see ...

Roger

My $0.02:

Dealing with competition stress/pressure/anxiety was one of the things that I began to feel as soon as I started to compete, and people around me and some articles that I read, referred about the "flow state", subconscious shooting, but I was still getting nervous before competition.

Then I read that stress and anxiety will never leave, no mater how many Olympic finals you have shot, and what you can do then, is learn how to deal with it, don't avoid it, embrace it.
In few words, I didn't had to turn your back to pressure, I had to adapt to it.
This meant that I needed to put more pressure in my training, try to put goals before starting and try to solve problems as soon as they pop up, like wind, light, time and pulse.
All this started to give me confidence in myself, in my problem resolution capabilities, and began to come up with a Shooting plan before competition (#4 in Gary Anderson's Ten Lessons I Wish I Had Learned As A Young Shooter http://thecmp.org/wp-content/uploads/Ga ... er2013.pdf

Here are a couple of quotes by Lanny Basham in Advice from Champions – How to Shoot Better Under Pressure:
https://www.airgunsofarizona.com/blog/2 ... ssure.html

Lanny Bassham, Smallbore Rifle

Here’s a myth: Pressure causes performance to drop. Pressure does not cause your performance to drop. What I learned about pressure was that when you feel the physical effects of pressure, it’s real. You feel an adrenaline rush, your heart rate goes u and your blood pressure goes up. I’ve seen shooters shoot extremely high scores with their legs shaking. Pressure doesn’t cause your scores to go up or down, but your attitude does. Your attitude is what’s important.

Another myth: If I could avoid pressure, I would do better. Actually, pressure is an amplifier. It is my friend. Pressure makes me realize what I’m doing is important so I pay better attention. Again, careful what you care about. Trust, rather than try when you’re shooting in national competition.

Finally, I read that another way to turn pressure up in training, is by playing games, there are some you can play solo, some others you can do in pairs, but if you want instant pressure, you and a friend post a $5 bill in a wall and shoot 10 shots, winner keeps both bills.

Saludos,
-ed