TargetTalk

I was shooting in a competition yesterday but found it very difficult to relax, the rifle was moving all over the place so I had difficulty in lining up the sights.
It was nerves on my part that caused the problem and this is not the first time this has happened.
Consequently my first card was a disaster I dropped 6 points on the first five diagrams (I was shooting indoors on a 10 diagram British target).
I managed to relax more on the next three cards but by this time I had blown the competition.

My question is, how do you guys approach a competition, how do you control your nerves.

Hello my friend!

I too had a similar problem.
Almost all the forum members advised me to buy the book With Winning in Mind from Lanny Basham.
It really helped a lot!!!
Read it and you'll see!

Funny you should ask.

I spent some time swilling beer with John Zurek the other night and he told me what worked for him was listening to some non-dramatic music (no clashing cymbals or big climaxes). He said he preferred Bach.

The easiest and simplest way of making yourself relaxed in competitions is to do more competitions. If you can only do a few through a year then have a quid on 10 shots with a shooting buddy. Anything that puts you under pressure will help you get used to it and then you'll find you are totally relaxed at competitions. No fancy tricks or mind games, just practice, simples :)

You need to shoot enough matches to they start to feel like the same thing as practicing. Going to more matches is important but so is the mental game. This sport is weird in that it is the only one I have ever been in that you don't want to be pumped up for. So don't think about the event itself so much just think about what you want to see yourself do and what you will need to make that happen. Take each shot as a one shot match not a series of shots also helps.

A friend shot in his first big silhouette match this past year and when he was first called to the line for his relay his leg was twitching and he didn't know why. All in his head. If you think about doing well or anything unrelated to making the shot you have infront of you the greater chances you will miss the shot. Never look at the scoreboard until things are over either if you have relays with time between stay away from that area.

Besides that I find a few beers relaxes me pretty well and makes me steadier in my hold. Then one to many makes the hold go back to crap lol. Just kidding I don't recommend shooting and drinking at the same time. But I have done some dry fire/hold drills after a couple of beers and I must say my hold improves lol.

A great shooter once said that everyone has those moments of irratic hold that won't settle down or nerves affecting their hold. It is how you learn to deal with it and still perform that makes the difference. Put yourself in conditions that aren't ideal for shooting and see how you do or what you need to do to make it work at that moment.

Bo

In word training. Train how to calm yourself down and to concentrate on technique rather than outcome.

Rob.

Thanks Guys for all the replies, I have already downloaded the book With Winning in Mind recomended by tsokasn and have had a quick glance at it, but I will be reading it properly in the next week or so.

Shooter560 idea is also a good one as is RobStubbs, but its the ones mentioning beer are the ones I would like to try at least with the beer drinking if I had a bad shoot I would'nt care about it.
Joking aside the replies that have been posted are all valid ones, so thanks to you all.

Almost forgot I had you use what RobStubbs said and concentrate on technique in the end to get me through the match.
But by that time I had blown it.

We get excited because our mind goes to the future or the past. What happens than,is we start to make speculations in our mind for score,medal,failure,what other people will think or say about us etc...The worst thing can happen to a shooter in competition is speculations....
We should try to be on present time,concentrate on what we do right now,and enjoy it! It's not easy to be on present time. It takes a lot of practice,but it's possible! You can train being in present time also out of the range,in every day life. Enjoy!
Guy.

gstarik wrote:We get excited because our mind goes to the future or the past. What happens than,is we start to make speculations in our mind for score,medal,failure,what other people will think or say about us etc...The worst thing can happen to a shooter in competition is speculations....
We should try to be on present time,concentrate on what we do right now,and enjoy it! It's not easy to be on present time. It takes a lot of practice,but it's possible! You can train being in present time also out of the range,in every day life. Enjoy!
Guy.

Thanks Guy for the comments, what you say does make sense after all there is nothing that anyone can do about the past and the future hasn't happened yet, so why worry about what has gone and what is to come.
My problem is with the present time, how do I learn to overcome my nerves and shoot in the present time, are there any techniques that I could use.
Gary

Just what I have said,try do be on present time the whole time,even when you don't shoot,so you will have a lot of training hours. The side benefit ot it,usually is it makes your life happier,without speculations...
Guy.

Guy or anybody at the top,

When you get to the point that a 99 is a bad score, how do you improve? What do you work on to improve?

redschietti wrote:Guy or anybody at the top,

When you get to the point that a 99 is a bad score, how do you improve? What do you work on to improve?

It's the same as for anyone else, you train to minimise technical errors and 'shoot better'. Mental processes will also be very important so you train to perfect the mental aspects.

Rob.