What do you do to bounce back after a bad match?

[old506]

This is impressive.

Your poor performance will fall into one of two categories:

Mental: You shot below your current level of skill.

Subconscious skill: You shot at your current level of skill and that was insufficient for the desired result.

If you have a mental failure, practice will not help until you solve the mental problem. Let's say you rushed a set of small poppers which caused an extra reload blah blah blah... Shooting groups at 25 yards will make you more accurate, but not if you rush the next set of small poppers.

Most of the self loathing about bad matches is caused by mental failures, people rarely complain about getting beat if they shot to the best of their ability...

So after a bad match... Analyze it and find the real problem. Be careful with self-assigned labels like, "I'm just no good at steel" or "no shoots always trip me up." Those labels become self-fulfilling prophecies, much the way that "I'm a developing shooter that focuses on points" can become true.

If you shoot below your current skill level, it's almost always because you "tried" to shoot above your current skill level.

What could possibly happen on any given day that will make you faster than you are?

SA

[carlosa]

Mental: You shot below your current level of skill.

This train of thought has been in my experience a source for very negative energy... Specialy because it deals with ego...

You can not perform below your skill level, because your performance at a match is the direct result of your level of skill in the particular skillsets the match tested.

Even forgetting a target, which is a common "mental" error is really a failure at a fundamental skill of Ipsc (stage programing)..

I think that the problem with giving into the "I can shoot better than this" train of thought is that it doesn't live room for one to honestly asses the areas that need improvement.

Now this way of thinking my not work for everyone but it has work for me (atleast in the sence of removing emotions of anger, and frustration).

Just like we would not be mad at a new born baby for not being able to speak, we should not be angry at failing at tasks we have not yet mastered.. All we can do is continue to develop our skill so that next time we can perform it better

Edited August 1, 2011 by carlosa

[Dan Hefta]

I will let you know in a week or so... I just had one of the worst matches that I have shot in years yesterday. I am blaming it on the heat and the 180PF ammo I was was shooting . Nothing but good thoughts for the next match which happens to be Area 3.

[Chris iliff]

There is no where to go with this if your equipment ran fine. Steve gave the only two possibilities IMHO.

[Steve Anderson]

"You can not perform below your skill level, because your performance at a match is the direct result of your level of skill in the particular skillsets the match tested."

This is a fascinating comment, and may show differences in the way all of us perceive things differently.

If I'm in a street race and blow the 2-3 shift, does that mean I don't know how to do a 2-3 shift?

(I only screw those up when I think about them. Much like draws and reloads)

I would further suggest that until you shoot an entire match (or stage) subconsciously, with your only thought the task of shooting alphas, you don't really know how good you are.

[carlosa]

"You can not perform below your skill level, because your performance at a match is the direct result of your level of skill in the particular skillsets the match tested."

This is a fascinating comment, and may show differences in the way all of us perceive things differently.

If I'm in a street race and blow the 2-3 shift, does that mean I don't know how to do a 2-3 shift?

(I only screw those up when I think about them. Much like draws and reloads)

I would further suggest that until you shoot an entire match (or stage) subconsciously, with your only thought the task of shooting alphas, you don't really know how good you are.

in this case i think we both perceive things the same way

I'm just expanding your example to include our mental fortitude in the same set of skills as motor skills such as reload, draw or the 2-3 shift.

in your example, the test is not if you can do a 2-3 shift... you know you can do that. the test is, can you do it under pressure. if for you this means putting your self in a mode where you are acting purely at a subconscious level, then failure is a representation of your current ability to get your self into that state of mind, which unarguably is a mental skill.

there fore, over practicing that shift might not really elevate your skill level.. in the other hand learning to achieve this subconscious state in a more repeatable bases, could make a huge difference almost immediately.

my point is that having a mental break down, comes from not having mastered that mental skill

I'll go further in saying that must of us take our mental fortitude for granted and see it as something that does not need to be further developed (unlike motor skills which we all tend to over practice)

let me ask you this, those a match test your ability to attain a constant state of focus as to achieve you best and most natural performance? if so, wouldn't your performance be a direct representative of your ability to attain this state at that time and place?

the way i look at things mental and physical skill go hand if hand, they're maybe the same thing? what do you think?

Edited August 3, 2011 by carlosa

[Steve Anderson]

You know what... I actually typed a response that stated something to the effect of: If we include mental skills in our measue of skill level then I absolutely agree.

I deleted it because it felt argumentitive, and I prefer to err on the side of the overly polite.

I just see many shooters whose raw skill advances much further than their mental skill and it causes a lot of suffering.

You can dry fire 12 hrs a day and get very good very quick, but if you don't do any mental "training" then you will perform below your (gunhandling) skill level.

Now, there may be exceptions to all of this. An extreme will to win can change some of this, and that gets into self-image. (Also, many younger shooters can bypass some of this because they don't know it's supposed to be hard)

One problem I had was that my parents were music teachers (award winning music teachers, thank you very much) and I wasn't allowed to play any team sports. I was never exposed to the raw desire to beat the crap out of your opponent. I was instead encouraged to practice (hard) and be the best I could be. Oddly, I'm remembering now that I given a cornet instead of a trumpet because the position of first chair trumpet is very, very competitive. Basically, bands and orchestras have "duels" to determine rank, and the best player gets the more challenging parts to play and the prestige of "first trumpet."

So you could say I learned to seek perfection, but I never learned to be a winner, to need that feeling of beating someone.

I guess I want everyone to shoot great.

Edited August 4, 2011 by Steve Anderson

[carlosa]

You know what... I actually typed a response that stated something to the effect of: If we include mental skills in our measue of skill level then I absolutely agree.

I deleted it because it felt argumentitive, and I prefer to err on the side of the overly polite.

I just see many shooters whose raw skill advances much further than their mental skill and it causes a lot of suffering.

You can dry fire 12 hrs a day and get very good very quick, but if you don't do any mental "training" then you will perform below your (gunhandling) skill level.

Now, there may be exceptions to all of this. An extreme will to win can change some of this, and that gets into self-image. (Also, many younger shooters can bypass some of this because they don't know it's supposed to be hard)

One problem I had was that my parents were music teachers (award winning music teachers, thank you very much) and I wasn't allowed to play any team sports. I was never exposed to the raw desire to beat the crap out of your opponent. I was instead encouraged to practice (hard) and be the best I could be. Oddly, I'm remembering now that I given a cornet instead of a trumpet because the position of first chair trumpet is very, very competitive. Basically, bands and orchestras have "duels" to determine rank, and the best player gets the more challenging parts to play and the prestige of "first trumpet."

So you could say I learned to seek perfection, but I never learned to be a winner, to need that feeling of beating someone.

I guess I want everyone to shoot great.

Lol i can definitely relate to this.. I'm at a point in my shooting where my skills have somewhat plateaued.. and so i've decided to switch my focus to mental conditioning and self image

Anyway, i had a feeling that we were both in the same page