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j1b


j1b

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Got scores up today!!!! Woo hoo!!!!!

I should post this in accomplishments or something huh? Results are below.

I'm going to do an analysis tonight (I have to get back to work now) but from what I can tell on a casual pass stages 1 and 5 were pretty slow. The others were ok. Somehow, when comparing to the limited guys I've got to figure out what the loads cost. Clearly I can't be as fast on all stages if I'm doing more reloads. I'm not sure yet how to account for that.

Stage 1 was probably my worst stage. Well, obviously when you look at it I placed the worst on it but in general it was probably my worst stage. Too many points down (like 24 . . .) and very slow. As in VERY slow (2 seconds slower than Kelly who won the stage). Looking at match points, I lost 20 points on that stage alone.

Still, I'm really glad to have gotten out there and played. It was fun.

J

Match: 2007 09_16

Competitor: Jack Barnes L1439

Report Generated: 09/18/07 01:09

Stage Name A B C D M NS P LS XS XH AP Time Total Points Hit Factor Stg Pts Place

1P Walls & Halls 16 3 9 20.49 116.0000 5.6613 119.4619 2

2P Swing Low 19 5 15.11 110.0000 7.2799 120.0000 1

3P Twister 27 2 1 2 21.26 146.0000 6.8674 160.0000 1

4P Up the Alley 19 1 2 2 14.77 106.0000 7.1767 120.0000 1

5P Movin 22 1 1 20.12 116.0000 5.7654 120.0000 1

6P Fluffy's Revenge 1 6 2 3.25 36.0000 11.0769 40.0000 1

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I'd say that's a good start, Jack :) Winning your first match back at it ;)

You know how this works, man, you don't need me to tell you this, but... doing the work translates to confidence.

Funny, too, how time has a way of showing you what's important, and what isn't. You're more mature now, mentally - where before there was a tendency to obsess about things that weren't the shooting, they're now effectively non-issues ;)

I find that trigger control, visual patience, and discipline are the things that are most perishable for me. To some extent, raw speed is affected, as well, but not to the extent that accuracy suffers. Sounds like something similar to what you experienced in your pre-match practice.

Funny how you mention above that, from a technical standpoint, you think the game has advanced maybe 1-2%... but also that you think current A class guys are running about the same level as yesteryear's GMs??? :) Did I miss a contradiction there?? :lol: I think the bar has definitely been raised to at least some extent. Its hard to quantify by how much, for me, because its mostly a feel thing, but it does seem that the average skill level has improved, at least to some extent.... ;)

Going to be cool watching you come back, man :)

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For giggles and grins I did my match compared to the limited folks. Not nearly as pretty a picture there - but I like the tail of the tape.

My errors really became exploited when I compared the two. Partially because there is a slight mag capacity advantage and a slight power factor advantage. To me though the field was just a little deeper in limited and warranted taking a look. It was a tighter race over there - the guy who won only won one stage so the competition was stiffer.

Stage 1 was really penalizing. The time and the points just smoked me. Of course in minor dropping 7 C's is basically a miss. On that stage alone I lost 35 points to the match winner, and 38 points to the stage winner. This stage was one where the mag capacity issue did come into play. There are no excuses because I was slow even compared to the other production shooters. But the limited guys did one load in the stage. We did 3 - and the spaces were tight where we had to load and they didn't. Again - no excuses but it was a factor. I ran this thing in 20 seconds. The stage winner ran it in 15. If I were really crisp I question if I could have gotten it down to 15. For production/lim10 - I think 16 would have been smokin' fast and mid 17's would have been solid.

Stage 2 I lost 15 points to the stage winner, and 14 points to the match winner. I was 1.5 seconds off pace, which was fine. There were 4 swingers in the stage. I had to do 1 more load than the limited guys. Looking at it, probably should have been closer on this one from a time perspective. A lot of that was just smoothing off the edges. I think on stages like this things will pick up.

Stage 3 I lost 23 points to the stage winner, and 18 points to the match winner. Was about 2 seconds off pace. This was the largest round count/points stage in the match. Actually shot it ok - again I'm going to say rusty but in the grand scheme of things livable. Lots of tight shots - but that's the same for limited and production. I didn't shoot on the move as well as I would have like on this one. It is probably the best example of a stage where there were green lights to really be aggressive and I just didn't have the confidence to get after it. Couple more loads than the limited guys and one that was pretty tight. A great stage though. This style of stage, as I see more of them, will help me guage where I'm at from a skill standpoint. When I can start going after these I'll know I'm getting closer to where I'd like to be.

Stage 4 was a no frills stage. One additional load over limited. About 2 seconds slower than the best limited. Lost 20 points to the stage winner and about 11 points to the match winner. This stage I had my worst load on - I was moving into targets, boofed the load. It was pretty bad and was proof I've got to get my loads smoother.

Stage 5 - well . . . thank goodness it was only 120 points. This was my starting stage and had the texas star. For the benefit of my competition I opted to miss a lot of steel and do an extra load. :angry: Lost 19 points to the stage winner who also went on to win limited.

Stage 6 was the classifier. No frills - no extra loads - no nothin'. Was a tenth or two behind in time. My draw was a 1.27 on a 7 yard target - so I can pretty well figure out where I lost time. Still, lost 4 points to the stage winner and actually PICKED UP points on the match winner.

So I would have placed 4th in limited. 87% of the match winner. Not sure what the needed additional loads mean in terms of time. I'm sure as I shoot more I'll be able to quantify that better. And then the minor scoring has some play though at the end of the day if I do my job better it won't matter.

To do's? For now continue to drive the basics. Draws, loads, transitions and just shooting points. Really nothing more fancy than that. Need to hit some moving loads so I get better at that. There are other components I need to work on - shooting on the move, transitioning boxes better, target acquisition stuff. But in going through this exercise I learned that really if I'd just nailed the basics a little better I would have been a lot closer. Once I get a little more competitive I can start to assess the more detailed parts of the game. The reality is that as I shoot more matches some of that stuff will just get better because I'll be doing them again. And that will leave less to work on when I start to drill down on those area's to practice.

Good drill to go through. A little more eye opening than just looking at the match results.

If you actually read this post - please keep in mind I just wanted to run through this stuff for my own good. I wouldn't have read the dang thing - it's boring! But for me it'll help the learning process. This is a diary - just a public version.

J

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Dave,

Yeah I don't know how to explain what I was trying to say there.

I don't know that I believe the A class shooter today is the equivilant of the GM back then. I do think that an A shooter today is much better than an A shooter back then.

But in the upper tiers of the game, I think things have likely improved only incrementally. Now - I've not shot a major match in years so I'm really just speaking to the scores I see on line and a couple of conversations I've had with friends.

The classification system makes it hard to make a generic statement like "A shooters are better today than yesterday." But the skill set of the shooters I saw this weekend was better than I remember back in the day.

One A class shooter there was talking with an old friend of mine. I didn't know who he was at the time and I've been gone long enough that he wouldn't have known me by face or name. So my buddy asks how I did on a stage and I talked about a miss on my draw and that bad load. So this shooter starts telling me about some techniques I might want to work on to help some of that out. Understanding the difference between a one shot draw and actually getting set up to shoot a stage off the draw. Good stuff, and rock solid advice. He was just being a typical shooter helping what he would have perceived (because he'd never seen me before) a relatively knew shooter out. Point being, he had a lot of really good things to say that were technically very sound. My buddy pulls me aside and asks "do you want me to tell him you know what you're doing" - I'm like Hell No! I can learn from this stuff. I'm not going to say I agreed with everything the guy said, but I was very impressed with how much more intelligent he was about some of this stuff over where I remembered both being and hearing when I was at that level 15 years ago.

Does that make any sense???

J

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Jack..

good to see you back shooting matches..nice job at your first match back..a little more rust off..and be like the old days..

I like comparing my production scores to the other divisions..I think it gives a good hard look at where time and points can be given away..

anyway..keep up the hard work....hope to catch up and shoot with ya someday..

stuart

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Of course there's a silver bullet.

This game is not complicated. Rarely ever is there a shot in a match that is hardly achievable. I've never seen a target in a match that I though "I CAN NOT hit that target"

So you know you can hit all the targets. And, from a movement standpoint it's really about being efficient. And all of us can learn to be efficient with how we do things. Most of us have found the best way to drive to work.

When you look at the game nothing in it is terribly complicated. The silver bullet(s) are basically two things IMO. One is confidence to get done what you know you can do when you need to do it. So, take all that hard work and practice and then actually execute in a match. In order to do that, go with the second silver bullet - get out of your own way.

Those are my two biggest faults. They were this weekend. I hadn't practiced enough to have the confidence to do what I know I know how to do. And, I didn't get out of my own way to allow myself to do it.

That's the beauty of the game. The complexity of pulling together all the things you have to do gets in the way of simply doing what you need to do.

Thanks Cat - I don't know if I answered your question - but I did just give myself a tremendous confidence boost that things will all come together soon.

J

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:cheers:

More words from Jack! Great stuff!

I really like the 95 open nationals tape.. You said something like:

"They (TGO, The Burner, etc) aren't intimidated by anyone or anything, they just go out there and do what they know how to do"

Sums things up quite well I think.

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The classification system makes it hard to make a generic statement like "A shooters are better today than yesterday." But the skill set of the shooters I saw this weekend was better than I remember back in the day.

<snippety>

Does that make any sense???

Yeah, I get what you're saying. I've had similar experiences. If you have a chance, hunt up some video of the current Open top dogs. There's a lot of sharp shooting going on... It would appear that the current GM upper crust is at least as good as The Burner and TJ, back in the day - and maybe a tad faster in the movement sense. Just as fearless, for sure....

We'll see, man - I'm just trying to pull that bar down to a reachable height :lol:

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You said it in your range diary.

Nothing any of us does is God like. TGO, TJ, Jerry, you, me or otherwise. In truth it is all so simple. We just make it complicated.

If you think about things geometrically, the angles we're dealing with, and then you say on two seven yard targets spaced 2 yards apart that "so and so" transitions .04 seconds quicker than I do (theoretically speaking) the logical question is why???

If that is the differential then it's achievable. And if that's the differential then it is truly a game of believing.

I read in these forums all the time about equipment this and equipment that. I shot my XD for the first time in a match last weekend. It was the first time I'd shot a match in 2 YEARS. In the end the best thing I realized . . . the gun was fine. It was me that was lacking.

J

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If you think about things geometrically, the angles we're dealing with, and then you say on two seven yard targets spaced 2 yards apart that "so and so" transitions .04 seconds quicker than I do (theoretically speaking) the logical question is why???

The answer isn't completely transparent, obviously, but what is obvious about it is that there's no reason you can't change that ;) Just requires some good old fashioned work :lol: To me, the more important thing is the identification and acceptance of that skill deficiency (or what you perceive as the deficiency). You can certainly play the game (well) with it, and if it becomes important to you to improve, you can change it. If you're never aware of it, though, you'll never pick up that .04 seconds you're leaving on the stage for every N-1 targets on the course....

If that is the differential then it's achievable. And if that's the differential then it is truly a game of believing.

Hmmm... Are you saying that any difference in performance can simply be made up for by believing? Or just a difference that small? Or... Are you meaning "believing" in the context that I used it in my diary thread, which comes about as a result of testing and proving to one's self that it can be done? Or?? Maybe I just opened a can of nightcrawlers... ;) This is neat stuff to discuss for me, right now, though....

In the end the best thing I realized . . . the gun was fine. It was me that was lacking.

And that's almost always the entire case :) Good thing, though - you can fix you with no gunsmith required, or no change in gear :)

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Dave,

I think that's exacly what Jack is saying. That the .04 difference is achievable (and surpassable) if you believe it can, but also as you've eluded to, know that it exists. The biggest "problem" with new and struggling shooters in our sport is not being willing to do the work to find where they are lacking. If willing to do this extra work, we can all find our weaknesses and work on them.

Doing the work, makes it phyiscally relevant that barriers can be broken. That confidence that you can do it translates to better performance.

On today's GM's vs. days past, I'd say that in our sport, as it is now, they are better. However, I still give the nod to Jerry, Todd and Robbie on being better marksman and not just being shooters.

Rich

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You ever noticed how announcers consistently say Tiger "wills" putts to go in?

Is there extreme dedication, work, sweat and blood and a little luck (that he creates BTW) in there? Sure -

But I don't doubt for one second who's will is stronger on the PGA tour. Yeah, I think believing (and knowing, to Rich's point) makes the difference.

J

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Of course there's a silver bullet.

This game is not complicated. Rarely ever is there a shot in a match that is hardly achievable. I've never seen a target in a match that I though "I CAN NOT hit that target"

So you know you can hit all the targets. And, from a movement standpoint it's really about being efficient. And all of us can learn to be efficient with how we do things. Most of us have found the best way to drive to work.

When you look at the game nothing in it is terribly complicated. The silver bullet(s) are basically two things IMO. One is confidence to get done what you know you can do when you need to do it. So, take all that hard work and practice and then actually execute in a match. In order to do that, go with the second silver bullet - get out of your own way.

Those are my two biggest faults. They were this weekend. I hadn't practiced enough to have the confidence to do what I know I know how to do. And, I didn't get out of my own way to allow myself to do it.

That's the beauty of the game. The complexity of pulling together all the things you have to do gets in the way of simply doing what you need to do.

J

Oh Jack....THANK YOU so much for keeping a diary. You are quite delicious to read. More please :)

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Nothing any of us does is God like. TGO, TJ, Jerry, you, me or otherwise. In truth it is all so simple. We just make it complicated.

Well said. Inherently I think we want to be able to explain, at least to ourselves, why we didn't win. Even if we performed at our best, instead of accepting it, we need to clutter our minds with the what if's or what else's.

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Got an e-mail with match scores tonight.

Interesting. There was an A class lim-10 shooter there I didn't know about. He beat me about 48 points in the match - a good guage because we had the same round count.

Interestingly, stages 3 and 4 were where he got me. I lost 38 Points to him on 3 (he won the stage and must have shot like a hero because he beat a GM open class shooter on that one) and then another 13 points on stage 4.

Obviously we were close on all the others.

Looking at this, I'd say I'm probably a mid-A shooter. Something like that. Need some work but overall I like where my brain is at and expect to improve significantly over the coming months.

I did think it curious that the stages I didn't feel I trashed were the stages he thumped me on. Stage 3 I mentioned earlier in the diary that it had the green lights and I didn't take advantage. Obviously this demonstrates that at times you don't have to shoot poorly (aka penalties) to lose a match. If you don't take advantage in spots where the match allows you to you can lose just as many points.

J

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Oh and Jake - Tiger is The Man!

I read his book a while ago. And still reference it today.

In Brian's book he talks about questioning everything to insure they knew the best path. Now, look at Tiger. The guy wins a few majors, has (arguably) the best year of any golfer ever and he . . . revamps his swing. Takes a while before he starts winning again. He does though - starts cranking out the "w's" and what does he do? Another swing change. Of course, as is evident, he's winning again.

I like how he always improves all the time. Always looking for a better bread slicer. But the fact that he keeps on winning? That's between the ears. Ain't no doubt if you ask me.

J

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  • 3 weeks later...

Shot a small indoor match tonight.

So I'm leaving work and I see a co-worker and ask "how are things going" and she says good - headed to Tonti Town tonight. I had completely forgotten they even had a match. So I scramble home, grab two cheese sticks for dinner and book it down there. Wasn't even sure if I had enough ammo.

Needless to say, I wasn't prepared to shoot. I'm glad I did, but mentally I wasn't there and felt too rushed the whole way through.

Shot pretty bad tonight. Dropped a TON of points and I'm certain it's because I just wasn't focused. Wasn't dialed in.

So it was two 20 shot field courses and a classifier.

First stage was ok. Again, dropped a ton of points. Had a no-shoot hit on the very first shot of the match. Called it, but had it. My time was pretty solid amongst the competition. That said, my points down definitly cost me and was a good reminder that when I pull the production gun out there can be no compromise on points. The end of the stage had a section where you had to shoot stronghand. Went ok - but again I was throwing points.

Next stage had a flopper and I was really wondering if I could draw and get to the target before the no-shoot popped back up. Beep, drew the gun and was right there. Drilled two A's and it was pretty easy. Felt good. Shot the rest of the stage ok.

Both stages had a TON of partials. Lots of upper A/B zone and a touch of lower A showing. Distances weren't tough but the partials were fun and absolutely a good reminder that I need to practice getting points on partials. In open or limited I could get away with some B's and C's with those targets. Tonight, every "point" was costing me 3 and I failed to really account for that.

The classifier was a bust. It was the long range standards. I had two misses. For my own sanctity, I hadn't even placed the gun in my weak hand before tonight. In developing the platform I've not been focused on drilling in all the other components. And honestly haven't been dry firing that much in the first place (though tonight primed the pump a little).

Net net, I really could have shot a lot better. That's good to know. Overall not pleased with the performance. I was 3rd overall in the match and lost to a solid limited gun and a solid production guy. I was down 40 points to the overall and 16 points to the production shooter.

This match will be perfect for seeing those odd targets though. All the partials are things I wouldn't necessarily practice. This match will be a great format to gain confidence on those. The odd angles on targets and creativity one must have to set up indoor stages will be very good. This match will be a GREAT match to practice that green light stuff I've been bitching about. It'll be fun. And, if I fall to pieces (like tonight) I can leave feeling ok. The truth is this match feels much more like a very diverse practice session with other shooters, where scores are kept so I can compare. Doesn't feel like a match to me, which makes it an ideal practice setting. Doing it all on demand but with a mind open to just experiencing what's taking place and not worrying about the score (too much).

Shooting wise a poor match. But, as many matches will do, it really exploited what I need to work on. And that is a good thing. I can't kill myself over not doing well on stuff that I haven't given any practice time to. Next match, I'll be better prepared. I'll know I'm shooting that night, and I'll have prepped with some dry fire to be ready.

J

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So logically I thought about the match quite a bit last night.

In particular the classifier. So dissappointing to shoot a stage so very poorly.

And then it occured to me, I may never be a GM again (yes I'm still a GM in open - a division I haven't lifted a gun in over 10years). This isn't disturbing to me, I understand it. I guess I just subconciously assumed that with a little practice and a few classifiers that things would come. But shooting weak hand last night was eye opening to me.

I used to practice WH almost every practice session. It was a part of my basic routine. Today, practice just isn't all that feasible. Yeah, I'll get a few in, but it won't be consistent. So to get salty at WH is just going to be tough.

All of this caused me to contemplate what it is I'm doing. I say rebuilding but now I don't really see it as that.

Shooting these matches throughout most of the year feels like more of a "keep the rust off" deal and just a chance to shoot a little and have some fun. And then, as the calendar evolves and I see a major coming up that I'm interested in, that's when I will get more focused on training.

It's all very interesting. At the onset of the journey I'd assumed I could figure out a way to become a top shelf shooter. And that is certainly still a possibility, but it isn't inevitable and it won't come to me. I have to go get it if I want to be there. And today, I can't go get it to the degree that I'd like. Just too much going on.

So it may be, for the next 12 months, that I'll be a solid A class shooter. Which isn't bad in and of itself. It just wasn't something I'd contemplated, and all of the sudden last night I was like WOW - this little journey is going to take a lot longer than I'd originally planned. Going to take a lot more matches, work and effort if I want to get off the plateau.

J

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Here's a little something back at you that we discussed a while ago....

What difference does your class make?

Instead of "So it may be, for the next 12 months, that I'll be a solid A class shooter."

Why not "So it may be, for the next 12 months, that I'll be a solid shooter." If you're a good shooter, you're a good shooter, whether your classifiers have caught up with you or not - or vice versa.

We're only limited by ourselves. ;)

I finally got over the hump in my classifiers to get my M card when I quit worrying about what class I was.

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You're absolutely right Derrick. Agree 100%.

As you know, I'm not a guy that gets hung up on the class thing. Never really have been.

What I primarily use the class system for now is just a guage. The things I sometimes struggle with today are the discrepancy internally between what I know I've been able to do versus what I can do today. Obviously they are one in the same, but only if the confidence is there to pull it off. Had I been shooting limited last night, and not production, I probably wouldn't have been dissappointed in the overall match. Yeah, a few too many points down but certainly liveable. Historically I've dropped points on targets where A zone availability has been really restricted. And honestly, speed has always enabled me to live with that. Yesterday I shot 8 b's or c's on one stage. So in major that's 8 points down. A lot, but again liveable. In minor, that was 24 points down. That is worse than a miss! Those are the things I've got to reconcile for myself. Using the class system just gives me better (though not perfect) visibility to progress. I bet in 2 or 3 months I don't even mention class anymore because I'll know better where I'm at in my shooting. I'll have that knowledge and will have the ability to reconcile those issues I mentioned better because I'll have that feel back. And for me, this game is very much a feel game!

The classifier was a bust and there are several reason's why. One is simply practice. Two was not being prepared to shoot. And three was simply not being engaged in shooting the weak hand and strong hand portions of the stage. In terms of feeling and speed things felt really pretty decent. Surprisingly well (ok - except my reload - it did suck!). But I didn't WANT to shoot it. I just didn't. I knew I was weak in weak hand and by virtue of that, I mentally caused the result to take place. Just need a little practice and that will probably come together better as well. Will it be as good as the old days? I'd guess not simply because I don't practice it like I did and I know I won't either.

But weak hand isn't exactly a huge component of the game in a major match. All I need to do is not lose the match with my weakhand. No need to win the match with it - I can do that on other stages.

I feel better tonight than I did this morning. God there's a lot of work to do. No doubt about that. THen I was thinking we're coming into the winter months. What a great time to continue knocking rust off at matches while still allowing time to just get grooved and fix the things that need fixing. So when spring comes around I'll be ten times better off, I won't feel like the matches are my first in 2 years, and I'll be able to start elevating my game to the levels I want it to be.

That part will be fun!

J

***edit put in***

So I was looking on USPSA to see if they'd sent in my classifier scores for production. Didn't see any. But then I was looking at my limited scores - I'm at 94.31% in limited. Almost GM class. That surprised me - and I thought I'd better see what scores they were using. Like were they from back in 94 or were they from 2 years ago when I'd picked up the blaster again. To my surprise, 4 of the 6 were from my last stint. My highest score coming from the 2005 time frame. So I guess I was wrong. The scenario back then is the same as today. Coming back from a long lay off and trying to get back in the game. I figure if I got to a 94.31% back then I can get to a good status in production just focusing and getting the job done. Part of me, despite my lack of enthusiasm for the class system, wants to make GM in production. My open GM classification is now down to 95.5% (down from 99.5%) so I'm getting close to losing GM all together. While winning matches will always be more important to me - I'd like to not lose that GM status. Just for because . . .

Edited by j1b
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  • 2 weeks later...

Match tomorrow AM.

No chance to dry fire in preparation, but I've known about it for a day and mentally I feel better. Probably try and get down there early to nail some draws and reloads before the match.

My primary focus is first going to be points. Particularly on partials but in general. Can't afford to not focus on that like last match.

I'm going to be smoother on the stages. Fast is smooth.

Outside of that, just going to go shoot. I can't say I expect to be a lot better than the match a month ago, outside of the fact that I've shot two matches now. If strong hand or weakhand comes up, I'm just going to have to deal with that. I'm more mentally prepared to shoot for tomorrow than I was the indoor match and that should help out a lot.

It'll be interesting to see how comfortable I am with green light scenarios tomorrow. Even though I've not shot much, and haven't been dry firing, for some reason my confidence level is a tick higher. We'll see.

My last focal point for tomorrow is getting out of my own way. I know there's rust, but I also know I played this game, and I've done it well in the past. So I'm going to be more aggressive in the areas where I should be. If I screw some of those things up, I think I'll be ok. I can't get better playing it safe over the coming months. Particularly if I know I can do better than what I'm doing.

Will update the diary tomorrow afternoon.

J

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