joedodge Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 Just like the title says when you have a bad match what do you do to correct this? do you dry fire do you reflect on what happened? What do you do? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbleeye Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 Sit down, relax and try to forget it, nothing you can do about what has already happened. Then think about what you didn't do and work on that for the next match and try to do better in those areas. Doesn't do any good to get mad at yourself, that just makes you ill at everyone around you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdm74 Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 Practice..then practice some more..then after that, practice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yoshidaex Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 Care to elaborate on what you felt was a "bad match"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soaringf22 Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 I say this depends, what was "bad" if it was poor mechanics then a little bit of dry fire to see what you are doing then live fire more than normal to diagnose and correct it, the live fire will get timing back and allow you to visually see what you are doing or not doing. if it was poor mental performance then let it go have a beer, next time have a nice breakfast before the match, if i dont eat before a match i get cranky mid morning and everything gets slow and sluggish in my body making me irritable. if i dont make my shots in a match then my next practice is live fire, slooooowwwwwwwwwww shooting as small of groups as possible. then going further until im about 35-40 yards, at this distance i know for sure if its my triger control or breathing or whatever else maybe going on. if all else fails blame the gun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
remoandiris Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 Sit down, relax and try to forget it, nothing you can do about what has already happened. +1. My last 2 matches were bad for different reasons. Just plain shot poorly one weekend then DQ'd on the first stage at the next. Now I have a week or two to not worry about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Hefta Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 Go to the next match... then go to another match... then go to another match... and so on... everyone has a bad match or two or more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flexmoney Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 When all else fails...execute the fundamentals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joedodge Posted May 18, 2011 Author Share Posted May 18, 2011 thanks everyone my performance was poor to me i was 14 out of 24 shooters and 4 out of 10 in production im usualy in the top 10 overall and top 3 in production ive won or runnered up every weekly match and our last monthly match for a month. so to me it was bad i had 1 mike on a static target i knew i threw it but my body said keep moving and the other was poor planning on a stage. i did a lil dry fire after work today and gonna give it my all on friday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RePete Posted May 22, 2011 Share Posted May 22, 2011 Scotch, single malt Scotch. I glass of that while relaxing. All of this after I'm home and the gear stowed. Sh*t happens (Stercus Accidit), get over it, move on and life goes on. The world hasn't stopped turning on its axis, and has ended. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Cline Posted May 23, 2011 Share Posted May 23, 2011 (edited) All the posts above are valid examples of what works for others, mine solution is a bit of many- a good whiskey drink, some reflection on what went wrogn and why. I assess that for what is my issue, what's a gun or magazine issue, what was a plan issue, etc. I get back to basics, and continue to practice. I also recognize that a bad match, for me, if often too much push on the envelope. I recognize I am a growth point and expect at the next match to ratchet back a bit but see overall improvement. Using arbitrary numbers I might be shooting at a 70, but at the match I shot at 82, I believe at the next match I can shoot at a 76. That's an improvement over 70, but I recognize I am not ready for 82 yet. I believe I can be at an 82 soon, so I'll shoot at 76 the following match, practice for 82 and it will come soon. I know one Master class open shooter who journals his matches and notes what went good, great and what needs improvements, and makes himself practice what needs improvement. Edited May 23, 2011 by Steven Cline Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old506 Posted May 23, 2011 Share Posted May 23, 2011 I keep a journal of how things went good and bad. Next months focus, in practice, is on the bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
West Texas Granny Posted June 5, 2011 Share Posted June 5, 2011 (edited) Anytime I get to shoot its a great day. I could miss targets all day but it doesnt matter as I'm at the range and having fun. Makes no difference if its a 2A kinda day or a 2 Mike kind of day. I'm at the range and shooting which makes me happy. Edited June 5, 2011 by West Texas Granny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lugnut Posted June 5, 2011 Share Posted June 5, 2011 Find out went wrong, work on it at practice and move on. Yeah, not always easy but no sense killing yourself over it. When I have a collapse during a match- I just think of some of the greatest athletes in the world that have melt downs and get right back up to kick ass. I'm REALLY working on this stuff hard. Mastering the Mental Game by Saul Kirsch... he rocks. Negative energy never does me any good... it only makes me do stupid things at matches. You know... I'd say 90% of the screw ups I have are screwing up with the fundamentals... we can call beat our self to death but the answers are usually quite obvious when something goes wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SethML3602 Posted July 28, 2011 Share Posted July 28, 2011 So i experienced a "Bad Match" at the Texas State Limited this year. I am not sure if what i did to try and correct it was right but it worked for me. First let me tell you about this match and what i saw wrong: I had 15 Mikes and a FTE for the match(i haven't had 15 mikes TOTAL in the last year of shooting. I was TRYING to go fast and because of that i didn't care about hits i just wanted to be fast. Missing Fast doesn't (always) win. I let myself get frustrated after the second stage(4 mikes) and i never recovered from that. I got so much support from my squad and Steven Cline specifically about letting it go. I wasn't in the mood to listen then because i was mad at myself and i didn't let myself have any fun or to get to know the people in my squad better like i should have because they were all great shooters and could probably have taught me alot more than they did. I got home and was really down on myself about how poorly i did. That match meant alot to me because it was my first major match at a range besides Doubletap and OK Sectionals at my range. After about 2 days of being down on myself i said "You know those guys were right, this is stupid, i don't care how bad i did there i care about how good i am gonna do at my next matches". I worked on tracking the front sight and calling my shots at live fire. I dry fired about 4 days then i went to the club match we had @ ITPSC and won the match. I had 1 No-Shoot for the match and won 4 outta 5 stages. I have Area 4 and Nationals in Sept and my attitude towards it is this: No matter what i am gonna have fun. Meet awesome people like i did at TSL. Get some great advice about how to improve my shooting(Thx Squad 9) and learn from my mistakes not let my mistakes consume me and make me into a "Sore" person. Hope this helps i know it's long but i thought this post kinda hit home about what happened to me and maybe this will keep it from happening to someone else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlosa Posted July 28, 2011 Share Posted July 28, 2011 (edited) This is my attitude at a match. My performance at any given match is representative of my skill level at that time and date. If I have a bad stage or a bad match I figure that the tasks I failed to perform are tasks I haven't yet mastered... I can not be mad at my self for not being able to do things that are outside my ability.. This attitude allows me to not get so worked up, and after the match dedicate some time to fix or work on any problems i'm having, or skill I'm lacking. I know I'm a good shooter with potential to be a great shooter, it's just a matter of waiting until my experience and practice make my skill match my expectations. Recently I been in a mission to adopt what I call the champions attitude... I try and think how athletes I admire would handle a bad performance, and what Their deminer with the press would be.. Anyway... Check this link out this is the attitude I'm talking about Cheers, los Edited July 28, 2011 by carlosa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OpenDot Posted July 28, 2011 Share Posted July 28, 2011 Usually I run home and watch the Bad Stage video's over and over calling myself names (idiot, what were thinking ya jackass and so on.. ) I have 3 folders under my videos... 1. Road to Greatness (no mistakes, clean stages) 2. Road to Suckville (very few mikes, very few no shoots or crappy reloads but stage was completed and time/score was ok) 3. Route 666 (EPIC FAIL VIDS for house parties and youtube blooper reels, incomplete stages due to malfunctions, slow times, shooting stages incorrectly, lots of mikes or no shoots, total fail reloads and DQ's) At this point...folders number 2 and 3 have more video's as i've only been doing this for 3 months Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blaster113 Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 gotta fight the urge to cut the gun in half with a blow torch or throw it as far as you can over the berm after a bad performance. seriously though, get some live fire practice in ASAP and focus on the fundamentals, especially on whatever it is that caused the bad performance like shooting too fast, no shoots/misses, etc. just keep shooting and dont beat yourself up. I know all about crashing, burning and self induced f*** ups that cost me dearly at matches. If your screwup was with a Limited gun for example like my most recent one was, break out your Open gun if you have one and let 'er rip at the next match somehow hosing with my Open gun always makes me feel better Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rupture Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 nothing..... if you usually shoot well and just tanked a match move on. If you constantly suck, practice more Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Standby! Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 Someone told me "Focus on the future, you can't change what's already done" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonC Posted July 30, 2011 Share Posted July 30, 2011 I remind myself that good and bad are just labels we choose to assign to things. Therefore, there is nothing to bounce back from. Your results are your results. It is what it is. Let go of your expectations and just shoot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Burtchell Posted July 30, 2011 Share Posted July 30, 2011 Sell or trade the pistol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlosa Posted July 30, 2011 Share Posted July 30, 2011 I remind myself that good and bad are just labels we choose to assign to things. Therefore, there is nothing to bounce back from. Your results are your results. It is what it is. Let go of your expectations and just shoot. Well put Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Anderson Posted July 31, 2011 Share Posted July 31, 2011 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jordonhurd Posted July 31, 2011 Share Posted July 31, 2011 Good match or bad, it's the same either way. After the match a group of us goes to lunch and discuss what went good and what was bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now