blaster113 Posted November 20, 2011 Share Posted November 20, 2011 when you have a bad run you have to force yourself to let that stage go since there's nothing you can do about it already. just throw yourself into preparing for the next stage, then the next one after that. and dont look at the scores until its over, just shoot your game to the max of your ability. you may think your match is over if you had a bad screw up, but in the end that error may not have hurt you too badly in the course of 12-20 stages. even the highest ranked shooters have bad runs, just gotta try and minimize mistakes as much as possible. I know all about screwups. The worst is when you have a screw up on the LAST stage of the match. Had a catastrophic deathjam/FTE on the very last stage of Area 2 so I got to enjoy the 6 hour plane ride home thinking about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flexmoney Posted November 21, 2011 Share Posted November 21, 2011 How do you get your head back in the game after a stupid move like that? I shoot Alphas. I shoot Alphas. I shoot Alphas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benos Posted November 21, 2011 Share Posted November 21, 2011 Steve hit the nail on the head. Don't let ANY stage performance (Good or Bad) seep into your thought process for the next stage. When you are at a match you should only focus on what is happening RIGHT NOW as that is really the only thing that is important. You can't change the past or the future, only the present. So focus on making what is happening right now the best it can be. Wish I had bumped into you earlier at Area 2 ,I could have used this little nugget of wisdom then. This is something I am currently challenged with as well. I start off really well on the first stage, because I am focused and in the moment. After shooting the first stage well, I start to think "wow I'm awesome, this is easy" and I forget to focus in the momentt, and doing what I need to do when I need to do it. I guess the first step on the road to recovery is admitting you have a problem. Paraphrasing from an ancient worthy... "It is difficult to be as careful at the end as it is in the beginning." be Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HOOLIHAN Posted November 21, 2011 Share Posted November 21, 2011 Brian, I really like that quote. Would you be willing to share the source? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benos Posted November 21, 2011 Share Posted November 21, 2011 Brian, I really like that quote. Would you be willing to share the source? I can't remember for sure (that's why I didn't include the source). I'm 99% that it is from Shunryu Suzuki. I know I've sent the actual quote out as a Maku mozo! ... I'll do some digging in the archives... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul-the new guy Posted November 21, 2011 Author Share Posted November 21, 2011 Good stuff! I applied some of it this weekend. Once again I had a stage where I did poorly, which is not at all like me! When I got to the next stage I just focused all of my energy on the walk through and focused on getting my mental game ready to shoot. The result was I flew through the stage. I was only 1.5 seconds behind an M shooter, he ran the stage in 13.39 and I did it in 14.89. The next closest guy on our squad was 21. something . I don't know how many points the M shooter was down but I was only down 1 point or .5 seconds (it was IDPA) Now if I could run them all like that.... The really strange thing was I felt like I was moving slowly which I am sure accounted for my hits being better than average. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HOOLIHAN Posted November 21, 2011 Share Posted November 21, 2011 Paul, that's cool, kinda neat feeling isn't it? I know when I shoot a really good stage I can recall really seeing every single shot. I don't even need to go look at the targets, because I KNOW where all the hits are. Just gotta figure out how to do it consistently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benos Posted November 21, 2011 Share Posted November 21, 2011 Paul, that's cool, kinda neat feeling isn't it? I know when I shoot a really good stage I can recall really seeing every single shot. I don't even need to go look at the targets, because I KNOW where all the hits are. Just gotta figure out how to do it consistently. Let go of all forms of trying, both gross and subtle, which will allow "it" to happen. (I know, like most everything, easier said than done.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MustangGreg66 Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 Ok, so I thought it was relevant to this post to come back and share an experience I had since I posted on here. If it belongs better in it's own thread, mods can move it. I got on this thread saying to just leave a bad stage behind, and that's the right attitude, but I think it was always easy for me to do so because I never put much pressure on myself to perform. I took each stage as a task or challenge and just did my plan the best I could. This last weekend I shot a USPSA match and put a bunch of pressure on myself. It's getting toward the end of the year and me and another shooter are at the top in our club for production division, battling it out so to speak, for the Club production champion. I shot limited for a while before the Milti-Gun Championships and that let the other guy gain the lead. This last match, I knew I had to win to be club champion, I put pressure on myself to do well, and along with some funky stages, I bombed it. You can see it in my video here if you want to watch it. Stage 5 I rocked, I came in 1st production and ahead of a lot of the limited guys too. Stage 1 I bombed. I didn't count my rounds (10+1) so I had to rack the slide standing there statically in front of the texas star and then shot the star in a diffrent order than I had planned and caused it to go swinging like crazy... another static reload and I was way behind. I finished in 28 seconds and a fast time when the star lined up was more around 15. Stage 2 was the classifier, where I picked up 1 miss into the hard cover and 1 miss on a wide open target. This wasn't really from pressure I put on myself for the match, but more rushing through and having been the 1st shooter. Stage 3 was where I really gave it away. I had an initial plan, with a backup plan, and I seemed to do the wrong parts of both. Ended up completly forgetting a target so that was 2 misses and 1FTE. On top of that, in the beginning I tried to game it and grab the mag from the farthest back pouch... and grabbed two mags, so I added tons of time there. Stage 4 I finished strong. 1st in production again, but still not enough. I finished 3rd production in the match, but far enough back that I opened the gap from the guy I was chasing for the year. I'm not really sure if it was more pressure I put myself under or just poor stage prep. Stage 1 I felt like I really just caught a bad break and the misses on the star caused the disaster factor to go through the roof, but 2 and 3, my head wasn't in it as it should have. After I tanked stage 1 I really beat myself up and couldn't let go of it like I usually am able to. I guess I still have lessions to learn in this area as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Anderson Posted December 11, 2011 Share Posted December 11, 2011 "I didn't count my rounds" Major rookie mistake. "This wasn't really from pressure I put on myself for the match, but more rushing through and having been the 1st shooter." Understandable, but still a lame excuse that we all use. I used it last week when an RO rushed the commands. We should be ready for that... "I had an initial plan, with a backup plan, and I seemed to do the wrong parts of both" What's up with the back-up plan? It seems very strange to go to the line and be thinking, "here's exactly what I'm gonna do, unless I do something else." All of these problems can be solved with visualization: If you can't make a mental movie of the stage with every target, position and reload, you are not ready to shoot. Sorry for picking on you, just trying to help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lugnut Posted December 11, 2011 Share Posted December 11, 2011 (edited) "I had an initial plan, with a backup plan, and I seemed to do the wrong parts of both" What's up with the back-up plan? It seems very strange to go to the line and be thinking, "here's exactly what I'm gonna do, unless I do something else." Steve- agree with you. However how does one deal with mistakes or misses when one has the unfortunate mistake in a stage? Are you implying the IF a problem occurs that you should just know what to do from experience? I'm not trying to be a wiseass at all. The reality is I do have one plan... sometimes I plan reloads to give myself an extra shot on a piece of steel, etc (problem wit that?). However when things go to shit (which I don't plan on doing) it's hard to get back in the groove when I've had to do a static reload to finish and array, etc. When this does happen, I usually try to just continue with my plan.. even if that means doing a reload just 2 shots after a previous reload. If I have to "think" on a stage... it's usually not a good thing... Edited December 11, 2011 by lugnut Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lugnut Posted December 11, 2011 Share Posted December 11, 2011 I love this part of the game... after reading this thread again I just keep thinking about important it really is... for ALL levels of shooters. I still have a lot of work at this as I'm a pretty emotional guy out there. A couple other things to add... there is just tons of good reading on this stuff... 1) Read "The Inner Game of Tennis" by W. Timothy Gallwey. If you read it and understand it... it's got little to do with tennis. 2) I recall a story on one of Saul Kirsch's videos. I believe he was in a major match.... he screwed up a stage bad. At the end of the match he was told he had to reshoot that stage for some reason to do with the COF. You just NEVER know what will happen..... Get Saul's books! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benos Posted December 12, 2011 Share Posted December 12, 2011 With experience, you will improve at sticking to the game plan you know works, no matter what is "at stake." be Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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