waddo29 Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 As a new shooter to competition sports I would be interested in any tips or suggestions on stage prep. I can walk through the stage and visualize a plan, count thru targets and decide when I want to execute reloads and set up a decent game plan in my head, but once that buzzer goes of I start charging into the stage I almost instantly realize I have forgotten my whole plan. At that point I am just kind of running through the targets winging it. Still a great deal of fun, but not very effective when I end up forgetting one or two targets. Any tips or strategies would be greatly appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluetip84 Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 I would say slow down. Dont get ahead of yourself and go slow enough that you can follow your plan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old506 Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 (edited) Nearly everyone is going to have a hard time with this when they start out, it will come to you. I would suggest that you are on the right track, maybe you just need tweak a couple of things. In your walk through prior to the shooting starting, this is where you want to have your plan set in your mind. What I do from there is that when a shooter is shooting the stage, my eyes are closed and I am somewhere close enough to hear the "beep". If it is a stage where you start hands relaxed, I am hands relaxed, if it is wrists above shoulders, I am wrists above shoulders. As soon as the "beep" goes off for the other shooter in the squad, my hand goes to the grip of my gun and from there I shoot the stage in my head and see everything, my gun coming up, each target, each place where I need to put my foot, each prop requirement, everything. I even turn my body slightly for turns and my off hand goes for mag changes to the correct mag. When I am "in the hole" I am done taping/resetting and I find a place away from the squad a little bit, I stretch and clear my mind of all thoughts and I run the whole stage over and over again in my head. After the shooter before me is done and everyone is taping/resetting, I do a "walk-through" as close to speed as I can. I am not making any changes on the final walk-through, (for better or worse) I am sticking to what I planned and rehearsed in my head. When I get the "Make Ready" command, I make ready, re-holster and have a feeling of "nothing" washing over me, I let "nothing" wash over me, starting on my head and going all the way down to my feet, almost like someone pouring a pitcher of water on your head. I do this while gripping the gun in the holster so the RO wont' try to start me before I am ready, it only takes a second. My body kind of hits a relaxed state, especially in the shoulders and torso and from there the "beep" comes and whatever happens, happens. Edited January 4, 2012 by old506 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waddo29 Posted January 4, 2012 Author Share Posted January 4, 2012 Nearly everyone is going to have a hard time with this when they start out, it will come to you. I would suggest that you are on the right track, maybe you just need tweak a couple of things. In your walk through prior to the shooting starting, this is where you want to have your plan set in your mind. What I do from there is that when a shooter is shooting the stage, my eyes are closed and I am somewhere close enough to hear the "beep". If it is a stage where you start hands relaxed, I am hands relaxed, if it is wrists above shoulders, I am wrists above shoulders. As soon as the "beep" goes off for the other shooter in the squad, my hand goes to the grip of my gun and from there I shoot the stage in my head and see everything, my gun coming up, each target, each place where I need to put my foot, each prop requirement, everything. I even turn my body slightly for turns and my off hand goes for mag changes to the correct mag. When I am "in the hole" I am done taping/resetting and I find a place away from the squad a little bit, I stretch and clear my mind of all thoughts and I run the whole stage over and over again in my head. After the shooter before me is done and everyone is taping/resetting, I do a "walk-through" as close to speed as I can. I am not making any changes on the final walk-through, (for better or worse) I am sticking to what I planned and rehearsed in my head. When I get the "Make Ready" command, I make ready, re-holster and have a feeling of "nothing" washing over me, I let "nothing" wash over me, starting on my head and going all the way down to my feet, almost like someone pouring a pitcher of water on your head. I do this while gripping the gun in the holster so the RO wont' try to start me before I am ready, it only takes a second. My body kind of hits a relaxed state, especially in the shoulders and torso and from there the "beep" comes and whatever happens, happens. Thank you for taking the time to write all that out. A lot of good tips and advice for me to work on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benos Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 In addition to that excellent info from old506, there is lots of good stuff in this thread. be Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrumpyOne Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Nearly everyone is going to have a hard time with this when they start out, it will come to you. I would suggest that you are on the right track, maybe you just need tweak a couple of things. In your walk through prior to the shooting starting, this is where you want to have your plan set in your mind. What I do from there is that when a shooter is shooting the stage, my eyes are closed and I am somewhere close enough to hear the "beep". If it is a stage where you start hands relaxed, I am hands relaxed, if it is wrists above shoulders, I am wrists above shoulders. As soon as the "beep" goes off for the other shooter in the squad, my hand goes to the grip of my gun and from there I shoot the stage in my head and see everything, my gun coming up, each target, each place where I need to put my foot, each prop requirement, everything. I even turn my body slightly for turns and my off hand goes for mag changes to the correct mag. When I am "in the hole" I am done taping/resetting and I find a place away from the squad a little bit, I stretch and clear my mind of all thoughts and I run the whole stage over and over again in my head. After the shooter before me is done and everyone is taping/resetting, I do a "walk-through" as close to speed as I can. I am not making any changes on the final walk-through, (for better or worse) I am sticking to what I planned and rehearsed in my head. When I get the "Make Ready" command, I make ready, re-holster and have a feeling of "nothing" washing over me, I let "nothing" wash over me, starting on my head and going all the way down to my feet, almost like someone pouring a pitcher of water on your head. I do this while gripping the gun in the holster so the RO wont' try to start me before I am ready, it only takes a second. My body kind of hits a relaxed state, especially in the shoulders and torso and from there the "beep" comes and whatever happens, happens. I think I can do all of that, and generally that's how I feel, right when the buzzer goes off, and I follow my plan until a hiccup, then it's gone, and it's improv time...Gotta stop having those hiccups.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waddo29 Posted January 10, 2012 Author Share Posted January 10, 2012 In addition to that excellent info from old506, there is lots of good stuff in this thread. be Thanks for the link Brian, a lot of good tips (and stories) in that thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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