be careful in expecting too much

[Jasonub]

Here is what happened. I shot a match and got to place 5th overall on standards. beating a known gm. Everything was so easy, i shot it well and placed 5th since i forgot to shoot a popper which was visible in one port. this port i did not bother to go to since i thought i could shoot all of the targets in another port.

anyway, the next match came up. i shot it with an expectation that i would win. i placed 17th overall I had 4 misses due to some brainfart on my part. the winner was the known gm that i previously beat.

So another major match came, i swore to myself not to do the same thing and shoot all a's. I programmed myself to shoot only a's though a charlie will be acceptable. I swore not to get a bullet to miss a target

The problem was that when i was making sure that i got only a's i slowed down a lot. I did not trust my sights anymore. I shot paper targets and see the holes on the target. It came to a point that i shot a target and before i left i needed to see the holes. This slowed me major time. my usual hit factors of 5.5 up seem to have dropped a lot. out of 10 stages i probably got a 2.98, and 4 x 3.5's, the others seem fine. 3x 5.5 and above.

Being engrossed in seeing the holes, i miked a swinger and a mover that i had to reingage at "if you are finished unload....."

What pisses me off is that the double movers seemed to move too fast for me to see my holes in the target. I only shot it once and nodded my head in dissapointment and ran to the end to shoot a couple of more targets before aiming on the now hidden double movers. good thing there was 2 inches showing on top of the classic amoeba targets that i shot at.

I got 2 c's and a c and d on those 2 targets that i had to shoot slowly since its already hidden.

a range officer commented "hey jason how come your shooting seems to be slow" I said i dont want to miss like i did on the last match

Now the lesson here for me is that

1 i have to trust my sights like i used to even if both sights and targets are blurred, shoot at the targets and leave immediately to the next shooting position. dont look at the target to see if you hit it. you already saw the sights lift off the a zone whey the hell are you still here looking for the holes

2. dont expect anything just shoot the stage as you see it.

3. trust your speed

Pls add your comments

[Guest Larry Cazes]

Jason, my experiences shooting local matches over the last few months parallel yours pretty closely. I started off the year with expectations and desire to move up in class and set out to do it. Around March I found myself wondering why I was pushing so hard because it seemed to be doing more harm then good. Mostly do to slowing down overall to get all A's and my times relative to others were killing me. I also started a practice schedule one day a week to concentrate on accuracy. As I started to trust my accuracy, I relaxed at matches and have progressed quite a bit since then and my overall enjoyment is much higher. This last weekend, I won overall limited at one of our locals for the first time........Relaxation and trust are key!

[Loves2Shoot]

I know this is a stupid question, but why would you ever see your holes? If you beat a GM and he didn't have catostophic gun malfunctions you should know this, right? Sound like you are "trying" instead of doing. If you are doing more than reading your sights to know where the shots are going you are doing way too much and thus spending too much time doing it.

[EricW]

Someday I will learn my lesson and leave my expectations at home.

I shot man on man (with Kimel) this weekend and did astoundingly poorly until abandoned my "expectation" that I needed to shoot faster than (insert name here) and just shot the targets in front of me. After that, everything was got better. I didn't win the 3rd place cupie doll, but I made the guy who did earn it.

And I got an "attaboy" from Frank Cook in the process, which means more to me than any plaque I can stick on my wall.

[Jasonub]

I know this is a stupid question, but why would you ever see your holes? If you beat a GM and he didn't have catostophic gun malfunctions you should know this, right? Sound like you are "trying" instead of doing. If you are doing more than reading your sights to know where the shots are going you are doing way too much and thus spending too much time doing it.

nope the gm did not have any gun trouble. i could have landed second had i hit the popper. it was only a few points separating second and 5th.

anyway, yes i tried too hard. whats so depressing is that on the first 2 stages of the last match, (level 3) (there were 2 level 3 matches both as qualifier for the world shoot that i shot) a range officer asked why i was shooting slowly.

I knew i was doing something wrong but continued in the slow pace for the rest of the 8 stages

Expectations are killing me. I want to beat the top dog here in the Philippines within a year and i think the pressure got to me. I started competing last october.(though we had an election gun ban so i guess the 6 months are not incuded )

I started at 30th place, then 20 then 12 then 10, then 5 then 33!

I just want to die

[sgrc1]

I just want to die

Actually if you die, you won´t be able to progress in your shooting...

Best bet is to continue with the practice and don´t feel rushed into beeting the "top dog" in your county, lot´s of practice will get you there sooner than you think

[doctabako]

I started at 30th place, then 20 then 12 then 10, then 5 then 33!

I just want to die

Cheer up Aside from trying too hard(which I think happened here) which made you lose your edge, you may just have had a bad day(it happens, you know).

Shrug this off and see you at the next competition. Besides, if I'm not mistaken the good Col. was match director at the Varilla Cup so he didn't compete. I'm sure you'll beat him next time Lito too

[cr10x]

There are several coaches for olympic shooters that will tell you "Expectations are just another distraction to managed." They do not aid, only distract and impede performance. Manage your expectations and leave them behind when you go to the firining line.

One substitute for "expectations" is "trust", a word you can easily substitute when you go to the line. You can trust your training, your ability and your mental fortitude to carry you through. We may or may not get what we expect (since the word expect carries some level of doubt); but we usually get what we believe and trust (which carries a mental picture of confidence and control for most of us).

Enough for today, you'all go shoot some....

[Jasonub]

thanks guys for the lift.

i just am pissed off at myself since how many times have i read here that one only needs to call his shots (seeing what one needs to see)

and if you try too hard you screw up. In our sport if we try and try harder it just messes up everything.

I will now give up shooting and meditate for as a monk for 6 years

or better yet... off to the range

[TriggerT]

I like to go to a match planning on shooting my best. If I happen to win, that is a bonus, but I know what I am capable of, and that is the level of performance I am looking for. More than anything else, I am looking for "That Feeling" that I am in the Zone, things are going the way I want them to, and I am shooting the way I know I can. Let the rest of the shooters worry about where the scores are, I will look at them after the shooting is done, and try to forget about them within an hour of seeing them, and focus on improoving MY shooting.

[Eye Cutter]

why, jason... are you doing a tiger woods even if you're not tiger woods yet? hehehe.

if you have too many things to think about, expectations become unrealistic and performance suffers. best thing to do is to take a step back, relax, and just shoot!

[froglegs]

I've found that when I shoot a match and there are much better shooters there, I shoot best when I realize that I'm truly outclassed and just relax and have a good time and focus on my actions. This lets me concentrate on hitting the targets and being fast is not on my mind. I'm a new shooter to uspsa and have made b class doing nothing more than this and usually its a big suprise that I place so high and it felt so slow!