Ron Ankeny Posted July 19, 2004 Share Posted July 19, 2004 I just hate being a local hero (big frog in a small pond) then shooting like crap every time I get more than 50 miles from home. My mental game goes to pieces at the smallest hint of the possibility of failure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BSeevers Posted July 19, 2004 Share Posted July 19, 2004 Ron Not trying to be a smarta-- but the key to not doing it, is in your post. I know you know it, but truth is win the match or last place its all the same thing. Its over and can't be changed and is done. Expectations can ruin my or your match. I do think winning a major is a lot different than a club. Endurance and mental game has to be better. My motto is never quit, never give up and never surrender. A miss at an Area is not always the kiss of death. Now if you allow it to be then it is. PS I believe that positive thoughts and actions are very important. Otherwords try not to beat yourself up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynn jones Posted July 19, 2004 Share Posted July 19, 2004 hi ron, i have the same problem. the cure was to read Lanny Bassham's "With Winning in Mind". avalible from Steve Anderson. lynn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chriss Grube Posted July 19, 2004 Share Posted July 19, 2004 2 Thoughts, Lots of small ponds with a big fish or 2. Go to the Ocean and there are sharks. I see a lot of M and GM's that are good shooters locally but when the competition level goes up the true skill level comes out. Basically the classifier system is based on shooting the same style COF and it and the needed skills can be practiced over and over. Lots of paper M and GM's out there. Then they go shoot against the true GM's and are lucky to shoot a B level score. Classifiers need adjusted and major match performance needs to count more in the equation. Seen others that are just headcases that worry about everything and end up screwing the whole match up over something little. In a 4 stage local match a miss can kill you in an 11+ stage match you have room to make it up. From reading your posts you seem to be the type that worries about things too much. Relax and shoot your match. It doesn't really matter what somebody else did until the results come out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benny hill Posted July 19, 2004 Share Posted July 19, 2004 Lynn, went to his simanar & read his book. Recomend it to anyone for the mental game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigDave Posted July 19, 2004 Share Posted July 19, 2004 Ron - keep going to the ocean Although I haven't done it as much as I'd like to, being able to shoot in many different states at club level matches, I think, has really done me good and helped me to progress. I had some similar thoughts as you shared before I started shooting at the Bianchi Cup this year. it was only my 2nd major match and first National. I was thinking "Wow, this is a really big deal!!!". Well, no, it isn't. When I was on the line, I saw the same targets, at the same distance as I saw on my home ranges. What changed? What was different? Not a thing!!! After that realization, I was pretty relaxed and had a clear head. Still shot like garbage (which at my level I'm prone to do more often than most), but I felt nearly no pressure from how "big" the match was. Some might say, "oh it is easy to say that, but in reality it's different". Hogwash!!! It is only hard because you think it is, and it only becomes hard because you make it that way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benos Posted July 20, 2004 Share Posted July 20, 2004 Ron, Stick with it. Shoot more big matches. And set your resolve to always keep your thoughts focused on performance. It's not easy, but if you work with it will pay off. be Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Ankeny Posted July 20, 2004 Author Share Posted July 20, 2004 It ain't nerves as much as it is just plain stupid decisions and mistakes coupled with poor hits and slower times. I am talking about club level matches as well as matches higher up the totem pole. I have been shooting a single stack exclusively for two months because my open blaster was in the shop. I had a decent sized match (for Wyoming) on Saturday and I have been gearing up to shoot it L10 so what did I do? I changed my mind the night before the match and shot Open with a new barrel, different comp and a different trigger two days after getting it back. After the first stage I got to wishing I had shot L10 and my mental game went in the toilet. Here are some other examples. I was shooting a bunch of steel as I was moving out of a position to another spot. I missed as I was stepping forward so I backed up and shot again, moved foward as I called yet another miss, backed up and finally shot the freaking plate. I was doing quite the little dance step as the clock kept on ticking. Problem is, I wasn't in a box and all I had to do was shoot the plate on the move after the first miss. Later, I was shooting through a port and I had a target hard to the right. My solution was to stuff my hands and the gun into the port and break my wrists to the right and I got a miss. All I had to do was to bend one knee. Then there were the called Mikes that I didn't even bother to make up. Slow transitions, bad decisions, no excuses. The very next day I shot a local match at another club L10 and I shot exceedingly well. Two papers at different heights flanked by no-shoots behind 4 pieces of steel, three big poppers and a hidden mini behind a big popper with a no-shoot behind the mini. Up and down and side to side gun movement. Done in four seconds all Alphas. Borrowed a gun to try out and shot it at 3 IPSC sized steel targets 10 yards distant. Two dry draws with a model of gun I have never shot. Timer goes off, draw, shoot two center of mass on each of three (six shots) in 2.17 seconds. The day before I struggled just to get a 2 second draw. I need therapy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockwell Posted July 20, 2004 Share Posted July 20, 2004 I just hate being a local hero (big frog in a small pond) then shooting like crap every time I get more than 50 miles from home. Ron- I am still trying to become a minnow in a small mud puddle! I would have liked to see you shoot Limited 10 so I could see how it is done. A positive note is that your gun ran good all day, but not shooting the gun for so long, would have been a total disaster for me, I still have a hard time switching guns. So considering that, it was cool that you had the confidence to shoot the gun after shooting limited 10 all summer. I have not seen the results yet, but you are surely near the top. Nice shootin' with ya, & thanks for the pointers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingman Posted July 20, 2004 Share Posted July 20, 2004 That all is part of what I am doing. I travel sometimes up to 3.5 hours to shoot a "local match" just because of the differences of how things are. We will see how it plays out in the long run. Granted I am not a high classed shooter right now. So I kinda get to relax and have fun anyhow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Ankeny Posted July 20, 2004 Author Share Posted July 20, 2004 Rockwell: FWIW, you have what it takes. One of these days you will be really good if you can devote the required resources. As for the results, I have them, but with the fiasco on the drop turner stage and the bad administration on the Port stage, I am not sure the results mean a whole lot. BTW, the screw that locks the elevation adjustment on my C-More was loose and the gun was shooting about 4 inches low at ten yards. I wondered how I got those hardcover Mikes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flexmoney Posted July 22, 2004 Share Posted July 22, 2004 Ron, I am sure you are over this now, but... I spoke with your intervention group and it was decided that I would be the spokesperson. So, here is the response to your initial post. What mental game? You are the king of kicking your own ass. Start over. Get that Lanny Bassham book. (sorry for the tough love) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Posted July 22, 2004 Share Posted July 22, 2004 hehehe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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