The match

[j1b]

Just some exploratory thought here on matches and how I approach them compared to how others approach them in this forum. This was spawned by Steve's response to my post on TGO's thought process, and Steve's thoughts on how to believe that you're going to accomplish your goals.

I'm not certain how my brain works when it comes to match pressure. I've never really understood it.

Most generally I've always performed better when the crowd was better. My performances at Nationals (save my last two or so) where generally my better of the year. Big area matches were always better than smaller area matches. Shooting with the super squad vs not never generally played into it for me.

Interestingly when there was one guy in the field that I felt was my only competition it almost always caused a poor performance. Matt Burkett and I went back and forth for eons (of course he's still doing it so he wins) but it was always interesting to me that in large matches where he and I were the only ones there that he would almost always beat me. But I believe (and I do not have the stats to support this, its just a feeling) my performances at nationals that we shot together in I was able to place better. I want to premise that statement - it may not be entirely true - but that's my feeling. Maybe I felt like I performed better at those matches and Matt did in fact usually beat me - I can not say for sure.

Anyhow - its interesting the pressure situation and how we handle it. For me getting started and staying in the hunt was paramount to a good match. The 95' nationals I had a major jam on my second stage. I categorically felt like I was no longer in the match. I doubt that year I placed in the top 30.

Coincidentally the year before I had a jam my second to last stage. Regardelss I knew I had a good match going so I stayed tough for the last stage and ended up 3rd that year.

Its a "step up" factor that I like, but I need to feel "in it" to step up. That's where the others excel - they recognize stepping up has to happen before the match even starts. I, personally, struggle with that. My issue has never been questioning whether or not I can win - my issue has been putting myself in position to win. From the beginning.

The 98' CA State stockgun championship I went and on my second stage I completely forgot to shoot a target. 45 points in penalties. For whatever reason, this never played into my game. I never thought "I'm out of it" I shot the best match of my life the remaining stages and managed to squeeze a win out.

This is an exploratory and evolutionary thought for me. Riding off of the El Pres thread, I know I'll never do a sub 3 second el prez. I've never been the king of killing drills. My innate ability was to be able to consistently apply what I knew I could do in matches. A friend called me the other day and asked if I was going to shoot State in May - my only thought has nothing to do with brushing up on drills - I have no concerns about that. My only concern is that I'm able to compete enough between now and then to insure I have that "confidence" that is the foundation of my shooting performances in matches. For me it has nothing to do with skill - its execution. In shooting drills or club matches it was sick to see who could stomp me on certain things, but I was always able to execute at bigger level matches and perform decently.

Now the challenge for me and for all of us is to understand our own game. I feel like I saw some pretty reasonable success in my day. I don't feel like I really chocked anywhere, I don't feel like I ever really gave it my all either though - there were other things going on. Its all so very interesting and just wanted to open up a thread to get ya'lls thoughs on how you shoot in matches and what plays into your game. And really I'm not talking ideally here - I'd like to explore examples versus ideas.

JB

[EricW]

Jack,

Does this mean you're shooting Nats this year?

I have no major match experience. All I know, is that I shoot a LOT better with other talent present at the match to drive me. My goal is to start shoot as many majors as I can make it to because I know it will make me a better shooter. At first, match pressure just trashed me. Something happened last year and I was able to psychologically turn that around and make it work for me. I am so jonesing for May to come.

[Loves2Shoot]

Nice post.

I've realized over the winter months that confidence and control have more to do with my performance than goals setting, will, or competetive desire.

Performing in matches has been much easier since I've "realized" I shoot MUCH better when I become an observer. I've had the fastest times ever, just becoming aware and "knowing" I can and will hit every shot if I take the time to see what I need to see.

My shooting is mine. If someone beats me it will be because they are better prepared, not because I am not shooting up to my ability. I can only do what I've prepared to do, so the days of worrying about others performance are over.

A match, major or minor, is only a test to see what I need to practice next and either major or minor it is only a test. Not the first not the last just a test

[zhunter]

OK, I am not going to make a real long post about this, but here goes.

Winning BREEDS winning!!!!!

Practice is not just practice, i.e. local matches et......

Local Matches set the stage for you to become a winner, to get accustmed to WINNING!!!!!!

The reason you did not win more is that you did not CONDITION yourself to WIN!!!!!!

Go ahead, try to beat TGO in a local match, good F'ing luck. HE KNOWS that winning is contagious!!!!!

NEVER let another person beat you at ANYTHING!!!! They will begin to believe that they CAN beat you!!!!!!!!!!

NEVER shoot a "loose" practice shot, that just breeds loose shots in the future!!!!!

OK, that is the short reply to this thread.

Trust me, I KNOW what I am talking about, I competed professionally for 15 years in another sport. I saw lots of VERY talented players come and go for many of the same reasons you have stated in your post.

A great book to read is, Way of the Peaceful Warrior, by Dan Milman.

Anyone, repeat ANYONE who competes in anything should read this book, when finished, read it again, because you did not "get" everything the first time!!!!

PS: This post is in NO WAY meant to be taken as anything but helpful. I believe there is a tremendous crossover from one sport to another, especially individual sports.

PSS: I also majored in Psych

[j1b]

Eric,

Probably no Nationals this year.

zhunter - good thoughts. Fundamentally I agree, and can certainly see where you are coming from. I've competed for several years, and I am a firm believer in not only learning to compete, or learning the fundamentals, but also learning to win. Winning is a choice. It always has been.

Really though, what I was hoping to garner out of this post wasn't something you could get out of a book. I am an avid reader - I read all the time. The problem is that books are based on ideal conditions. Ideally, this is what you do.

Shooting is easy. There is nothing inherently difficult about what we do. So the challenge then becomes executing a plan and when that execution goes wrong (because every plan does) how do the members of the forum react. I was hoping for examples, feelings, actions, etc. etc.

My examples in the first post are funny because they describe sometimes similar circumstances with often mixed results. I am not in a position to ask or question the results of other shooters, but my hope is to hear about their experiences and to gleen some insight from that.

JB

[zhunter]

j1b

The book I recommended is very unusual! It is not a book about competing, or self help per se. It is a book about improvement in whatever you choose.

Easy read, takes about an hour.

But I understand what you are saying, or are looking for in your original post, didn't mean to "drift".

Jay

[j1b]

Cool - I'm always on the hunt for a good book.

JB

[benos]

The problem is that books are based on ideal conditions. Ideally, this is what you do.

Is that so?

[AikiDale]

The problem is that books are based on ideal conditions. Ideally, this is what you do.

Is that so?

Well, in an ideal world...

[j1b]

Certainly books are "based" on a premiss of situation that may or may not exist for the reader. In these forums we all have the opportunity to ask and understand where a person is coming from. Said opportunity does not exist for the author of a book which forces that individual to try and explain the situational analysis based on the general feeling of the forum of readers versus the specific feelings of the specific reader.

Brian, you and I are friends and I expect you know I meant no disrespect. The objective of my post is to open up various situations and explore them.

Playing the role of the hypocrit, I understand that most books are as I described and some are the exception. However I like many choose to select the key points I feel are critical and disregard the key points that may or may not apply to me.

Regardless it is my opportunity to recognize I am not a great communicator because my post never did achieve the results I was in truth looking for.

JB

[benos]

Brian, you and I are friends and I expect you know I meant no disrespect.

Of course, silly. But thank you.

I posted in that way because your statement got me thinking (for the rest of the day). I realized that I process what might be interpreted as an ideal as a challenge. If The Great One were to write (I'm pulling this from what he said to me once, that profoundly affected me): "I'm just shooting this target in the middle, then the next target in the middle, then the next target in the middle, and so on till the stage is done." One might think - Yea, for him, that's easy. Or since he is "The Great One," he can "afford" to do that. Or, since he's winning the match, he could do that. But I heard that as "why am I not doing that," and I set out to see if there was something there for me to learn. Pitting ideals against my personal reality, I learn.

None of that is to deny learning by experience. The value of a good piece of written work, however, is to challenge us as to why the "ideal" response is not our response. In the evaluation that follows, we will learn (by way of experience) regardless of the outcome.

be

[EricW]

If The Great One were to write (I'm pulling this from what he said to me once, that profoundly affected me): "I'm just shooting this target in the middle, then the next target in the middle, then the next target in the middle, and so on till the stage is done."

But when you can break away from the BS and do exactly that, things are so much better. I remember you posting that statement a long time ago. It profoundly affected the way I approach shooting.

[Flexmoney]

JB,

It takes me quite a bit of mental focus to shoot my best. I seem to do better if I "step up" the the challenge.

If I don't see the challenge, I will often stroll thru the performance.

[BSeevers]

I know when I shoot well and win, I am both mentally and physically exhausted at the end of the match.

We are all prophets. If we go to win we usually do. If we go with a negative thought we usually don't win.

To Jack's OP, I have played other sports and totally agree. You play to the level of your competition. Big show/competition= big performance. Assuming you did your preparation.

[tightloop]

Great posts all....especially liked BE's posts...as usual, he is concise and to the point..

[XRe]

I know when I shoot well and win, I am both mentally and physically exhausted at the end of the match.

I find it's this way for me, right now, too. I haven't shot in several years (hopefully will soon) but it was like that then. Playing other competitive sports lately results in the same thing.

I believe it's a combination of two things - right now, it requires positive effort for me to detach emotionally from the performance. It also takes a lot of energy to deliver a maximum performance, mentally. However, the confluence of both results in consistent, excellent, unflappable performance by me.

If I can detach emotionally, and funnel the emotional energy into my performance, it allows me to remain objective, and switches my conscious mind into "coach" mode (otherwise, it's in "Mickey Mouse"/peanut-gallery mode).

All good things , but exhausting mentally for me, right now

Dave

[Bill Nesbitt]

Hi Jack,

I've been giving this some thought. Evident since the thread is a month old.

I can't understand how people "step up" and shoot faster on a stage. Wouldn't that be "trying"? That doesn't work for me.

I find I have the best sucess if I just shoot the match one shot at a time with no regard to the outcome. I don't look at my scoresheets and I have no idea what my competition is doing until the match is over. Then I check the results and I am usually pleasantly surprised.

My breakthrough for this technique was at the 1999 IDPA Nationals. Earlier that year I had been having heart problems. I took a month of tests with a lot of waiting for results. I thought I might have to get open heart surgery. It ended up that I had a potassium deficiency. I only had to drink a lot of orange juice to correct my problem. By the time I got to the Nationals I was a happy person and glad to be alive. I just enjoyed the time on the range shooting with my buds. I joked with everybody and just shot the match one shot at a time. I finished eighth overall. I won Expert SSP and took high Senior. My Master card came in the mail shortly after.

The next year I thought that If I just tried a little harder I would do better. NOT. I Tried and did worse.

Over the last couple or three years I have continued with my plan of just shooting one shot at a time.

Last year I shot Revolver all year using this plan. I won SSR at 6 State or Regional IDPA matches and one USPSA Sectional match. My plan fell apart at the Area 5 where I was squaded with Jerry Miculek. I started to think I had to shoot faster. It didn't work.

Over the winter I have gone back to my plan and have done well at the local matches. I think I'm shooting better than ever right now. I'm going to shoot more USPSA this year. I'm looking forward to the "freestyle" stages. The future is bright.

Bill Nesbitt

[XRe]

Bill - I'd like to hear other's thoughts on this sort of thing, too - as far as "stepping up" a notch, my experience, so far, is this... In a match, you can't count on 100% of your performance capability - you can get it, but it's not going to be consistently available. Count on 80%. So, in practice, you work in several different ways both to solidify what you have, but also - perhaps more importantly - to push you envelope and find out what you're truly capable of, and what it feels like to, say, shoot faster, or with more deliberation or.... etc, ad nauseum. On "game day", you'll have confidence based against what you now *know* you can do at a moments notice, and you'll have some idea of what you can do if you focus, and let it happen.

When I combine that knowing (ie, trust and confidence in my abilities, and my knowledge of what those bounds currently are), with an objective, detached mindset, and focus on staying relaxed and present in the "now" (ie, ignoring match results or what my possible competition is doing, shooting each shot new, as Brian says, etc) - that's when the magic happens, and I pull a great performance out.

For what it's worth - cross training on the mind game helps me a lot here, too. You can do it lots of ways, even with shooting this game. Find some buddies to compete against in something, and place a small wager on it - I prefer bragging rights to money, personally, but YMMV - and play like you mean it. You'll feel the pressure - and you'll learn to deal with it. Golf works well for me this way - I'm competing against someone else, but when it comes down to it, it's just me against the course, which, except for the adrenaline, is similar to how IPSC is played. Aside from having the physical skills - the rest of this is all in your head, and you have to practice *those* skills, too, if you want to use them to their fullest....

For IPSC, maybe find a couple of buds to shoot with once a month, or something. At the end of the day, set up a course of fire, and compete for bragging rights - include all the ritual good natured ribbing, heckling, etc, as it'll help keep it fun *and* toughen your head up some at the same time. And, just go for it and see what you can do

HTH - Just ideas, anyhow.... I'll be putting them back to practice, here, soon!

[Steve Anderson]

"We are prophets"...I like that line of thinking.

In my situation, I recently realized that I have beaten every top shooter out there on a least one stage at a big match. This is very important to me, as it shows ME that I have sufficient subconscious skill to play with the big boys.

This realization takes some of the mystique out of shooting against or in the super squad.

Flex's attitude is a little different than mine...I can almost always tell how he's going to do based on his behavior right before a stage. (I don't know if he can predict mine or not. ) But he is wired for competition a little different than me.

"If I think I will beat you, and you think I wil beat you, you're toast"

This is another gem from Lanny Bassham, and shows the futility of self-doubt. If you go up against your local nemesis with anxiety or any negative thinking at all, it's over before it begins, and your body will not settle until you lose. You're actually afraid of winning in that scenario, and a lead will cause you major discomfort.

A good example of mindset happened to me at nats last year. I shot stages in about four different mindsets:

1. On the turning target standards: This stage is MADE for me, and I can't wait to shoot it. I'm as good as the best standards shooter here.

Result: Very good placement

2. The 3 steel stages: I'm good at this, but so is everyone else. I better hurry a little to keep up.

Result: Poor placement

3. Table start, 3 paper and two mini steel by the lake: A quick transition on paper and two hard targets at the end? When I shoot it clean, I'll be sitting pretty.

Result: Sitting pretty, and beat E.G.

4. Mirror Mirror: I'm shooting solid, but feeling s-l-o-w. This is a great chance to shoot really fast on the move and pick up some points. I'll rush the draw and move left fast and then I'll be "fast."

Result: Disaster.

My errors were all born of trying, and trying was born out of weak self-image. I fulfilled my own prophecies in every mindset.

Why wasn't my mindset consistent? It started out that way, but it's difficult to maintain a positive outlook during that many days of waiting...I mean shooting.

The other issue is the major match culture of speed. All they talk about is who has the hot time. I would love to see the ROs talk about who was zero down instead of who was fast.

I went into the dark house with E.G's hot time in my head, and it turned out to be WRONG...his real time was 2 seconds slower than what I had "tried" to beat. Reshoot, please?

I interviewed Lanny Bassham for my next book, and he had some insightful things to say...among them was this:

One of the biggest mistakes new shooters make is to neglect the mental game at the beginning.

That was true for me...I assumed that if I practiced hard and got the G, I'd be right there. Well, I found out that that I needed to learn to compete just like I needed to learn to shoot. My shooting skills were so advanced compared to my mental game that it was bound to be trouble.

Everything that happens on the range imprints on our self-image, whether we want it to or not. We can control what sticks, but only if we know how. Most shooters don't even know it's happening.

More later,

SA

[zhunter]

Steve, GREAT post.

I got the book last week, awesome. Having a good practice routine makes a big difference!

[Jake Di Vita]

Good stuff man.

I remember at Nats after each shooting day I went to look at the results on stages I'd shot...Every single time Petros came up behind me and said "don't look man, just shoot and let what happens happen."

He was much wiser than I was that's for sure.

[tightloop]

It's hard NOT to look, isn't it Jake....

[Jake Di Vita]

Yes it definetely is.

[hopalong]

Jake,

I took it one step futher....

after not having enough room on the Revo squad for me and my Limited shooting buddy we got squadded elsewhere....

Not only did I not look, I didn't go watch any of the others either.... Not even Jerry

Just shot my game as the stages came to me..... Kind of like Anderson did though (tried too hard on some stages that I thought I could really burn down and got burned down instead)

But I did want to look a couple of times .....

Hop

[j1b]

First - Steve - I am the biggest advocate of learning how to compete there is. As many may have figured out - I believe in match performances. I don't care about drills or shooting ability - I care about how a person performs in a match. Learn how to shoot and perform and you have a winning combination.

So the step up factor is interesting and definilty plays into my game however I can't really say how. I just do when I feel like I can. I like the pressure of having to perform - it's what makes the game fun.

I don't think Safe is the word I would use on how I shoot most stages, but I definitly judge where I need to open up my vision and let the gun ride versus being more deliberate about accomplishing a task without errors. Ironically its where I don't decide to do either that cost me big.

I don't see it as trying though, I just decide on what I want to do and do it.

BTW anybody who watched Golf this Sunday saw an incredible display of competitive pressure and absolute performance. I was impressed!

JB