I'm freeeeakin' out

[Shooter Grrl]

Damn - I'm not even at the match yet and I got the Nervous Nillies...  

Lay on me some proven techniques please

[Flexmoney]

I remember a movie on basketball...

Small town team makes it to the championship, which is to be held in the "big city arena".  The players are nervous when they check the place out...coach has them break out a tape measure.  They measure the distace to the foul-line...10 feet, same as home.  Then they mearure from the ground to the hoop...same as home.  You get the idea.

You have the same range commands, same buzzer, same targets.  All you have to worry about is shooting and taping (beats the local match where you have to help do all the work, right?)

Small suggestions.

- When I am on deck or in the hole, I stretch.  That helps loosen up some of the tension.

- Follow a set "Load and Make Ready" routine.  (make sure you put one in the pipe).

- Don't rush.  the RO's are there to assist you.  Start when you are ready.  I like to take a couple of nice, deep breaths...and wiggle my toes (got that from Chaffin).

- Above all else...shoot what you see.  Let you sights (dot) tell you the story.

Don't get to caught up with running cameras and video recorders (your gonna, aren't you?).  Your there to shoot.  Focus on the shooting, relax and enjoy.

(Edited by Flexmoney at 1:57 am on Aug. 16, 2002)

[tightloop]

I agree with Kyle, just say to yourself, I have been here B4 and I can do this.

matches are like practice, just with more people.

[BSeevers]

All pressure is self generated and in your mind. We all feel it. Its a weird thing sometimes. I will go to an Area and force my self to get interested in my shooting, I mean I really almost don't care. Next week I am at a little club match and I start shaking.

Prepare and be confident in your preparation. All the above is right on. Here's the line that has got me through over 10 years. "It doen't matter if you shoot good or bad. Its done." I follow that with. "In 50 years no-one will give a f---" True huh?

Good luck and channel that energy to excitement and action on the 24th. Its real fun shooting big matches.

You can only do what you can do. Accept it.

See ya

[DBChaffin]

Ditto on the above posts.  Just wanted to give credit where credit is due though.  I got the "wiggling the toes" things from Matt Burkett, and I think it works well to help you relax in the box.  Good luck!

[Steve Anderson]

I can relate.

I think about shooting from the moment I get up to the time I go to sleep.

Most of the thoughts are anxious ones.

"I gotta steel match on saturday, what if I suck?"

"I'm going to tri-state the week after a week of no-gun vacation."

I let these thoughts run their course, then I reflect on a time when something went well, and visually reflect on it, using pictures instead of words.

This week has been a roller coaster for me. I shot terrible Sunday, trying to shoot open in production, and was really down on myself and my shooting.

This was after 3 or 4 great matches when I shot my own pace and did very well. I gave Sunday the appropriate amount of thought, decided I knew what I did wrong, threw the results in the trash, and put it out of my mind.

Then yesterday, I check the uspsa site and see that the classifiers I shot in my "shoot your own pace" mode put me in A class for production.

Jeezy Pete with cheese and crackers, this stuff really works! I went from U to A with nothing in between by shooting my own pace and getting A's. I joined uspsa in April and in August I'm in A class. Damn.

(dryfiredryfiredryfiredryfiredryfiredrifiredryfiredryfiredryfiredryfiredryfiredryfiredryfi

edryfiredryfiredryfiredryfiredryfiredryfiredryfire)

Extreme Honesty ahead:

Nervousness is born of a fear of failure.

For me, on Sunday, it was a fear of looking bad in front of my Ohio buddies. So I shot to look impressive and wound up with fouling on my face. Imagine the irony, I wanted everybody to be so in awe of my ability that I discarded everything I KNEW was correct and did terrible. (Don't I look cool?)

But now, as a lucky, worked my ass off to get it -  A class shooter, the uslessness of those thoughts is crystal clear.

(If you're nervous - you're probably worried about results. - Brian Enos, P.S.B.F.)

When you're on the line, there are no judges, there are no results, there are no scores. There is only the shooting, AND YOU KNOW HOW TO SHOOT.

Why are you nervous?

What are you afraid of?

There is only the shooting, and we know how to shoot.

SA

[Shooter Grrl]

The random thoughts roaming through my head (I'm hoping by sharing them they'll LEAVE my head !)

I'm anxious to see my friends.

It's a lot of money, hope I don't get DQ'ed.

Oh jeez, I don't really know how to shoot - who am I kidding with this ...

I wonder if I really do have what it takes to perform well

This is gonna be fun - I can't wait to get there

I gotta remember to really prepare to for the first stage, I'm better than to have first stage f**kups

Shit - where are my extra batteries

I hope Bruno eats while I'm gone (my cat!)

WHY did I ask to be squaded with the be.com guys... what if they don't like the "real" me.

Don't listen to the naysayers

Be confident - you know how to do this... but I don't wanna mess it up (How's that for messing with your own head!)

And on it goes....

[Shipster]

Man I'm going to catch all this on video.    "Who wants a copy"

SG the best advice has already been given to you.  But what I remind myself of at a match is that the reason I'm here is to have FUN, first and formost and my performance is second.  If it stops being an enjoyable experience I’ll stop competing.  Relax your going to have a great time....

[Shooter Grrl]

Methinks I need some drinks!

[BSeevers]

Hey Steve Congrats on A coming out!!! I see confidence coming out at the end of your post. That leads to good performance also.

ShooterGrrl, All questions are answered above. Except will UPS get my ammo there and will I get there on time via Delta. Those I cannot control

[jvinez]

" Except will UPS get my ammo there"

Flex,  Where is Mike when I got a good UPS joke?

LOL

Jason

[shred]

You and me Bill.. tickets on Delta, ammo on a UPS truck somewhere north (I hope) of Mesquite, TX

On the first stage of a big match, the ghost of Jerry Miculek (can you have a ghost if you're still alive? anyway) pops into my head with one of his quotes "You can't win the match on the first stage, but you sure can lose it..", so I drop it back a notch.. and usually end up shooting one of my best scores.

[benos]

Due mainly to differences in Temperament, some folks just worry (endlessly thinking or speculating about something that is not happening right now) more than others. It's the actual mental activity or process that creates the reality of worry that must be understood. What, specifically, you worry about doesn't matter.

be

[sincityshooter]

I agree about turning in back a gear on the first stage.  The first stage sets the tone for the day and what a better way to continue on to stage 2 with a smooth clean run.  

BE what's your thoughts about the first stage of a match?  Any special plan of attack?

[benos]

sincity,

Since I'm typically a tad more juiced on the first stage, I definitely back down an extra notch, and just trust that if I just do and see what I know I need to, I'll be rock-solid.

be

[BrianH]

I learned something about relaxing on the line that I mentioned somewhere else, and it really seems to help...(me....just my feelings...)

I think some people obsess on how they're gonna run a stage, they get to the stage and walk through it 50 times....and I think this just gets you jacked up right before you shoot.  Then you get to the line, LAMR, put your hand on your gun, and run through the stage five more times with your head (bobbing your head through your shots...).  I think a better way once you get to the line, load, then forget about it for a few seconds....I swing my arms, like I'm shaking out tension.....don't even look at the stage; I look off at the trees for a few seconds...empty my brain, then hit my start position.  I've just recently started doing this, and the improvement has been significant....

(I'm not claiming I "made this up"....I'm probably just embelishing things I've learned from other people.....)

[benos]

Shooter grrl,

To change behavior, first, we must be curious as to why our present reality is as it is; then, we must have an effective approach; finally, we must apply it.

Embrace worry. We always want to avoid or "get rid of" worry, or anything that's creating a problem, because the results are unpleasant. This just fans the flame. A new approach is necessary.

Examine your mind's activity when you are trying to get rid of any emotion, such as worry. What is actually occurring? You are, in effect, turning away from what is actually happening in your own mind that is creating worry. This ensures we will never change because we don’t see where the problem comes from. Whenever we are creating an imaginary future – wishing something was different than it is - we don't see what is happening right now. This prevents us from changing.

Any emotional or psychological state can be changed, because we created it in the first place. Nevertheless, it's not possible to change what we do until we see, for ourselves, our mind's activity that dictates our actions. So we should begin paying attention to the mind's activity whenever possible. In this way we discover, by looking right at our thoughts, where worry comes from. When we expose what was previously unseen to the light of consciousness, a new kind of behavior emerges. We might say we change without trying to change, or without effort. This is because the mind of awareness functions with intelligence. Not the intelligence of man, but with the wisdom of appropriate action.

All problems are born from an unaware, or inattentive mind. Therefore, we never really see that WE make it all up. Since we don’t see the source, we wonder where all this water comes from.

Be happy that you worry; don’t want it to go away. I say be happy because this way you will come to know, and therefore transcend worry.

All this is not to say that a mantra cannot be of help at times. Especially when we’re overwhelmed, something like, "front sight, front sight, front sight," can help us through the crisis. (I remember Frank Garcia telling me he repeated that when he felt extra nervous.) I remember WFMFT telling me, when he was struggling on a particularly difficult training exercise, like running 30 miles, he’d chant – "They all died, they all died, they all died," remembering a specific climbing tragedy.

be

[Singlestack]

Worry is the missuse of imagination.

[BPiatt]

Everyone gets nervous...  it's going to happen.   When I first started shooting I'd get on the line and see my hands shake, then I couldn't think of anything else.  I've come to learn and accept that my hands are going to shake.  I've leaned that I don't see that shake once the gun is in my hand.  ( we're talking IPSC/ Steel shooting, not bullseye, onehanded..... that's a whole different process i go thru).  When I shoot steel, my best runs are when my hands shake.

Nervousness and shaking is from drugs....  Adrenaline specifically.  Once it's in your bloodstream, it's there for a while.  You can't get rid of it until your body has purged it from the blood.  The trick is to monitor how you're feeling and surpress anxiety before the adrenaline dumps.  

A trick I use when I start to feel.. what I call JAZZED UP, is to look away.  I look at the clouds and the trees blowing in the wind, and think what a great day it is.  I'm not a work and it's a beautiful thing. ......  anything to get my head away from the match for a while.  The next thing you know, they're calling you up to the line and it's time to do some shooting.

Repeating things over and over in my head only cause me more stress.  Relax, shoot what you see, shoot your match, don't try to shoot like someone else or beat a specific time.  Shoot what you're capable of right then and there, and see how you finish at the end.  I've won many IPSC matches never winning or even being 2nd in a stage.  Staying in the top 5 or 10 in every stage will pay off when another front runner trashes a stage when they try to "pull away" with a win.

Bruce Piatt

[Shooter Grrl]

Wow - you have no idea how AWED I am to have my silly question answered by the likes of Brian Enos and Bruce Piatt!!!!

Thanks everyone - your comments and suggestions and tips have helped - I'm in a much better frame of mind today after shooting a local match.

This trust thing is really kinda cool - I finally settled down, trusted and saw what I needed to see.  Also, not caring how I placed, but just doing my best, right now right here really helped settle me down.  

And as a nice added benefit and positive reinforcement, I did win my class and actually placed 5th overall on a stage - talk about adrenalin rush

[Steve Anderson]

There is only the shooting, and you know how to shoot.

SA

[Shooter Grrl]

Keep telling me that Steve, just keep telling me that....

[benos]

Bruce,

Thanks for visiting!

For me, it just took some experience to realize that I could still perform to my ability under the presence of stress, nervousness, or even while shaking. I remember shooting some of my best runs ever, at the Cup or the Steel Challenge, while noticing/thinking while on the line - "Can everyone see me shaking as much as I am right now?" At that point you realize it's a waste of energy to "want it to go away." Then, just like with about everything else in life, once you stop wanting something to go away or be different than it is, it is no longer a problem.

be

[Steve Anderson]

Kath,

I'm really telling myself that, and if you overhear it - well that's cool too.

Brian,

I know what you mean about reflecting on past achievement under stress. I've told myself while on deck - "this worked out ok last time"

SA

[Duane Thomas]

Out at the Factory Nats, I glommed onto all the score sheets for the match, so I could track the Big Dogs' performance for an article. Then I sat down and figured out the relative scores, throughout the match, between the top six Lim-10 guys (Leatham, Barnhart, Tomasie, Voight, Strader, Butler), then the top two Production guys (Jarrett, Sevigny). Only did the first day for Revolver; there didn't seem any point to doing both days since by the end of Day 1 Jerry Miculek was almost exactly 100 points ahead of the 2nd place shooter, and 271 points by the end of the match.

What I found out kind of blew my mind. The Lim-10 data was especially interesting. Of the 19 stages out there, if memory serves me correctly, there were only 5 that Robbie Leatham won outright. But he was toward the top on every stage. And that's all it takes. You really don't have to win stages to win matches; you just have to be toward the top on every stage - or almost every stage, depending on the match and the competition.

I applied that out at the WA IDPA Champs: didn't try to burn down the stages, just be relaxed, have fun, shoot the best I could without trying too hard. Because I knew that if I could just be toward the top on every stage, I didn't need to win every stage, I'd do okay. Now ocassionally if you're just loping along, having a good time, it'll all come together and you'll win a stage - but that's not the goal, it just happens. You kind of screw up on a stage, it's no big deal as long as it's not a major screw-up - and if you're not pushing yourself beyond your skill level, it won't be.

Looking at the CDP stage results after the match, I found that, of the 13 stages, I only came in 1st on three. I was 2nd five times, 3rd once, 4th three times, and 5th once. And that makes a state championship. There were plenty of people who won stages out there, who came in ahead of me on a particular stage, which is just fine....as long as it's not the same person every time. Let them have the momentary glory, which they will if they're really pushing it - and wait for them to fall off the edge of the world....which they will if they're really pushing it.