how do you guys go in stone cold and not trash your first stage?

[ringram]

Its all mindset IMO.

I usually shoot the first stage better than the rest. So Im backwards!

 

Im pretty focused on sights for the first stage and zeroed in on the A zone....

 

Later stages, I start going too fast and trying ... focus moves from sights and target to speed and effort = fail.

 

My 2c

[johnbu]

I suffer first stage jitters, but am finding spending more time on the stage plan / visualization helps. Also not "trying too hard" on them helps. 

 

Still a work in progress !

[Rosswoodford]

On 8/24/2018 at 12:57 AM, lee blackman said:

  You see a guy perfectly calm one minute, then tell him make ready and his hands go all shaky.    

Man,

 

If this ain’t me. I’ve still never been able to kick pre-match/early match jitters. I shot a match a couple weeks ago (for the first time in a month or so) and completely bombed my first two stages. Thinking back on it - We didn’t make it there quite on time and I didn’t get a chance to be a part of set up. I noticed I always do better when I am there early, and get to help (or design) stages.  Definitely helps me wake up mentally.

[BillGarlandJr]

It took me a long time to get to where I didn't have some first stage nerves, but ultimately what helps me is to focus on enjoying the process of shooting. What was causing my nerves was my concern about the results for the stage, and in the long term, the match. Once I figured out I had no control over the eventual outcome of the match I was free to just enjoy shooting. I know I can go out and hit everything, so no pressure. This is what has worked for me....I've also done, and still do some dry fire prior to a match, but it didn't calm my nerves the way focusing on the process of shooting has.

[mvmojo]

Big fan of the Steel Shoot Banners.  10-15 min of dry fire before leaving the house gets my brain in the "see the dot, don't miss the first show, move my eyes before moving the gun" mode.

[beta1759]

I had a "long" break between sept and Dec from shooting. I have only shot 2 matches since Dec. So going into those matches I had very little expectation. Interestingly enough, i did exceptionally well on the first stage on both matches....then proceeded to bomb the second stage. I think just going into the first stage with the mentality that im just gonna shoot the targets, use my front sight, and just enjoying the fact im shooting a stage really removed all the bs related to performance. as Lanny Bassham says, i 'trusted, instead of tried'.

 

[MemphisMechanic]

Take long deep breaths at the buzzer and as you enter each shooting position.

 

I’ll frequently carry the mindset of backing my agression off 10% ... and letting the first stage be a second or two slower than I’m capable of. 

 

Basically, give myself permssion to relax just a hair. Ironically, I tend to do exceptionally well and often come close to a stage win .

 

My only expectation for stage 1 is:  Don’t dig a hole you have to spend the rest of the match climbing out of.

[Silver_Surfer]

Might be more of your nerves than rust. Try to volunteer to shoot first at the smaller matches and then later it gets easy. 

[CHA-LEE]

First stage meltdowns due to being nervous are primarily caused by people giving themselves too many first run mulligans in practice. If you don't put REAL pressure on yourself to perform solidly on your first run in practice then why would you expect a different result in a match? The next time you go out to practice, define a tangible penalty for not performing solidly on your very first run while giving it an honest effort at performing well. The "Tangible Penalty" will need to be something unique to you that serves as a real penalty for failing. Doing this should produce the same mental challenge you face in a match when you WANT to perform well and you THINK that performing in the match is somehow more important than doing it in practice.

 

Here is an example that I had to use on myself as a Tangible Penalty. I was struggling with shooting too aggressive on medium distance target arrays and would have random misses in both practice and matches. I would bring $100 in $5 bills to the range with me and every time I had a miss, I would take $5 out of my wallet and put it in a jar. When I ran out of $5 bills, I forced myself to quit the practice session and go home. When I got home, I took the money from the jar and gave it to my wife to do with whatever she wanted. As my skills improved and my mikes got less, I increased the per mike "cost" from $5 each to $20 each while maintaining the $100 limit. When I ran out of money by racking up misses, I would force myself to end the practice session. Sometimes this would only be 20 - 30 minutes into the practice session which sucked after driving an hour one way to the range. The tangible penalty of every miss literally costing me money and ultimately it leading to the practice session being cut short was enough to make it a priority to stay on the sights and call my shots so I wouldn't have excessive misses all the time. 

 

If the "Tangible Penalty" for screwing up isn't punitive enough, then you will never fix your issues. How painful you need to make it depends on how stubborn you are.        

[blueorison]

As the wiser people have said on this thread; it comes down to mindset.

 

Some shoot better on the first stage, because they are more focused on what matters; some have to warm up.

 

Ignore the fact that every first stage is in fact the first stage. It is not. It is the next stage you will shoot. Every stage you shoot is the very next stage.

Every shot is the next shot you have. 

 

Treat every shot like the very last shot you have available you to take, on earth. Every shot matters the most.

 

This is how I train others (don't ask me how I train myself, because I don't train or practice/I'm horrible - I spend time in other focuses).

 

When this shift in mindset takes, I see a the percentage of hits where they should be, increase at an insane rate.

 

P.s. Also, trust your skills. Have confidence in the knowledge you know how to make that shot, then make that shot. It is your last .' )

[Jay1957]

55 minutes ago, blueorison said:

As the wiser people have said on this thread; it comes down to mindset.

 

Some shoot better on the first stage, because they are more focused on what matters; some have to warm up.

 

Ignore the fact that every first stage is in fact the first stage. It is not. It is the next stage you will shoot. Every stage you shoot is the very next stage.

Every shot is the next shot you have. 

 

Treat every shot like the very last shot you have available you to take, on earth. Every shot matters the most.

 

This is how I train others (don't ask me how I train myself, because I don't train or practice/I'm horrible - I spend time in other focuses).

 

When this shift in mindset takes, I see a the percentage of hits where they should be, increase at an insane rate.

 

P.s. Also, trust your skills. Have confidence in the knowledge you know how to make that shot, then make that shot. It is your last .' )

Spot on! In High School back in the 70’s I ran the mile in track. My breakthrough to turn in times under 4:30 occurred when my coach changed my mindset from running a mile to running 4 individual laps. I trained to know how a 65 second lap felt and could then focus on my goals and not trying to run the whole race every lap.

[asadurum]

I try to drink 1 cup of coffee instead of two. Listen to some good music on the way to the match, get into my Zen. Take some dry fire reps when I gun up at the safe table and get to work!