ADHD in practical shooting

[Polpewpew]

So I have been shooting for about 6 months. I loveit. I have never been so into a sport in my relatively young but not so young life (30). 

 

Idk if this is something that has been talked about but I have a couple theories. I was diagnosed with ADHD as an adult (about 3 years back) and I think it is:

 

1: actually an advantage in the sport to have ADHD for practical shooting because of a sectret superpower us  adhd-ers have called hiperfocus (awareness, anyone???)

 

2: the shooting sports and ipsc/scsa/idpa in particular are high-adrenaline high-speed ADHD-haver magnets!!! 

 

 

What do you all think? Anyone diagnosed? What is your experience shooting without or with medication? Has the meditative state shooting gets you to been beneficial? Would love to talk to some people who feel like me!

[edison]

'til you burn out quickly & hyperfocus on a different hobby or switch divisions.

I think having discipline & being able to stick to a regular training schedule is a better advantage.

[Hdiamond]

3 hours ago, edison said:

'til you burn out quickly & hyperfocus on a different hobby or switch divisions.

I think having discipline & being able to stick to a regular training schedule is a better advantage.

This is spot on. 

i also got diagnosed as an adult. Was treating with medication towards the end of college but stopped it when it caused other issues. 
 

I have been competing for about 4 years but always had issues motivating myself to practice, and I’d see my focus drift in and out throughout the match. I had a hard time being aware of what I was doing and being consistent. 
 

I went back on medication late last year. It’s taken some time to get used to how I process information. As long as I am intentional about where I want to focus my attention, I can get out there and practice and build skills and string together a good match. 

[obsessiveshooter]

As a shooter with ADHD, I'd say it hurts more than helps.  The need for high level stimulation is the whole draw for the sport for me.  But hyper-focusing usually leads to not seeing the bigger picture of what you are trying to do in a stage to be competitive, slowing your progress.  You need to be mindful of a dozen things simultaneously to put down a good stage plan, and hyper-focusing will inevitably leave many of those things out.  Sometimes important things will be left out, like "Where is the 180?".   I had to shoot USPSA for a long time before I started to get comfortable and familiar enough, to where I could be simultaneously mindful of enough things during a stage.  I think a neurotypical person with the same athleticism and intelligence would have risen through the classification ranks much faster.    

[wdfwguy]

I'd agree that it's a hindrance.  On "memory" stages, or high round count stages with hidden targets, etc....it's a serious struggle to focus and come up with a stage plan.

 

Also, at times I'll go 100% into shooting and training, and then I'll see a shiny new hobby and forget about shooting for months at a time. 

[Polpewpew]

The new hobby syndrome hits hard and close to home... But it is very encouraging to see many of you have been shooting for a long time!!! I totally see things that are super similar in myself to everything being said so that is really nice

[Polpewpew]

In a very real way stage planing is not my biggest strength and i have only gone to two competitions, it is good to know it is something we all struggle with so i will pay more attention to it and try to learn strategies to be better prepared for planning decisions