Nemo Posted April 12, 2007 Share Posted April 12, 2007 When I found out that for the recent Florida State Match there were only 3 registered revolver shooters, Cliff Walsh (GM), James (D-class) and me (A), I was immediately setup in my mind to be OK with second place. Lo and behold I shot 83% of Cliff, an A-class percentage to the GM. I have no problem finishing second to Cliff, he’s an awesome wheelgunner. What has bothered me from the moment I got in my car to return home after the match is that, prior to firing the first shot, I was instantaneously content with first-loser place. How am I going to train to combat this type of pre-disposition? I have no clue. All I know is that it is wrong. Maybe I shouldn’t even think about the competition and focus 100% on MY shooting. But HOW? I do this to compete, and although the most important match is shooting for myself, I do like to win. I guess I have to prepare not to finish second but to win, notwithstanding where I finish. Loser rambling: done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jake Di Vita Posted April 12, 2007 Share Posted April 12, 2007 A good first step would not to look at squad lists. Forget about who is going to be there...it doesn't matter. You are always shooting for first no matter who is in attendence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Cheely Posted April 12, 2007 Share Posted April 12, 2007 You may know that you simply can't win the actual match, but you can still compete against yourself. If I shoot a good clean match, it's just icing on the cake to win. Enjoy the feeling of shooting to the best of your ability. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Micah Posted April 12, 2007 Share Posted April 12, 2007 What has bothered me from the moment I got in my car to return home after the match is that, prior to firing the first shot, I was instantaneously content with first-loser place.Loser rambling: done. First place loser? Nemo, you are too good a competitor to think in such terms. I'll tell ya what SA's been feeding me...You are never going to beat a GM until you start believing that you can beat a GM, even if you have the skill to do so. Do you have the subsonscious skills needed to defeat a GM? If the answer is yes, than why aren't you? If no, why aren't they? A good first step would not to look at squad lists. Forget about who is going to be there...it doesn't matter. You are always shooting for first no matter who is in attendence. +1000! Nemo, besides myself, I have NO F-ing clue who is shooting the SC Sectional in Production, nor do I care. So long as I give the best preformance that I possibly can (and I will) I will have won the match, no matter what the final results state. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flexmoney Posted April 12, 2007 Share Posted April 12, 2007 Match time is shoot to the best of your ability time. Nobody else matters (they aren't shooting back). Prep time... "What would the champion do ?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nemo Posted April 12, 2007 Author Share Posted April 12, 2007 Thanks for the feedback guys! I shoudn't have used the "first loser" term, because I never think like that. But for some reason, at that match the feeling or thought just overcame me, "I'll be alright with second place" and after the match I just hated that I felt like that. Big f'ing whoopee, second out of 3! It hit a lot harder when I saw the results and found out that I'd won two stages. Kicked myself in the a$$, while at the same time, with my best Red Foreman's voice, telling myself "You dumbass! If you can do that, why fix your mind for second from the get go?!" I always tell my sons, "Plan your shoot and shoot your plan. Give it your best every time and you have succeeded." Gotta start listening to myself. It will all be better. BTW, I'm really looking forward to meet Micah, Keen and Cheely at the SC match. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Cheely Posted April 12, 2007 Share Posted April 12, 2007 BTW, I'm really looking forward to meet Micah, Keen and Cheely at the SC match. I'd say Hi if I was going to be there! But I have a steel match to run this weekend... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nemo Posted April 12, 2007 Author Share Posted April 12, 2007 BTW, I'm really looking forward to meet Micah, Keen and Cheely at the SC match. I'd say Hi if I was going to be there! But I have a steel match to run this weekend... Well then, I guess Cheely is out. Area 6? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Micah Posted April 12, 2007 Share Posted April 12, 2007 BTW, I'm really looking forward to meet Micah, Keen and Cheely at the SC match. It's gonna be a blast brother! Have a safe trip and we'll catch up tomorrow night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlamoShooter Posted April 12, 2007 Share Posted April 12, 2007 Nemo... Im all for not selling your self short, and I do not know you. But when you looked at the top Name and thought well he will most likely beat me, =that is not all wrong eather. ... 83% of a top shooter at a major match is better than most of the M class shooters can do at a big match. look at the % spread in the Open class. I am not a top shooter,BUT I have shot for years and I am better than most. And I have shot many games I reached the top leavel at sporting, BUT I was not a top level shooter at it. I used to coach too and intermediate shooters would look at my scores and or say out loud how come the differenc in the score, ? why are you better? Most of it has to do with what your willing to give to the sport. ...OR what will you give up to be at the TOP. Did you give up every vacation? did you pass on a new car to spend the $$ on shooting? Did you miss you kids birthday? How many times have you sean your Grand kid? .....The TOP guy pays for that spot in many ways... Its the guy that postied photos of the jungele jim he made his kid = thats the guy I wish I had ben. Setteling for second ... Im proud of my self now for aiming at that spot JF Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hopalong Posted April 13, 2007 Share Posted April 13, 2007 Nemo, As our skills and SELF CONFIDENCE grow it takes little learning "Escapades" like this to prove to ourselves what we thought or did not think. Take it and run. When I decided that I could shoot with "the big dawgs" I kept this philosophy.............. "I may not be the BEST here, but I will do my BEST!!!! and when the BEST stumbles I will have BESTED them!" And Alamo...... Knowing Nemo, He is that guy! ( GREAT Father, Husband, friend, person) Hopalong Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlamoShooter Posted April 13, 2007 Share Posted April 13, 2007 Nemo,As our skills and SELF CONFIDENCE grow it takes little learning "Escapades" like this to prove to ourselves what we thought or did not think. Take it and run. When I decided that I could shoot with "the big dawgs" I kept this philosophy.............. "I may not be the BEST here, but I will do my BEST!!!! and when the BEST stumbles I will have BESTED them!" And Alamo...... Knowing Nemo, He is that guy! ( GREAT Father, Husband, friend, person) Hopalong Good Post Hopalong & and that puts Nemo - 1st place to me. I know that plenty of the top shooters are great at it all, but for me.=, I ended up giving up too many things to get ..? good? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Anderson Posted April 13, 2007 Share Posted April 13, 2007 You cannot be outcome oriented and shoot to your potential. It sounds counter-intuitive but think of this way. The ONLY thing you can control is your performance, and that's difficult to do. Create the environment that allows you to shoot your potential and the results will tell you how your peak potential performance compares to someone else's. If you had/have a NEED to beat XXXXX, you would already be training for it. In the wheelgun example, if Beating Miculek was burning a hole in your brain, your friends would wonder where you were and if you were still alive, cuz you'd be in your basement practicing reloads with blistered hands. It's not a problem to NOT have that desire, but it's the reason you accepted second place in your noodle. If your goal is to be the best wheelgunner in the world, who else is there doesn't really matter until the FINAL results are posted and you either are the BWGITW, or you need to train more. If your goal is to be the best wheelgunner you can be, who else is there doesn't really matter at all. SA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nemo Posted April 13, 2007 Author Share Posted April 13, 2007 Again, thank you all very much for the feedback. Alamo, let's say I'll settle not for second but for my personal best. Like Steve says, settling for second would be shooting in an outcome-oriented mode. That's what I did wrong at the match I mention here, I settled for second even before firing my first shot. And about seeing the grandkids, unless Nemo, Jr. has something to tell me, no worries in that department as of yet. Seriously, the shooting is the hobbie I love and that most likely will do until I can't hold a gun anymore, but it is secondary to many other things in my life. Thanks for your words. My friend Hop, thanks bruthah! Check out my new sig line. SteveA, OUTCOME ORIENTED! Those are the words! I don't recall this process happening at my concious level at the FL State but it must've been something like this: "My competition is Cliff a GM and James a D-class. Easy second." Then the hwole match was complacent and uncomfortable for some reason, until I figured out what was bothering me; the reason of this thread. I'll take the BWGICB (best wheelgunner I can be). Thanks man! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eerw Posted April 13, 2007 Share Posted April 13, 2007 I have to admit.. I like seeing who is coming..can't help it.. Love to see how other shooters shoot..Love to see what ideas are out there..technique, equipment..all of it..I love big matches.. anyway..maybe its just the time I have been shooting this stuff..but I know how I shoot..I know I am quick..so I really don't worry about that part.. my practice before a big match..is all my basics.. seeing my sights..I really make sure that all my stuff is second nature..my equipment is where it should be and working the way I expect it too.. If this is all squared away..I am pretty confident.. and I shoot the way I shoot.. Nemo...never settle..be confident..on game day..anything can happen.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benos Posted May 8, 2007 Share Posted May 8, 2007 Nemo, Have you read Lanny Bassham's: With Winning in Mind? I can relate to your initial post. In the last few years I competed, going into the Limited Nationals, I would have been happy to finish 4th. Because I knew, or had convinced myself, that my match skills were not up the likes of Rob, Jerry, and Todd. Or it seemed like that to me at the time. Now, after stepping back from it for some years, I feel like that (accepting 4th place loser) was a weakness on my part. In practice, I felt I had the skills and could shoot as good as those guys. But I lost confidence at the Nationals. Now I realize that the loss of confidence was in part due to my accepting that I was not as good in matches as them. Like all bad habits, that was simply a bad mental habit that I allowed through negligence to strengthen over time. I could have changed assessments, decisions, judgements, and approaches. Lanny's book helped me to see that. But that was five years after I stopped competing. That's okay though. For me competition was a spiritual tool with which to grow and strengthen my life as a whole. I defaulting to rejecting "proven" or formally accepted mental management systems because I didn't want to just be a good shooter. I wanted to live my life wholeheartedly, and then let the shooting come from there. Always looking for the ultimate selfless state, from where the shooting would emerge, resulted in some pretty cool experiences. But now I see I could have incorporated some of Lanny's and other's mental techniques into my life as a whole and it would have been a good thing. be Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nemo Posted May 8, 2007 Author Share Posted May 8, 2007 Thanks for your words, Brian. I have to admit that I have Basham's book but haven't read it yet, but I will sooner than later. Maybe this coming mother's day weekend will be a good opportunity to do that. In practice, I felt I had the skills and could shoot as good as those guys. But I lost confidence at the Nationals. Now I realize that the loss of confidence was in part due to my accepting that I was not as good in matches as them. Like all bad habits, that was simply a bad mental habit that I allowed through negligence to strengthen over time. I can totally relate to that. Let's continue to learn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benos Posted May 8, 2007 Share Posted May 8, 2007 Thanks for your words, Brian. I have to admit that I have Basham's book but haven't read it yet. For some crazy reason I felt that. I'd suggest not thinking of reading it "like a book." Read bits and pieces whenever you can. And in that way keep going back through it over and over. Like a good steak, chew it up and digest it slowly. be Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flexmoney Posted May 9, 2007 Share Posted May 9, 2007 I took Basshams book (and Brian's, which I seem to always have a copy of) on vacation with me last year. I had already read it, but wanted to read it again..while taking notes. Good stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airedale Posted May 9, 2007 Share Posted May 9, 2007 Nemo, Since it was Cliff, I was going to recommend "going all Tanya Harding" on him-it would be a lead pipe cinch for you to win However, after reading the threads above, I'd go with the their advice! Have fun and don't sweat the small stuff. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now