Reflections on my my best major match results

[Neomet]

As a background I just made it into B the month prior to A2 so that should give some idea as to my current skill level. I have a history of performing at less than my normal skill level at major matches.

This experiment grew out of my recent "moment of clarity" about fighting the gun to control recoil rather than just letting it do its thing as well as reading "With Winning in Mind." I decided that for this match I would stop forcing my shooting and to focus only on shooting As and being utterly calm when I started each stage, nothing else.

My specific list of things I did was

1. See myself as the guy who does shoot all As.

2. Driving out to the range each day I visualized the dot square in the middle of an A zone.

3. Got my walkthroughs done quickly and burned into my subconscious. No changes to the plan in the ondeck circle.

4. Really slowed down my LAMR. I found this is where I usually get wound up. I was very deliberate with each action. This led to me being much calmer at the beep.

5. Visualized the dot in the center of the A again right before I got my hands in the ready position.

My list of things I skipped was:

1. Looking at the interim results.

2. Looking at my stage times. When I got my sheet back I just looked at my hits.

3. Reminding myself to run fast.

4. Thinking at all about anything that didn't go smoothly on the stages I had finished.

5. Worrying about fast swingers or Texas stars. To quote BE, "See the target, shoot the target." To quote Yoda "Do or do not, there is no try."

6. Comparing how I did with other shooters on my squad.

7. Paying attention to the cadence of other people's shooting.

8. Going through the stage in my mind faster than I could possibly shoot it. I did it almost in slow motion.

The results were that not only did I have my best match performance ever, I also enjoyed myself much more than I have before. I am sure some of this was from doing so well at getting my hits but I think another component is kicking the comparisons and worries to the curb.

YMMV but thought I would toss it out here.

[benos]

Nice work!

Reading that put a big smile on my face.

be

[ogiebb]

Rick with that attitude you will get really good fast.....

i PROMISE ...i wont call you Granpa anymore because your getting fast...

[BayouSlide]

Thanks for sharing your insights. My goal is to improve my level of performance from C to B class in 2010. You've emphasized some areas for attention that many of us can benefit from.

Curtis

[Al Capizzo]

Nice post, thanks for sharing it. A lot of us can learn from it!