[duckman45sa]

I'm new to this forum and to the USPSA match game, I put a lot of pratice time into the fundamentals drawing the gun,getting my sightline and mag changes everything goes and feels great even during live fire pratice BUT..... during a match when that buzzer goes off i have a mental meltdown to say the least trying to fly through the course dropping mags not enaging some targets. When you come in 36th out of 39 doesn't help either I NEED HELP!!!!! :wacko

[Kyle O]

I seem to stick with the plan pretty well, that is until.....

my gun jams,

or I have to take a make up shot or two (SS and CDP so every shot counts)

then everything I was gonna do is gone to hell (my meltdowns these days), and I can't seem to recalculate on the move.
(sorry, tangent over)

To answer your question.
Shoot every match you can, the more matches, the better you will be at them. Soon, the sound of the buzzer will just mean time to start shooting (instead of MELTDOWN time)

[Guy Neill]

You might want to not try to fly through the course at this point. Develop a plan, and follow it. Don't worry about time - concentrate on being safe and following the plan. Experience (and practice) will develop speed, and will allow better plans for shooting the course.

Let the speed happen, don't force it. Follow your plan, watch the sights and work for smooth.

Guy

[Sam]

Hi Duckman! WELCOME!!


This is totally normal. Almost anyone who ever started USPSA shooting reports the same mental meltdown process. We have entire threads devoted to discussing it. Learning to remain on task, under pressure, is where all the fun is!! You'll get a lot of knowledge here. -Sam

[fourtrax]

You have asked a good question. Most of the guys could write a dissertation on this, but I'll try to keep it short and sweet. This is a mental game. With that in mind I'd suggest Lanny Bashams book, "With Winning in Mind". Next to Brian's book, "Practical Shooting, Beyond the Fundamentals", probably the best book to get. Anyways, what you want to do is walk the stage several times and see in your mind what you want to do. I can do this and then close my eyes and still see the whole setup. Yes, it takes practice. Things unexpected will happen. You need to visualize this also and what you'll do about it. I know that you are new and that buzzer can be a brain/plan eraser. To borrow from Steve Andersen, make that the sound that says "go to work." You have walked the stage several times, you have developed your plan, you can see yourself executing the plan in your minds eye, now it's just work to do. If it's any consolation, most guys get the butterflies. I was shaking so bad at a state shoot I asked the RO to give me a second. I hope I never lose that feeling completely, it's the rush that's so addicting. By following the advice above, which mostly comes right from the shooters on this forum I can control it and harness that adrenaline for the positive. You are going to get some more advice and probably be able to work this out with some or all of it. Best shooting community on the web!

[Jman]

Tip. For every walk through do 5 "virtual" ones. Just have to "see" each target and every movement. Sit down somewhere and close your eyes and run the COF. This is a skill acquired with practice. The more you do it the more it reveals.

Jim

[benos]

Guy Neill, on Mar 1 2009, 08:03 PM, said:

You might want to not try to fly through the course at this point. Develop a plan, and follow it. Don't worry about time - concentrate on being safe and following the plan. Experience (and practice) will develop speed, and will allow better plans for shooting the course.

Let the speed happen, don't force it. Follow your plan, watch the sights and work for smooth.

Guy

I couldn't add anything to that!
be

[mountaincoulee]

duckman45sa, on Mar 1 2009, 07:17 PM, said:

I'm new to this forum and to the USPSA match game, I put a lot of pratice time into the fundamentals drawing the gun,getting my sightline and mag changes everything goes and feels great even during live fire pratice BUT..... during a match when that buzzer goes off i have a mental meltdown to say the least trying to fly through the course dropping mags not enaging some targets. When you come in 36th out of 39 doesn't help either I NEED HELP!!!!! :wacko

Duckman, do you use a timer when you practice? Doing so might accustom you to the sudden or startling nature of the buzzer.

Another approach is simply to welcome the sound of the buzzer: i.e. think of the buzzer as a good thing. Develop a Pavlovian reflex to the buzzer: You welcome the buzzer because you're about to have fun shooting a bunch of targets.

[Slabbie Shooter]

To quote Denzel from "Man on Fire", It's the sound that sets you free!

[boz1911]

We all did it. At this point, you have so many things to think about during a stage the mind becomes overwhelmed. As you shoot more matches all those little things will be automatic and your brain will be free to handle the stage as you planned.

[G-ManBart]

The difference you're seeing/experiencing is that of someone thinking their way through the stage (you) and trying to do certain things compared with someone (the more experienced shooters) who are simply letting it happen.

If I throw a tennis ball at you, you're going to reach up with a hand and grab it or bat it away. You don't have to think about doing it because this act has been so thoroughly ingrained into your brain that it just happens. If you tried to think your way through it, i.e. "raise your arm, open your fingers, turn hand towards the ball, starting closing your fingers as your hand gets near the ball" you'd miss it probably every time.

Our matches are kind of like that. You have to develop the skills (like the draw, reload etc) to the point that they can just happen without thinking about them. Then you need to learn how to walk a stage and come up with a plan, and then learn how to quickly burn that plan into your memory. Keep going over it as many times as possible. When you've learned to do that what's going to happen is the buzzer will go off and your mind will execute that program (your plan) that you've burned into memory....it'll just happen.

One is a conscious act (thinking) and the other is an unconscious act (letting it happen/executing). Conscious actions will never be as fast, as smooth or efficient as unconscious actions. R,

[duckman45sa]

G-Man Thanks for your input, you and everyone else in this forum have given me good sound advice and that is what i like about this sport all though we compete with one another, people will help in any way they can which is very rare in any other sport and that is what will keep shooting for a long time to come. ED

[NoShootRanger]

I shot the week after our first match and I was 70% more comfortable. I think that you will experience the same thing this weekend. Have faith brother! See ya Sunday.

[Dragon]

Lots of good read here

Thanks All!