Posted by mako on August 07, 2000 at 01:47:56:
I helped out running a womens sport pistol and mens centerfire match today. One of the people running the match was a "certified" coach for international type shooting. The proof of his abiltiy was his daughter who has shooting in the match. She's a USA Shooting team member and came in second in this years nationals for sport pistol.
I was surprised that between sets competitors were reading novels. I thought you weren't suppose to do anything that might distract you mentally while you were shooting.
But this coach told me that you should do whatever it takes to distract you from the match between sets. You shouldn't be thinking about what you just did, that's history. And while you are shooting you should just be doing the mechanics of what you train to do.
I guess this is the difference between training and a match. While training you make a conscious effort to think about what you are doing and in the match you "just do it." I must still be at that starting stage where I have to keep thinking about what I'm doing ..... :-)
Posted by SeaFlite on August 08, 2000 at 00:35:35:
That's a fairly common practice in the archery world too. After shooting an "end", or 6 arrows in 5 1/2 min, folks kick back in a chair, read, listen to tunes, motivational tapes or just shoot the bull about the weather, what they did last night, the flight to the tourney or share archery technical info. Some will do form practice without the bow to check arm, head and back postition......very seldomly do you see folks discussing what's happening while on the shooting line. The whistle to commence shooting is to most, a switch.....a signal to focus on the task at hand.....and after the last arrow is shot, another switch turns off the shooting mentality. I've alsays felt there were a lot of mental tricks that firearms shooters use that I could translate to archery......one reason I decided to try shooting air pistol.
Posted by Mike Keyes on August 27, 2000 at 15:41:05:
The studies show that there are at least two types of concentration used while shooting matches. The first is a constant type of concentration which lasts throughout the match. This is a rare feat, howver, and few shooters can keep up the intensity. The other type is a sawtooth pattern of concentration, rest, and concentration.
As a shooter, you have to identify which type of concentration is best for you - it is probably determined by personality - and train to that standard. The total concentrators are probably off somewhere concentrating while the sawtooth stylers are reading books in front of you.
This study was done in the '80s by Bill Rigby who was at the AMU for a while and served with me in the Gulf.
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