Mental Game

 

That’s a term you’ll read about in most sports psychology articles, it’s where we try to learn how to have our minds help us do what we want to do.

 

In shooting, this is as—or more—important than the physical aspects of what we do. We have to focus only on what we’re doing at that time and to ‘stay in the moment’.

Stay in the moment. That’s where you are paying attention to the one thing you’re doing at that time and not thinking about how you should be mowing the back 40 or how your mother-in-law is coming to stay with you for an extended period of time.

We’ve all heard the saying that shooting is 10% physical and 90% mental, and while those percentages are ‘guesstimates,’ they do tell us that the majority of our efforts are mental. We have to be thinking about what we’re doing and not about some extraneous thoughts like the guy behind the line that can’t keep his voice down.

The physical aspects of the shooting sports are relatively easy to learn and to master, but the acreage between our ears is much more difficult to control. Yet it’s the difference between okay shooting and outstanding shooting.

The difference between most of us and the great shooters is controlling the mental game.

Read the articles, glean what you can from them and apply it to your sport. You will, over time, be able to manage your thoughts and improve your shooting.

Barry Hartmann is an NSSA Master Level and NRA Certified shotgun instructor who can help you improve your skills at American Skeet and wingshooting. To contact Barry, email him at threeat8@aol.com or give him a call at (918)803-2393.

 

 

New Shooters

 

Many times after we finish our shooting, we see a group of new shooters that seem to be struggling with the game they’re trying to shoot.

 

You, as a more knowledgeable shooter, might just ask them if they would like some help.

This is not a bad thing to do if it’s done in a helpful and friendly manner. In fact, it shows that it’s a friendly club and that you welcome new shooters. If you approach them in a helpful manner, they may even want to join your club.

When I encounter struggling shooters I’ll ask them if they need help understanding the principles or some hints on how they might shoot a target they happen to be having a hard time hitting.

I’ll always approach them by asking if they’d like a hint on how to hit that target they keep missing. If they don’t that’s fine, but if they do, you may have a new friend and may have recruited a new club member.

There are a lot of new shooters that come to the club. If we as members show them friendliness without being pushy, we may help the sport and the club grow.

Barry Hartmann is an NSSA Master Level and NRA Certified shotgun instructor who can help you improve your skills at American Skeet and wingshooting. To contact Barry, email him at threeat8@aol.com or give him a call at (918)803-2393.

 

 

Courtesy

 

We never shoot at another shooter’s target, it’s common courtesy. We never take a gun that’s not ours out of the rack unless we first ask the owner if we can—that’s being courteous too. We, as shooters, are usually pretty courteous folk.

 

One of the discourteous things that many of us do is to talk while another shooter near us is shooting. Whether we’re on the field with other shooters or behind the line, we need to be cognizant of those shooting and stay as quiet as we can so as to not, through our talking, cause that shooter to lose their focus and miss.

Usually when I’m shooting, I’m trying to resolve a problem, looking at another way to shoot a specific target, to solidify a method I’ve adopted, or I may be in a competition. In these cases we need to be able to concentrate on what we’re doing at that time and not be listening to someone else.

Sometimes we talk to explain why we missed on a specific shot, and while that’s important to you, the shooter  you’re speaking to probably doesn’t want to know about it (unless they’re your coach) and wishes you’d talk to yourself and not out loud. Usually that other shooter is concentrating on what they’re trying to accomplish, and they don’t need outside influences breaking that concentration.

Remember be as courteous to the other shooter as you wish they would be for you.

Courtesy is contagious.

Barry Hartmann is an NSSA Master Level and NRA Certified shotgun instructor who can help you improve your skills at American Skeet and wingshooting. To contact Barry, email him at threeat8@aol.com or give him a call at (918)803-2393.

 

 

Henry Ford

 

Many years ago, Henry Ford was quoted as saying, “Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal.”

 

I’m pretty sure he wasn’t referring to the shooting sports when he made this statement, but with a little massaging it can, and in my opinion does, fit our sport. When we shoot, are we just having fun shooting with our friends or do we have a goal?

Are we practicing, trying to hit the ’10 ring’ more often, trying to hit low 5 sooner or trying to hit that elusive rabbit? In other words, are we working on that part of our sport that we as individuals need to work on, or are we losing sight of our personal goals and just playing?

Barry Hartmann is an NSSA Master Level and NRA Certified shotgun instructor who instructs in American Skeet and wingshooting. To contact Barry, email him at threeat8@aol.com or give him a call at (918)803-2393.