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Focus

Focus

 

“I was shooting a tournament recently and became fatigued (mentally, not physically) and lost focus on the last three stations. How can I train to avoid this meltdown in the future?”

 

You are not alone. I recently saw a Face-book video in which Zach Kienbaum, the 2018 and 2019 NSCA National Champion who broke 290 targets out of 300 in the main event this year, was asked why he missed 10 tar-gets. His reply? “I didn’t look at some of them.” I recall an-other interview of Anthony Matarese Jr. after he won the World English where he at-tributed his misses to a lack of focus. If it’s easy for these world-class shots to forget to focus on a small fraction of the targets they engage, is it any wonder that you do?

One of the most difficult things for a competitor to do is maintain intensity of focus over a 100-target sporting clays course. So what’s the secret to maintaining your intensity of focus to perform at a high level and win com-petitions? It’s simpler to say than it is to accomplish. First, there is no substitute for practice or time be-hind the gun. This includes breaking lots of targets in disciplined, goal-oriented practice, but it also includes the widest possible variety of targets and variation in terrain. Second, compete a lot. While practice on a wide variety of targets is essential, it is difficult to replicate the pressure and conditions of competition in practice. Third, you need a rock-solid pre-shot routine. The pre-shot routine is the mental and physical process a shooter undergoes when he or she is in the shoot-ing stand and preparing to call for the next target or pair. As I have written about extensively, a solid pre-shot routine consists of three critical elements: visualization or “out of body rehearsal,” deep breathing to oxygenate the body and regulate brain wave activity, and a visual cue. The visual cue is the all-important reminder to your-self of what part of the target you will focus on when executing the shot.

Don Currie is NSCA’s Chief Instructor, an Orvis Wingshooting School instructor, and Master Class competitor. To get free shooting tips and videos, sign up for his monthly newsletter. You can also see more tips from Currie at www.doncurrie.com.

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Ask the Instructor: The Mental Game

The Mental Game

 

The biggest obstacle I face in trying to improve my shooting performance is between my ears. My mental and visual focus seem to come and go throughout the round. Any suggestions?

 

As we gain experience and practice regularly, we feel we have earned the right to see our scores rise and proficiency improve. But technical proficiency alone isn’t sufficient to land us at the top of the scoreboard. A pre-shot process is also a critical element. This pre-shot process has two essential components in sporting clays: a pre-shot planning process and a pre-shot routine.

In the pre-shot planning process, you must observe the targets, devise a target engagement plan and test your plan. Once you’ve developed a plan, you are ready to begin the pre-shot routine phase of your process. Here is where you must transition your mind from the heavily analytical planning process, where the conscious mind is hyperactive, to the heavily subconscious process of executing the shot. Since you can’t put the conscious mind to sleep or render it inactive, you must occupy your conscious mind with thoughts that promote mental and visual focus. These thoughts must be consistent from one pair to the next.

Pre-shot routines have three critical components:

1) Visualization or “out of body rehearsal” — imagining what it will look and feel like to move the gun to your break points and break the shot pair.
2) Deep breathing — to preempt the oxygen deprivation which often occurs as we start to breathe more shallowly in reaction to nervous anticipation.
3) A visual cue — a verbal trigger that we say to ourselves just prior to calling for the targets, which prompts us to focus acutely on the targets. Devising and executing a pre-shot sequence is easier said than done, but recognizing the need for a pre-shot process is half the battle.

Don Currie is NSCA’s Chief Instructor, an Orvis Wingshooting School instructor, and Master Class competitor. To get free shooting tips and videos, sign up for his monthly newsletter.  You can also see more tips from Currie at www.doncurrie.com.