Preparing for competition in shooting sports
Do you ever turn up at the first shot and just think, “I’m just not ready”? You carry on through the motions and your shot confirms your suspicions.
You really weren’t ready.
It’s a familiar story. Shooters taking the stresses of their week into competition and realising that this is the case as the first miss of the day compounds into another and then another.
Or the surprise when pressing the match button that the match has actually started… Then the circling of the 10 ring and hitting the 9 ring beings to appear in earnest.
Your routine doesn’t begin when you get on the stand or into position. It begins in the days out from a competition, your rest during the nights before and your preparation on the morning.
How do you recover between rounds or between stations? Competition throws many curveballs and you can’t prepare for all of them.
You have to focus upon what you can control.
I was tempted to say that ‘you just’ have to focus upon what you can control but I’m aware that it’s just not that easy.
This is why your pre-competition plan is so important.
If you’re not acutely aware of what you can control then under pressure you’re likely to focus upon all kinds of things. Many will be unhelpful for performance and out of your control.
This is when your attention will shift away from the task and performance falls apart.
So before you arrive at competition spend some time thinking about where your attention tends to go when under pressure.
If you have a list of 10 things you can’t control, and another, significantly shorter list of things that you do… Then it becomes much easier, and quicker, to focus on the controllable stuff.
It means there’s less chance of the unhelpful stuff being something else to spend unnecessary time and energy on.
Knowing what to focus upon, when pressure kicks in, will be the beginnings of your competition plan.
This alone can give you great confidence going into that first shot.
Simply knowing that you have prepared as well as you can and you’re ready for whatever the competition is going to throw at you.
What is your current competition plan? What is important for you on the day? What do you need to have done to feel ready?
How soon out from that first shot does your attention need to begin to increasingly focus upon that first moment of action? It’s so important to regularly reflect and understand what you need to perform.
Those are some things to reflect upon but here are three very specific questions for you:
How soon out from your first shot does your competition preparation currently begin?
How consistent is your delivery of this process?
What do you need to adapt to increase your probability of readiness on that first shot?
By having a plan you can at least start with confidence and you then have a starting point to adapt if things change.
By having an idea of what to expect you can more easily accept difficult moments and focus upon the task.
Start strongly and build the foundations for an excellent outcome.
