Thinking Practical Shooting: A Guide to Outstanding Match Performance 9080880531

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ISBN 90-808805-3-1 Published by Double-Alpha Academy Copyright ©2005 by Double-Alpha Academy and Saul Kirsch Cover by Ido Vaginsky www.pickamotion.com All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted in writing by the publisher or author, except for brief inclusions of quotations in a review.

Dedicated to my parents who were always there to encourage me to achieve my goals.

And to my wife, Judith for understanding and supporting my passion for this sport.

FOREWORD

Foreword Competition shooting has been part of my life for the past 20 years or so. It all began when I was 12 years old. My family and I spent a holiday weekend at a resort offering many outdoor activities, including archery. That attracted me like a magnet, and needless to say, I never once went horseback riding or rafting. It was my first time on a shooting range of any kind - and I was hooked! I spent the entire vacation learning to shoot a bow, and discovered the immense satisfaction of achieving a well-executed shot. Target shooting, unlike many other activities, offers you immediate feedback. The hole is right there in the bull's-eye for everyone to see. Well, usually it's only you - but that is enough! We returned from our vacation and I had no doubt that I was going to pursue this activity. There was no archery club in the neighborhood, but there was an Olympic small-caliber range. So I took up Olympic air rifle shooting, all I was allowed to do at that age. I shot Olympic rifle for 10 years, and found it both extremely difficult and addictive. I qualified for the Israeli National Junior team at age 15, and then went on to shoot for the Israeli Olympic team. During my military service I spent over 40 hours a week on a shooting range, training and coaching. I did not achieve the same international success in Olympic shooting as I have in Practical shooting. I won national level matches, but no major international titles. But I do believe that those years of training and competing in Olympic shooting events greatly contributed to my later success in IPSC, a totally different shooting discipline. My move from Olympic to Practical shooting began when a friend invited me to a match that was part pistol, part rifle. I owned but had never competed with a CZ-75 pistol, and this was an opportunity. The rifle stages were to be shot with an M-1, a gun I was familiar with. So I figured- why not? That match was an eye-opener. The IPSC crowd is very different from the Olympic shooters I grew up with, and I was amazed to see how those guys could shoot a pistol. Back then, to me, aiming meant seeing a perfect sight picture for at least a good part of a second. These shooters were firing shots in a fraction of that time - and hitting targets! That was my first taste of IPSC competition, and I loved it.

THINKING PRACTICAL SHOOTING

During the next 2 years I transjtioned from Olympic rifle shooting to Practical shooting, first shooting Standard, and later Open. I found that Practical shooting was better suited to my natural abilities and temperament, and soon joined the competition circuit. Competition shooting is something you either love or can't understand. Over the years friends and family have asked me why I put so much effort into the sport. There are no financial rewards, and never will be. You can be a multiple World Champion, and still be unknown and broke. But Practical shooting offers a greater personal reward, and that is the deep inner satisfaction one gets from an outstandjng performance earned through sheer hard work and dedication. That to me is what IPSC is all about - striving for excellence in its purest form. In this book I aim to share with you my experience in various aspects of our game, and what I consider to be the keys to achleving excellence in Practical shooting. I hope it will help you do just that. Saul Kirsch Double-Alpha Academy June 2005

CONTENTS

Introduction

Contents

1

Part I: The Basics of Practical Shooting Elements of Practical Shooting Accuracy in Pistol Shooting Accuracy in high speed shooting Calling your shots

4 8 16 17

Recoil Control in High Speed Shooting

19

Improving your recoil control Reducing sight picture recognition time

20

Reducing triggering time

Understanding IPSC Scoring

26

27

Scoring terms

29 29

The advantages of understanding scoring

31

Part II: Mental Aspects of Practical Shooting The Mental Process of Performance Improving subconscious skills Improving conscious skills Building a stronger self-image

The Champion's Attitude The Power of Visualization Visualization in preparation for a match goal Visualization in preparation for a stage

Managing Match Stress Reducing your stress level on demand The mental and physical connection Increasing your stress level on demand

36 41 43 52 57

61

61 62 67

68 70 74

THINKING PRACTICAL SHOOTING

The Mental Games We Play

76

The games

76

Defend yourself

78

Part Ill: Preparation Goal Setting Choosing the right shooting goal for you Types of goals

Building a Training Program for Practical Shooting Principles of a comprehensive training program Steps to building a training program Deciding what to practice The training load

The Shooting Diary Perfect Practice Guidelines to quality training Your "bank of information"

How to Use Published Stage Designs

82

82 85

87 87 90 92 96

100

104 104 1 10

The don'ts

112 112 115

Match Preparation

117

The do's

The month before your big match The week before your big match The day before your big match The morning of your big match

117

1 19

1 21

123

Physical Training for Practical Shooters

126

The elements of general physical training

1 27

Building your physical training program Specific physical needs for Practical shooting

131

1 32

CONTENTS

Preparing Your Gear for Competition Gun maintenance Magazine maintenance Ammunition Cleaning tools and spare parts Other items of equipment

136

1 37 1 40 1 41 1 43 1 44

Part IV: Match Day Performance Preparing for a Great Stage Performance Chipping Away at Stage Times Tactical Stage Analysis Recognizing the options Weighing the alternatives Making your decision

IPSC Match Tactics Should you know the score? Aggressive or defensive stage tactics IPSC risk management

Match Day Nutrition Hydration - your first concern Smart eating

Interacting with Range Officials

148 155

161

1 61 1 65 1 68 170 1 71 1 73 1 74 176 1 76 1 78 182

Part V: In Closing Shooting Swingers (Bobbers) Understanding the motion of the target Planning your tactics Practicing swingers

The Secret of Successful Practical Shooting Final Thoughts

190 1 90 1 95 196

202 204

INTRODUCTION

Introduction had been mulling over the concept of this book for months, and shared my thoughts with some friends. "Great idea!'' they aU said. "You should definitely do that. What will the book be about?" "Practical shooting, of course," I replied, "everything except technique." This continually brought raised eyebrows. "You plan to write ·an entire book about IPSC shooting and never mention technique? No draws, no reloads, no shooting on the move?" "Yes, " I replied, "that's the plan." J

I believe with complete conviction that there is much more to a successful performance than technique alone, and I know most top level shooters would agree. But if you ask anyone to explain the other factors in Practical shooting, they immediately dive into the warm waters of technique, and do not emerge until the lesson is over. Let's face it - technique is easier to teach, easier to grasp, and improvement at most levels can be seen and felt very quickly on the practice range. The same applies to published materials. A great deal of quality information is out there on the proper execution of Practical shooting, but very few books or DVDs cover the other elements of the sport. Practical shooting includes knowing how to deal with pressure, how to prepare for a big event, and how to train effectively. Understanding the rules, following the scoring, and knowing how to interact with Range Officers and Match Officials aU affect your p�rformance. The top shooters usually learn these things the hard way, through years of experience and dozens of competitions. Nothing beats experience, the saying goes, and that may well be true. But I believe that progress can be accelerated if you have access to the right information, and can implement it properly. Practical shooting is probably the most diversified of the shooting disciplines, and as such, one of the more complex to master. It is no coincidence that many top shooters stay up there for years. It just takes so long for newcomers to learn all they need to know in order to defeat the champions.

THINKING PRACTICAL SHOOTING

Great Practical shooting encompasses much more than just the ability to trigger fast and hit targets, move well between positions, or shoot great prone or kneeling. I am not suggesting for one moment that you disregard technique entirely! No, not at all. Particularly as you learn the game, you should seek the best coaching and instruction possible to ensure your technical foundation is solid and correct. But I am saying you should always keep in mind that technique is only the foundation- it is not the entire structure. In the following pages we will examine the other elements of this challenging sport.

2

The Basics of Practical Shooting

THINKING PRACTICAL SHOOTING

Elements of Practical Shooting My training as an engineer may perhaps be the reason why I like to analyze Practical shooting and break it down into components that are easily understood and practiced. In my opinion, the smaller the elements you can identify and understand, the more effective your training. Keeping things simple while doing lots of repetitions is the best way to make progress, and climb the learning curve. The following chart is a visual representation of what I consider to be the main elements of Practical shooting:

[ Practical shooting I

I

Technique

I

Shooting

I

I

] Accuracy Recoil control Calling shots

Mental skills

l Everything els �

I

I I

I Managing match stress

Focus and concentration Self-image, mental rehearsal

The draw Reloads Moving between positions Shooting moving Strong/weak hand Barricades Prone/kneeling and so on...

I

Tactics

I I

I

Preparation I

I

Training program Preparing for match day Preparing equipment Stage preparation

Stage analysis Comparing alternatives Your "bank of information" Collecting intel Hit factors Point calculations

The list in each subsection is by no means complete, and will be discussed in more detail in later chapters. This book aims to cover everything except the topics marked in the bold square. In other words, everything except the elements of technique. Let's expand a little on each section of this chart.

4

PART I: THE BASICS OF PRACTICAL SHOOTING

Technique

Good technique is necessary for successful IPSC shooting. Of course, opinions vary as to the correct way of making a reload, drawing the gun, or moving into a shooting position. In this book it is not my intention to go into the technical aspects of shooting. Those are more efficiently explained in videos and pictures, and some great coaching tapes from some of the best shooters in the world are available. I recommend you view them. Getting the right coaching can often save months in your learning curve, and allow you to progress much faster. I do, however, recommend that you question everything. Just because a coach is also a world class shooter does not mean he has all the answers, or is teaching you a technique that is best for you. What works for one person does not always work for another. We all have our own individual style of shooting and particular physical build. When considering a new technique, whatever its source, always ask yourself, "Why do this? What is the gain?" If you cannot find a logical reason that convinces you doing it this way is better - why do it? But if you do see logic in a new technique, give it some time before rejecting it. Everything you do that is new will always feel strange and often worse than what you are already doing. If it makes sense - give it a chance. Do not be afraid to experiment with your technique. It is often the fastest road to progress. An old coaching saying goes, Keep on doing what you've always done, and you will keep on getting the results you've always had. If you want to move forward, a change is sometimes the right move. Keep in mind that most changes are easily reversed. You can usually go back if necessary. When examining technique in Practical shooting, I see a division between the skills required to actually shoot a pistol accurately at high speed, and everything else. I also take this approach when working on technique, in my own practice sessions, and when coaching.

The actual shooting

Shooting a handgun fast is not really difficult. Take any beginner to the range, give him some basic training and a bucket of bullets, and he will be able to shoot 2-3 rounds per second without any problem. Shooting accurately is not all that difficult either. Some good coaching, some practice, and you're there. However, shooting a handgun fast and accurately is a skill we Practical shooters spend

5

THINKING PRACTICAL SHOOTING

years trying to perfect. Speed and accuracy in shooting are conflicting requirements, and that is the challenge. When analyzing high speed shooting, I believe you can isolate a few individual skills that need to be developed: • Accuracy • Recoil control • Calling your shots These technical elements of shooting will be discussed in detail in later chapters.

Everything else

Under this heading I include the many skills and abiUties an IPSC shooter needs to have in order to excel in this sport. This includes everything besides actually "shooting the gun". Skills such as drawing from various start positions, loading the gun during a draw, reloading, moving between or out of positions, setting up in a new position, shooting on the move, shooting strong hand or weak hand, shooting around barricades, shooting in prone or kneeling positions, and on and on. The list is long, and that is precisely what makes IPSC the fascinating sport it is. A good shooter needs to learn, practice, and master many diversified skills. It is important to analyze your shooting and know if you have a solid technical ability in all these fields. If not - you know what to practice. Avoid the trap of constantly training what you are already good at, just because it is more fun.

Mental skills

Everyone agrees that mental skills are as important, if not more so, than technical skills. And yet many shooters do nothing to develop or improve them. They are then surprised and disappointed when they are unable to meet their own expectations in a big match. We will discuss this aspect of IPSC shooting in detail in this book.

Tactics

Tactics is another aspect making IPSC a unique shooting discipUne. All other shooting sports are very repetitive in nature: you come to the range, you set up your equipment, always facing the same target at the same distance, always standing at the same height, and so on. Don't get me wrong - this doesn't make Olympic shooting easy. It isn't, but it is repetitive by definition.

6

PART I: THE BASICS OF PRACTICAL SHOOTING

IPSC is quite different. Here each stage is unique. You never see the same stage twice, and you need to decide on the spot how to shoot it. This is your decision alone, and one that influences the outcome of your performance. Refer to the chapters on Tactics and Training for more information.

Preparation

Matches are usually not won or lost on the day of competition. They are determined long before, based on the quality of preparation done by the top competitors. Your training program affects how rapidly and efficiently you progress. Preparing your equipment allows you to have a problem-free match (or not). Your mental preparation for a stage or a match greatly influences your performance.

A clever saying says it all: Success is never accidental. It is a prepared-for event!

7

THINKING PRACTICAL SHOOTING

Accuracy in Pistol Shooting When debating an accurate description of IPSC style shooting, I came up with this: Practical shooting is the skill of compromising accuracy for speed, while remaining inside the required target area. Think about i t. I believe this is exactly what we do. We evaluate the target, and deci de how fast we can shoot and still hit i t. Of course, the smaller the target, the more speed we have to compromise for accuracy. On bi g targets we can compromise lots of accuracy for speed. Simple enough, but there are a few thi ngs to keep i n mind. First, ask yourself what your target really i s. Too many shooters look at the big brown IPSC targets and think, "I don' t need to be too accurate, that target i s huge." They have a point. However, I submit to you that i t i s a fundamental error to consider the entire cardboard as the target.

The left image i s not the "real" IPSC target. You have to think of the A- zone only as your target. Most top shooters have learnt through experience that you cannot wi n if you don' t shoot almost only A's. C' s are bad shots, and D' s are defini tely unacceptable. Therefore, your IPSC target is really only the A-zone of the target,

8

PART I: THE BASICS OF PRACTICAL SHOOTING

not a very large area. The C and D zones are a background to your target, causing you to drop only a few points. The air around the target is also a background to your target - one which costs you more points. This is the attitude you should adopt. Your target is only the A-zone. A C hit is an inaccurate shot that mi ssed its target. This is true for fu ll targets. Partial targets may force you to aim away from the center of the A-zone, in which case C hits may be the correct shot placement. Another point to keep in mind when compromising accuracy for speed, is that you first have to be very accurate in order to have anything to compromise! If you are not able to shoot a small group of A's from 25 meters, you have nothing to compromi se. You need to shoot your 1 00% precision, which tends to be rather slow. By increasing your ability to shoot accurately, without any speed requirement, you increase your ability to shoot "accurately enough" at a faster pace. Also remember that precision shooting with a pistol is a skill quickly lost if not practiced. Every time you come to the range, spend some time shooting precision groups (group-shoot freestyle, strong hand, and weak hand) . Or use a bench and shoot off a support. Better still, do all the above. Of course, we all enjoy speed shooting more, but if you are serious about becoming a better shooter, remember that your practice has a purpose besides only being fun. It is not my intention to go into the details of technique, but since accuracy is important and cannot really be taught on video, here are some basic guidelines to accuracy shooting.

Trigger control

There are many definitions of a perfect trigger pull, but this is the one I like most: A perfect trigger pull is one that does not move your sight picture. This is all we are trying to achieve - activate the hammer so that the gun fires without moving the sights off the point of aim we had when we decided to shoot. You can take a 5 pound hammer and whack the trigger. That would be a perfect trigger pull if you could do it without moving the sight picture. A tough assignment, of cour e.

9

THINKING PRACTICAL SHOOTING

The classic "top accuracy" triggering technique involves slowly and gradually pulling the trigger back until the hammer drops, surpri si ng you when it does. Press the tri gger so that you don't know exact ly when the hammer wi ll drop. This is a good learning technique, as it does help solve the bi ggest problem we have i n accuracy shooting with a large caliber pistol, the "flinch" .

The flinch

The flinch i s the subconscious reaction almost everyone has when firing a big caliber handgun. We react subconsciously to the expected explosion and noise we know i s about to happen i n front of our face. The reaction is a ti ghtening of the shoulder and arm muscles in order to push the gun away, precisely at the split second when they need to be totally sti ll. This small movement usually manifests as a downward jerk i n the sight picture. Some call thi s "j erki ng the trigger". It is i mportant to understand, however, that this movement in our si ghts does not originate from the movement of the tri gger finger, but from the shoulders and arms. Some people are more susceptible to this problem than others. But I know of no one, i ncluding some of the world' s best shooters, who is totally fr ee of thi s challenge. The flinch only happens when we truly expect the gun to fire. During dry ft re, when you know there i s no live round i n the chamber, perfect triggering i s easy. However, you should examine what truly happens to your si ght picture when you expect a bang and get a click i nstead. You should conti nuously work to try and minimize this accuracy problem. It can substanti ally be reduced through practice. One of the best exercises is the following: Load up some dummy ammo (fired primers and no powder). Mix this with live ammo i n your magazine when you are on the range doing group shooting. Make sure you are not looking as you load the ammo, or have your trai ni ng buddy do it for you. The i dea i s not to know whether you have a loaded or dummy round i n the chamber. Pay attention to the way your gun reacts when you pull the trigger, expecting it to go bang and getti ng a click i nstead. That i s the true quality of your trigger pull. You may be shocked by what you see. That movement i s the flinch, the biggest enemy of accuracy shooting. Good practice brings improvement to your triggering - and to your accuracy along with it. Keep i n mind that the faster you shoot, especi ally under match tension, the greater the i mpact on your tri ggering. It does not get better, in fact, it gets worse. So you really want to keep practici ng thi s i n order to make sure you are as good

10

PART I: THE BASICS OF PRACTICAL SHOOTING

as you can be. Once you achieve a nice clean trigger pull with no sight movement when the gun surprises you and goes click, do this drill strong hand only, and then weak hand only. It is good practice. One last word on triggering - experiment with the position of your trigger finger. Sometimes slight adjustments to your trigger fi nger can improve accuracy. Check that your fi nger is not rubbing on the trigger guard or frame, as that too can be detrimental to your precision. Don't be afraid to experiment and make adjustments to your gear. I know many shooters who wouldn't dream of using a Dremmel or glueing Epoxy on their expensive race guns. But they should! You can gain a lot of advantage by adjusting your equipment to suit you better. Experiment not only with the position of your trigger, but also with your tri gger shoe shape. Over the years I have shot with a flat trigger shoe, a deeply curved trigger shoe, a long and a short one. I even tried making the trigger shoe wider, and then I went the other way and made it narrower, believing this enabled me to shoot faster. Don't be afraid to experiment. You can always backtrack.

Aiming

Aiming correctly is usually the easiest aspect of precision shooting, and most shooters get it right. When shooting steel sights, remember that it is vital to maintain a front sight focus as you shoot for maximum precision. Even though this causes you to see a slightly fuzzy target, keeping your sights perfectly aligned is more important, and can only be achieved with proper front sight focused. Let' s expand a little on this point. The human eye can only focus on one distance. That is how our depth perspective works. If you focus your eyes for a perfectly sharp front sight, you also see your rear sight almost perfectly as it is close to the front sight, but the target is out of focus. If you see the target out of focus, you may not be able to aim precisely at the same spot each time. You may be an inch or so off the precise point you want to hit. That is preferable, however, to sacrificing sight sharpness for target sharpness. If you aim an inch off your desired point on the target, with correct sight alignment the shot will go an inch off from where you incorrectly aimed. That is usually acceptable. However, if you choose to focus on the target to ensure better consistency in your point of aim, you will not be able to align the sights precisely because you cannot see them sharply enough.

II

TIIINKING PRACTICAL SHOOTING

Because the sights on a handgun are so close together (short sight radius), the gun will not be pointed directly at the target if you are even a fraction of an inch off aligning your sights. This c auses the shot to go further and further away from the required point of aim, a mistake that grows rapidly as the distance increases. When you are practicing, do some of your group shooting with a point of aim clearly marked on the target. I like to use a round white sticker, about 1 inch in diameter. This allows me to see it c learly, even when I am shooting with front­ sight focus. It enables me to be more consistent and precise with my point of aim, and to shoot better groups. While such a dot on the target may make your aiming easier, it does not necessarily allow for easier or better shooting. When you put that dot up there, you tend to be more aware of the sight motion in and out of the c enter of the target. This often leads to a tendency to "snatch" the trigger when you see the sights on the dot. So, although the white sticker allows you to be more consistent with your aiming, you may not be able to shoot better. Shooting better depends on your ability to trigger well. But it is certainly a prac tice worth doing.

The left image is an incorrect sight focus for precision shooting. The shooter' s eye is foc used on the target which is in sharp focus, but the sights are not in focus, so he c annot align them correctly. The right image is a correct sight picture for precision shooting: front sight focus makes the front sight totally sharp, the rear sight almost totally sharp, and the target out of focus.

12

PART f: THE BASICS OF PRACTICAL SHOOTING

The hold The hold is how well you are able to keep your sight picture stable on the center of the target. It is extremely difficult to shoot an accurate shot when the sights are moving all over the target. The easiest way to achieve a good hold is to support the gun on a solid rest. You can use a sandbag resting on a table, or shoot in the prone position with the gun supported on the ground. This is a good way to practice the other elements of precision shooting, as having a solid stable hold simplifies your training. Of course, you cannot support the gun or shoot prone in most competition shooting. It is essential to be able to hold the gun stable while standing unsupported, and for some shooters this is more difficult than for others. To some degree, a stable hold is a physiological ability you either have or not. However, certain actions can be taken to improve the hold: Stance: Always stand with your feet comfortably apart, forming a wide comfortable base. Slightly bend your knees, but not enough to cause muscle strain. Pay attention to where your weight rests on your feet. Do not stand with your weight entirely on the front or on the back of your foot. Slightly to the front is preferable. Lead with your weak foot, so that your feet are not in the same line. Standing this way prevents a rocking forward-backward motion. Natural point of aim: Try to be on target in your natural point of aim. In your shooting stance, close your eyes, and move the gun right and left about 45 degrees off the target. Do these swinging motions a few times from side to side, with your eyes closed. Allow the gun to stop in the position that feels most comfortable and relaxed. Then open your eyes and check where the gun has settled. Repeat this at least 3 times. If you see that your po int of aim is consistently off to the right when you open your eyes, adjust your foot position accordingly. Imagine you are standing on a rotating platform with its hinge between your feet. Rotate that platform in your mind, and correct the positioning of both feet accordingly. Once you have found the correct foot position that puts your natural point of aim on the target, or close to it, do not move your feet as you shoot your group. With experience you will learn how to place your feet correctly when setting up to shoot. Of course, this may not be applicable to IPSC match shooting, but it is useful to do in practice when working to improve accuracy and hold.

13

'THINK.ING PRACTICAL SHOOTING

Arm extension: As a rule, it is easier to hold your hands stable when they are closer to your center of mass. If you are shooting with extended arms, you would do well to bend them slightly at the elbows in order to bring the weight of the gun closer to your body. It makes for a better hold, and probably helps in recoil control as well. Gripping force: Over-gripping the gun is one of the most common mistakes in IPSC shooting. It originates from our wish to control recoil, and we will discuss this in a later chapter. Over-gripping can seriously binder your hold. Your shoulders and arms tire more quickly, and muscle tremors make it impossible to bold the gun stable. Relax your grip! A very tight grip is unnecessary, especially during slow precision shooting. Allow the gun to recoil up off the target. This does not reduce your precision, and gives you a better hold. Duration of aiming: Our hold is best during the first seconds we pick up our sight picture. The longer we hold on the target, the worse it gets. Movements only increase, never decrease. So, if you have not fired the shot within 4-6 seconds of settling on the target, you would do better to reject the shot, take your finger off the trigger, bring the gun down (while keeping it pointing downrange - never at your feet! ) and attempt the shot again.

Breathing

Correct breathing is a vital part of precision shooting. As soon as the level of oxygen in the blood begins to fall, our muscles suffer and functioning deteriorates. Even though we are capable of holding our breath for a minute or more, motor deterioration begins much sooner.

The most sensitive muscles in the human body, and the first to be affected, are the eye muscles. As soon as the level of blood oxygen drops, our vision begins to deteriorate. And of course, vision is the key to accuracy. Mere seconds after we stop breathi ng our eyes go slightly out of focus, vision is blurred, and transfer of information from the eyes to the brain is delayed. What you think you are seeing is not actually happening right now, but a fraction of a second ago. This plays havoc with the precise timing and eye-hand coordination so critical to accurate shooting.

14

PART I: THE BASICS OF PRACTICAL SHOOTJNG

In addition, the brain soon feels the l ack of oxygen, and thought processes become slower and less effic ient. This does not do our c oordination and decision-making fac ulties any good. All this begins only a few seconds after we stop breathing. It is therefore essential to pay attention to the following guidelines when shooting: • Do not hold your breath for more than 4-6 seconds before firing a shot. If that time passes, and the shot has not been fired, bring the gun down, rest, breathe, and try again. • Make sure you breathe sufficiently between shots. Take time to breathe deepl y at least 3 to 4 times. Take c are, though, not to hyperventilate, as that c auses dizziness. • Do not stop your breathing when your lungs are empty. This c auses the level of oxygen in the blood to drop even faster. On the other hand, do not hold your breath when your lungs are too full as this is uncomfortable, and causes muscle tension. Stop your breathing after exhaling naturally. In this position, about a third of your lungs are still full. Let me add a few words about breathing on IPSC stages. Be aware that you do not ac tually breathe as you shoot a string of shots. While you hold up the gun in front of you, you are aiming, shooting, and transferring to the next target - and you are not breathing at all! It is a subconscious reaction to the expl osions going off in front of your face. You c annot shoot and breathe, even if you want to. You breathe as you move between positions, or bri ng the gun down for a reload. If you would like to check this, shoot 20 accurate shots that take 1 0 or more seconds to complete. For instance, shoot A hits onl y on multiple targets that are 50 m away. You feel yourself choking towards the end of the string. You feel the need to breathe - but, if you continue to shoot, you c annot breathe. It is important to be aware of this, and incorporate it in your preparation for a stage. Avoid the common habit of holding your breath as you wai t for the beep. Many shooters do this, and as a result hold their breath for 5 seconds or more even before moving for the draw. This is a distinct disadvantage. Be sure to take deep breaths before the stage commences, again taking c are to avoid hyperventilation, and use each movement on the stage to breathe deeply.

15

THINKING PRACTJCAL SHOOTING

Follow-through

Follow-through is another vital element of accuracy shooting. Follow-through simply means continuing to aim after the gun has fired, recoiled, and returned to the target. You want to get into the habit of watching your sights in full cycle of recoil as they move up, and then back. This ensures that you complete each shot properly, and improves your accuracy. It also gives you important information about the pressure exerted by different muscles as you fire. This has an effect on where the shot hits, and you need to see that in order to call your shots correctly. The end of the shot is not when the gun goes bang! The end of the shot is a full second later, after the sights have settled back on the target. During this time you must continue to maintain your hold, hold your breath, and keep your finger on the trigger. In fact, you should move nothing at all! Continue the hold as if the gun has not yet fir ed. The following timeline of a shot illustrates that the hold must continue for the follow-through well after the shot is fired.

Shot fired

Beginning of hold

I0

1

2

*

4 5 Timeline of the shot

3

End of shot

6

Accuracy in high speed shooting "Okay," some of you may now be thinking, "this is all good and well, but how can I do all this when I need to shoot 4 shots per second or faster?" This is a valid question. The answer is - you can' t. When we shoot IPSC, as I mentioned previously, we learn the art of compromising accuracy for speed. By shooting faster, we are not able to make the "classic trigger pull" we discussed earlier, we are not able to run through the breathing process for each shot, and we are not able to have a complete cycle of follow-through. For this reason, we cannot shoot as accurately at splits of 0.20 seconds or less, as we can when shooting once per minute or so. This does not mean IPSC shooters should neglect their precision shooting! The ability to shoot accurately with a handgun is a very perishable skill, and rapidly deteriorates if you don't practice. When you learn to improve precision in slow rate shooting, you also improve your

16

PART l: THE BASICS OF PRACTICAL SHOOTING

ability to shoot accurately at high speeds - learning the art and balance of compromi sing acc uracy for speed. But remember, you have to have great accurac y to begin with. You have to have something to compromise.

Calling your shots I f you have never b eard of calling your shots, welcome to a brave new world! You are about to raise your level of shooting to a new dimension. When we talk of calling a shot, we are disc ussing the ability to know where the shot hit the target without examining the target itself. This knowledge is based on the sight picture we saw as we fired the gun, the quality of the trigger pull, and the gun's movement in recoil. It is a skill that requires some experience, but is well worth the effort and time invested. Have you ever watched a top shooter shoot a string of shots, two per target, and somewhere along the string he shoots an extra shot at one of the targets? The split time for the extra shot is the same as the original split t imes between the first two. The extra shot is picked up without pause or hesitation. No conscious thought is involved in the process, and c ertainly no eye focus shift to the target to see if there are already two holes or not. This shooter, if indeed the extra shot is intentional and necessary, is skilled in the art of calling his shots. He knows instantly, even before the shot was fired, that he needs to fire another shot at that target. When you shoot steel, you cannot possibly wait to hear the hit or miss before you decide to shoot it again. A top shooter usually knows as soon as the gun fires, or even an instant before the shot breaks, whether that shot is b eaded in the right direction or not. And the pickup shot, if needed, is almost instantaneous. I cannot stress enough how important this skill is in top level Practical shooting. Since most stages are shot Comstock scoring, you are usually allowed to pick up extra shots. A quick pickup shot is usually less costly than leaving a delta on the target, and c ertainly less costly than a miss. However, throwing extra unnecessary shots at every second target is also not the way to do exceptionally well. It is therefore important that you spend time developing this skill, until you instantly know when the extra shot is needed. 17

THINKING PRACTICAL SHOOTING

Calling your shots is based mostly on sight picture, trigger pull, and the sense of how the gun reacts in recoil. An experienced shooter who is paying attention, uses this information to pinpoint the hit on the target without seeing the hole.

Sight picture Sight picture is of utmost importance in determining where the round goes. Through experience you need to learn what, for example, a "left mid C hit" looks like in your sights at 1 0 meters, 1 5 meters, 25 meters, and so on. Attention is the key here, with focused repetitions. Effects of trigger pull We know very well that a good trigger pull allo�s for accuracy, and that jerking the trigger has a major detrimental effect on shot placement. Through experience and focused practice you need to learn where and how far a shot is going off target when you have a poor trigger pull, and what error is acceptable or not. Feel of recoil This is less black and white, and more a feeling or sense. When muscle tension on the grip is as it should be, and the gun tracks straight up and down, the shot goes where it should. However, the gun recoils "unnaturally" when conflicting forces are at work. This affects the shot, and needs to be part of your call. It is not so much the changed recoil that makes the difference (as the bullet is out of the barrel before it starts to recoil up), but the feel of recoil that indicates if an error has been made.

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PART I: THE BASICS OF PRACTICAL SHOOTING

Recoil Control in High Speed Shooting Practical shooting is about speed and accuracy. The goal is to learn to shoot A' s as quickly as possible, and in order to do this, you need to have good recoil control. This is perhaps better called "sight recovery", as that is what needs to be achieved. You need to get the sights back on the target (our A-zone) as quickly and efficiently as possible to enable you to fire the next A-zone shot. Many shooters consider this to be the main factor in successful IPSC shooting, and all they ever work on is increasing their top speed shooting. This is a mistake. It is important to be able to shoot fast, but it is by no means the one true key to success. When I first learnt to shoot IPSC, the buzz word was "double-tapping". Double­ tapping is picking up your sights on the target, and then whacking the trigger twice, as quickly as you can, without even trying to see the sights for the second shot. The theory states that, if you are on target for the first shot, and have good recoi l control, the second shot will be there too. In fact, it was even said that it would be 5- 1 0 cm above the fust. To this day I know many IPSC shooters who believe this is the way to shoot, but my experience has shown otherwise. In fact, I would say that there is only one situation when you do not need a sight picture for the second shot, and that is when you do not need one for the first! If you need a sight picture for your first shot, then you certainly need one for the second. And you need a sight picture on every target, with the exception of a target at point-blank range. Once the gun fues, if it moves even a fraction in your hand, your second shot can go anywhere. If you do not verify your sight alignment, you can never be certain of the second hit. Sight picture on every shot is the first rule of successful IPSC shooting. Of course, "sight picture" has v arious meanings on various types of targets. Control is very much the key to successful high speed shooting. Control is obtained primarily through visual input. Nothing is more important than seeing what you need to see as you shoot. What you need to see may not be the same on every type of target and shot, but you always need to see something. I like to think of my sight picture as my speedometer - it tells me how fast I can go. You 19

THINKING PRACTICAL SHOOTING

c an only fire your next shot when your sights inform you they are back where they need to be, on the A-zone. If you are shooting correc tly, the split time between shots consists of three elements: 1. Time for the sights to recoil off the target and settle back again on the target, plus 2. Time for you to realize that the sights are back and that you can fire the next shot, plus 3. Time for you to pull the trigger and make the hammer drop on the next round in the chamber. These three elements combine to form the split time of a shooter who is shooting correctly according to his visual input. E ach one of these elements should be addressed, and c an be improved through training and technique. The result is a shorter overall split time. Through experience, I have come to appreciate that the second element, the time it takes to realize that the sights are back, is somewhat of a natural ability. Some people are definitely better at processing visual input than others. H owever, everything c an be improved with practice. It is easy to measure the different elements of a shot to shot split ti me. Set up your digital video c amera and film your gun in recoil. Make sure you fire two acc urate A-zone hits on a midrange target. Then watch the tape in slow motion (a digital video is excellent for clear frame-by-frame playback) . Use the c amera' s c lock to check the timing of the gun' s movement in recoil and settle back. In PAL the c lock moves 25 frames per second, that is, four-hundredths of a second per frame. Check the duration of the gun' s movement, and for how long it appears to be still again before firing the next shot. You may be surprised. Once you have studied this, you are ready to work on improving each element of your split time.

Improving your recoil control

Many small details come together to achieve better recoil control. Unfortunately, most shooters do not spend enough time analyzing th ese details and looking for a better way. Most of us get stuck in our own habits fair ly early on, and do not experim ent sufficiently. We feel that all we need to fight recoil is a tighter grip, and perhaps stronger arms. Nothing is further from the truth. Of course, strong arms and shoulders are an advantage when shooting a big c aliber pistol, but

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PART I: THE BASICS OF PRACTICAL SHOOTING

gripping the gun tightly is not the best solution. There are many other elements that come into play controlling recoil. Shooting stance Your whole body should work as a shooting platform for your pistol. Every part of your body, from your feet to your head, affects the way the gun moves in recoil. It is important to experiment with your stance and balance, and find the one that works best for you. Your physical build, shooting style and the type of gun and caliber you are using all influence this. You can easily test how well your shooting stance is working for you. Shoot 6-8 rapid shots at one close target as quickly as you can, and pay close attention to how your sight returns to the target after every shot. Is it settling back in the A­ zone, or stopping high or low, forcing you to correct before firing again? Pay close attention to your head position. Is the recoil driving your head back and up, or is it maintaining its position? Have a training buddy watch from the side, or use your video camera. If you are able to maintain a solid stance and not be driven back, even slightly, by recoil, your stance is working for you. If not, consider the following points: Head position: Keeping your head too upright is wrong. When you keep your head upright, the recoil pushes your head back and changes your eye position in relation to your sights. This makes sight recovery far more complex than necessary. In addition, if your head is driven back, even slightly, it tends to pull your shoulders back, and gradually, over multiple shots, your center of gravity shifts back. Recoil control then becomes impossible. You should always have your head slightly forward, in an aggressive stance. How far forward is very individual. Too far forward is not recommended either, as this forces you to aim through your eyelids, causing vision distortion. Bending elbows: How much, and at what angle you bend your elbows, greatly affects recoil control. Experiment ! Today locked elbows are generally accepted as a mistake. Locking your elbows is inefficient, as it allows the recoil to travel straight back into your shoulders. Center of gravity: You should maintain an aggressive stance, one that places your center of gravity towards your leading foot.

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THINKING PRACTICAL SHOOTING

Knees: Slightly bending your knees helps to absorb recoil, and provides a more stable platform from which to shoot.

Foot position and weight distribution: Adopt a wide stance that provides a solid stable base. Place your weak foot forward, at about a 30-45 d egree angle. Your weight should be distributed with about 60-70% on the front foot. Always stand on the balls of your feet, never on your heels. The grip and gripping power One of the most common mistakes made by IPSC shooters is to over-grip the gun. We tend to tighten our g rip in an attempt to keep the gun on the target as it fires. This practice has some huge disadvantages: • By tightening the muscles in our forearm as we tighten our grip, we do not allow the trigger finger to move as smoothly or as fast as it should. The trigger finger needs to move forwards and backwards, applying pressure of maybe 1 kg or less. But if we instruct our other strong hand fingers to grip at a pressure of 5 0 kg or more, we simply cannot expect our trigger finger to work smoothly and quickly. If you want to trigger faster, you may need to loosen your strong hand grip. • Tight forearms lead to tight shoulders, which lead to increased flinching on the trigger pull. This plays havoc with accuracy. • Tightening up shoulders and arms prevents us from moving the gun smoothly from target to target. We become tense, and our motion less precise, less flowing. This costs us time on target transitions. So, if gripping tightly is not the way - what is? Consider another issue: the problematic directi on of recoil motion is upwards, and yet most of our gripping power applied on the frame of the gun is in a forward-backward and side-to-side direction. Applying more pressure in these directions does little to prevent the gun from lifting up off the target in recoil. What we would like to do is apply pressure downwards. Since placing your support hand on top of the slide and pressing down as you fire is not an option (don't even try it . .. ), we need to find other ways to apply pressure downwards. Rotating your weak hand wrist forward, so that your support hand thumb moves forward towards the targets, allows you to apply pressure downwards from the base of your support hand. That is where much of the control must come from. Some gun modifications are possible as well, and should be considered.

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PART I: THE BASICS OF PRACTICAL SHOOTING

Grip enhancements and gun modifications Not all the following suggestions are permitted in all IPSC divisions. If you can use them in the division in which you shoot, by all means try. Custom building your grip: I submit to you that there has yet to be built an IPSC gun with grips to fit your hands. In fact, the grips of most semi-auto pistols come nowhere near fitting anyone's hands. The manufacturers have valid and sound reasons for building grips the way they do, but t hat does not mean we have to use them in the state they leave the factory. Considerable improvements in recoil control can be achieved by modifying your grips to better fit your hand contour in the shooting position. To check what your best "fitting grip" should look like, take a big chunk of kiddies' play dough, considerably larger than your pistol grip, and grip it in your hands in the same way you double grip a pistol. Hold it for a while, applying pressure. When you remove the dough, you will see the shape formed by the inside curves of your double gripping hands. This complicated shape is what you would like your grip to resemble. Having your grip resemble the imprint of your hands is an advantage, as it allows you to achieve the same recoil control without applying as much force. If you increase the area of real contact between your hands and the grip of the gun, you are able to relax your grip, and still maintain good control. By real contact area, I mean the area where you are actually applying pressure to the grip. How to build up your grips: Use Epoxy fast-setting putty obtainable from most hardware stores. It is a dual base material you mix together, causing it to set. This material is normally used for fixing anything from plastic pipes to engine blocks. If you are shooting a plastic frame, use Epoxy designed for plastic, and Epoxy for steel, if you shoot a steel frame gun. Start by working on the strong-hand side of your gun. Mix a ball of Epoxy about l" or so, and place it in the hollow of your hand. Grip the gun tightly, and allow the material to be flattened under your hand against the gun grip. I suggest slightly wetting your hand fi rst, while keeping the pistol grip dry to prevent the putty sticking to your hand. Hold the gun in your shooting position, and squeeze again and again. You may find that you have used too much material. In this case remove some of it before it hardens, or use your Dremmel to remove it after it has hardened.

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THINKING PRACTICAL SHOOTING

When you are satisfied with the strong hand side, work on shaping the weak hand side. Grip the gun with your s trong hand, and place a piece of Epoxy shaped like a roll in front of the tips of your s trong hand fingers. Squeeze over it with your weak hand grip, and hold it in your shooting grip for a while, pressing down. Add or remove material as needed. Once you have built both sides to your satisfaction, make sure you have a good gripping s urface. Some s hooters use skateboard tape, but that tends to slide in hot weather. A better way is to use sand and paint. Thickly apply oil-based paint over the area you want to checker, and sprinkle sand over the wet paint. The thicker the sand, the s harper the gripping surface. When the firs t layer of paint has dried, apply a s econd coat over the sand that is embedded in the paint. Use as little paint as possible for the s econd layer. If you use too much, you cover the sand and render the exercise useless. Let the paint dry, and you have a long lasting sandpaper-type finish over your custom-shaped grip. I suggest the same treatment to the base pads of your magazines, to ensure they are non-slip. Not all of us are willing to glue s tuff on our $ 2,000 plus race guns. What if you don' t like the result? Well, here is a suggestion that allows you to run a test, without truly committing to the change. Before you begin, coat your entire pistol grip with sticky-tape. One layer will do. Then stick the Epoxy putty on this thin layer of s ticky-tape which protects your grip. When you are done, you can shoot and test your gun. If you are not satisfied, you can simply remove the s ticky­ tape, and the Epoxy comes righ t off with it, leaving the gun as clean as before. Of course, this is a temporary setup only. If you test your gun and approve of the modification, you will have to remove the s ticky-tape and repeat the procedure, this time directly on the gri p.

The ''higher the better'' theory: Do all you can to modify your pistol' s grip so that you are gripping as high up as possible. The closer you get to the height of the barrel, the less s ight lift you have as you shoot. Every millimeter that you remove from your beavertail grip-safety or frame allows you better recoil control. The best gun to shoot, from a recoil point of view, would be one in which the barrel is positioned at about the height of the trigger guard. A gun like

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PART I: THE BASICS OF PRACTICAL SHOOTING

that hardly recoils up, as no rotation torque is generated by the energy of the accelerating bullet. Since the barrel is at the height of your wrist, all the energy is absorbed straight back. Of course, such a gun design causes other serious problems, and therefore does not exist. But it would be great for recoil control. . . Thumb rests: Thumb rests are another good way to improve sight recovery without applying too much pressure on the grip. Make sure you position the thumb rest in the right place. This may be further forward along the side of the frame than you first realize, especially if you are rotating your weak hand wrist forward as you should be. It is recommended to use a thumb rest that also offers a shield, in order to prevent pressing up against the slide.

Thumb rests have recently been legalized in IPSC Standard division. They are worth trying. However, be warned: you may find that the thumb rest makes it harder for you to shoot accurately, particularly when under pressure. Having so much leverage on the front of the gun makes it easier to move the sights off alignment if you are even slightly flinching on the trigger pull. You may need a little more practice until this works well for you in competition. Recoil springs: Few factors affect the sensation of the gun's recoil more than the recoil spring. As a rule, the lighter the recoil spring, the "flatter" the gun seems to shoot. A heavier spring transfers the energy of the slide faster into the frame, and this causes the sights to lift off the target.

Many elements combine to determine the motion of the gun in recoil. In fact, there are too many to analyze fully. Take the time to experiment - many advanced effective recoil systems are available. If you are shooting a heavy recoil spring, try a lighter one. You can always reverse the change. Be aware, however, that running a very light recoil spring may shorten the life of your pistol, and may cause reliability issues. A heavier spring usually contributes to the gun's reliability, as long as it is not too heavy to prevent clean ejection. This is partly why most manufacturers recommend heavy springs. A heavy spring helps to overcome the resistance of stripping the next round from a full magazine, or the resistance caused by friction from dirt or buildup. So, if you do decide to try a lighter spring, make sure your gun is kept clean, oiled, and dust-free. Test it with full magazines to see that it strips the top rounds where the pressure of the magazine spring is at its greatest. Some adjustments to the extractor may also be needed. A competent gunsmith should always be consulted.

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THINKING PRACTICAL SHOOTING

Ammo and loads: No doubt, what you shoot has a great deal to do with how your gun recoils. This is so individual, so dependent on the type of gun, type of compensator, and your own preferences, that I will not even attempt to make any recommendations. Except for this: Experiment! Do not accept the first load you try as the best. Experiment with different powders, bullet weights, even power factors.

Reducing sight picture recognition time We have previously discussed ways to get the sights back on the target as quickly as possible after a shot is fired. Another factor that affects our split times is the length of time needed to see the sights back where they should be, before the brain sends the signal to fire the next shot. To some degree this is a natural ability, which some shooters have more than others. But, like most things, quality practice does bring improvement. Pay attention to the following points as you work to reduce sight picture recognition time.

Learn to see the sight in full cycle: Many shooters have the habit of closing their eyes as the gun fires. They then need to reopen them and acquire their sights to fire the next shot. Pay attention to this when you are next on the range. Are you really seeing the sight in full cycle? Are you seeing the sight come off the target and then settle back? Or are you losing the front sight or dot as the gun recoils up, and then reacquiring it later on? If so, you are not maximizing your speed potential. Maintain eye focus on your sights: Many shooters are in the habit of looking over their sights at the target after each shot, trying to locate where the shot hit. This often involves head movement as well. Never do this. You need to develop and then trust your ability to call the shot without seeing holes in the paper. Keep your eye focus on the front sight, if that is where it needs to be to make the shot. Know the appearance of an acceptable A-zone sight picture: Much time can be lost trying to align the sights more perfectly than necessary. Through experience, you need to learn to recognize an acceptable sight picture that will give you an A-zone hit at each given distance. Once you teach yourself this, you become more efficient and confident in aligning your sights, and firing the next shot quicker. You need to avoid over aiming. Calling your shots is key to this ability.

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PART I: TIIE BASICS OF PRACTICAL SHOOTING

Keeping your head totally still : This is critical for a fast sec ond shot. The sights anyway are moving, as the gun is recoiling. If you complicate this further by shifting your eye/moving your head, you considerably slow things down. Do multiple shot drills: Correct prac tice improves your ability to pick up your sights faster. Shoot multiple shot drills on one target, and keep track of your split times. Record them. Shoot 5 or 6 shots at one target, at distances varying from 5 to 50 meters, and work hard to keep them in the A-zone. Combine this with improving your ability to call your shots, and read the sights correctly. Concentrate! Being focused on wh at you are seeing in your sights as you shoot is what allows you to react faster. Do not let your mind wander as you shoot these drills. Keep all your attention on watching the sights in full cycle, and try to push your limits in recognizing the sight recovery.

Reducing triggering time The gun we shoot influences the length of time it takes to pull the trigger and drop the hammer on the new round. The trigger mechanism varies greatly in different types of guns. Try to use a pistol th at has a short and crisp trigger engagement, so that you can activate the trigger and drop the h ammer in the shortest possible time. Correct technique comes into play as well. Some shooters are in the habit of allowing their trigger finger to move completely off the trigger as the gun fires. This is usually wrong. You should seek to minimi ze the motion of your trigger finger, so that it moves forward only far enough to allow the sear to reengage. You can improve your triggering speed by practicing on the range without targets. Close your eyes, and focus all your attention on the feel of the gun and the trigger. Make sure your grip is not too tight. Allow your strong hand to be almost relaxed, and practice firi ng two shots as fast as you c an. When you get this split down to what you want, shoot 3 or 4 shots at full speed. You should be able to get your splits down well below 0.25 sec with any type of modem pistol. 1 9 1 1 -type guns are preferred by IPSC shooters precisely for this reason - they offer a fast trigger engagement that usually enables easier faster splits.

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Splits as fast as 0.10 sec are possible. I' ve even s een spli ts of 0.09 sec shot on some occasions. However, consistent, controlled and accurate splits of 0.15 sec will usually suffice.

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PART I: TI-IE BASICS OF PRACTICAL SHOOTING

Understanding IPSC Scoring As with any game or sport, it is critical to understand the rul es and scoring in Practical shooting. Of course most people do, at l east well enough to participate without too many disagreements with the match officials. However, many shooters do not full y understand bow the scoring operates, and this can at times be a disadvantage. We all know that IPSC is about shooting fast and accuratel y, and that you need to make the power factor. Shoot good points, as fast or faster than most other competitors, and you are doing well. But there is more to it than that. For instance, as you shoot a stage, it can be very helpful to calculate hit factors and understand what they mean in relation to the match points.

Scoring terms

Time: The l ength of time the shooter takes to complete the stage. Usually measured from the beep to the l ast shot fired. Stage points: The number of points the shooter actually scores on the paper and steel during the stage. How many A's, how many C's, and so on. An A is worth 5 points, C 4 points, and D 2. That is, if you are making Major power factor. In a stage consisting of 24 shots, the maximum number of stage points that can be scored is 120. A shooter shooting 1 9 A's and 5 C's scores 1 15 stage points. Stage hit factor: This is calcul ated by dividing your stage points by your time. The more points you have, and the shorter your time, the higher your hit factor. Match points: These should not to be confused with the stage points mentioned above. Match points are only calculated when all the competitors have shot the stage. This is because you need to know the highest hit factor achieved on the stage before distributing the actual match points. In the end, the match points are the ones that matter. The foll owing example illustrates how the points are distributed. A 1 6 round stage is worth 80 stage points (16 x 5 points for an A hit). This is also the maximum number of match points that can be scored.

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Max shoots t hi s stage in 12.00 seconds. He shoots 12 A' s and 4 C' s, so scoring 12 x 5 + 4 x 4 = 76 points. (He i s shooting Major, therefore scoring 4 points for the C' s.) Si nce his time is 12.00 seconds, his stage hit factor i s 76/12.00 = 6.3333. Jerry shoots this stage i n 10.50 seconds. He shoots 10 A's and 6 C' s and scores 10 x 5 + 6 x 4 = 74 points. Si nc e he shot it i n 10.50 seconds, hi s stage bit factor i s 74/ 10.50 = 7.0476. If we assume that these are the only two shooters in the match, Jerry bas won this stage because bis stage hit factor is higher than that of Max. As the winner, he receives the maximu m number of match points possibl e for thi s stage, in this c ase 80. (These match points are not to be confused with the stage points we used to c alcul ate the hit factor.) So Jerry scores 80.00 points for thi s stage. Note that even though he shot 6 C' s, he stil l gets the maximu m 80 match points bec ause he won the stage. Of course, had he shot all A' s, the gap between hi m and Max would have been greater, so he has l ost some of hi s gain over Max bec ause of those C's. The match poi nts achieved by Max for thi s stage are based on his performance compared to that of the stage winner, Jerry. Max scores (6.3333/7.0476) x 80 points = 71.89 match points. Si nce Max shot 89.86% of Jerry' s total (6.3333/7.0476), he gets 89.86% of the possi bl e points of the stage. Even though Max only shot 4 C' s, because of his slower ti me, he i s l osing more than 8 match points to Jerry. In thi s way, the points achieved by each shooter on each stage are calculated (match points), and added together. The result i s the total number of match poi nts accumulated by that shooter. Returning to this exampl e, after a six stage match, l et' s say Jerry accumulated 456.34 points and Max 422.22. This means that Jerry has won the match. He has accumulated more match points than anyone else in his division, and therefore he gets a score of 100.00%. All the other competitors now get a percentage sc ore of Jerry, based on their match points compared to his. In thi s exampl e Max gets 422.22 (bis points)/456.34 (Jerry' s points) = 92.52% .

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PART 1: THE BASICS OF PRACTICAL SHOOTING

Competitors are usually listed by division. When calculating stage points, your score is compared only to the stage winner in your category/division. You therefore cannot compare results between Standard and Open shooters, as they are scored in a separate field of competitors. In order to compare all the competitors, match organizers sometimes make one printout of all the overall scores. They list all the shooters as if they were in the same division, and run the scoring program again. This gives you a true comparison.

The advantages of understanding scoring

Now that you understand how the scoring works in IPSC, what does it do for you? Well, there is a distinct advantage in knowing in advance what hit factor is ex pected on a stage. For this, you need to know your points and time. Calculating points is easy: you always need to assume you will be shooting close to the maximum points on the stage, and that is how you should shoot. In some cases, when there are many partial targets or some no-shoot targets which you know will force you to aim away from the center of the A-zone, you can calculate the hit factor assuming you will drop a few points, maybe scoring 75 points on a 16 round stage. How do you know your time on a stage in advance? A few techniques can help you here: l . Check the times others shot on the stage. You can safely estimate your expected time, based on the scores of shooters you know are at your level. 2. By knowing what your splits and times are for various small elements, such as transitions between targets and small movements between positions, you can add these together to estimate your overall time on the stage. This is difficult to do when the stage is big and complex. You can only do this if you have accumulated a "bank of information" during your training. We will talk more about this later. 3. Hold your stopwatch and run through the stage in real time. In order to do this, the range bas to be clear in front of you, and this is not always possible with the whole squad doing their walk.through. (The new rules do not allow you to hold a stopwatch, or anything else, in your b ands as you walk the stage. You can resolve this by asking a teammate to clock you.)

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THINKING PRACTICAL SHOOTING

When you can estimate your expected points and time on a stage, you know what hit factor to expect. But what does it actually mean to say that a stage has a 4.000 hit factor? Remember that the hit factor is the relationship between the points and time. If the hit factor is 4.000, it means that on this stage, each second is worth 4 points. Or, if you prefer, each point is worth 0.25 of a second. With this information you know that: • If you can gain l extra point on a target by shooting 2 A's rather than NC by shooting a split of 0.40 instead of 0.30 seconds, you should slow down and shoot the longer split. It may cost you 0. 1 0 of a second, but, as you have calculated, 1 point is worth 0.25 second ! • You can calculate the price of a miss in seconds. A miss costs you 1 5 points. In this case 1 5 points are 3.75 seconds ( 1 5 points x 0.25 sec). You now know that if it takes you less than 3.75 seconds to pick up a miss, you should do it. You will get a better hit factor, and so more match points. This is useful information to have before you shoot, in case, for instance, your gun runs empty on the last shot. • In some cases, this tells you whether to wait for another pass of a swinger or a moving target. If you know the hit factor in advance and that it takes two seconds for the swinger to reappear, you will know if it's worth the extra time to wait, or take the possible miss and move on through the stage. When the hit factor is low, the stage is "points heavy". This means you should slow down a little and really go for all A's. When the hit factor is very high, speed carries more importance. What you regard as very high depends mostly on your individual shooting level. I have seen stages where the hit factor for the top shooters was almost 20! Imagine a stage with 28 rounds, all close targets, and little movement. A top shooter can complete a stage like that in 6-7 seconds, maybe less. There are 1 40 points available, so 1 40/?seconds = 20 hit factor. On this stage each second is worth 20 points. Each point dropped is worth only five hundredths of a second. In this scenario it is "warp speed time". You don't mind shooting a bunch of C's - what you want is the best time! On a stage with a high hit factor, the cost of a mistake or malfunction in match points goes up. If you have a malfunction that takes 3 seconds to clear on a stage with a 1 5 hit factor, it costs you as much as three misses (45 points off). If you have that same malfunction on a stage with a low 5 hit factor, those 3 seconds together would be worth only one miss on the stage.

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PART I: THE BASJCS OF PRACTICAL SHOOTING

Knowing the hit factor enables you to decide in advance how you want to shoot the stage. This can be useful in deciding how aggressively you want to shoot. Should you blaze through the targets and accept C's and a possible D, or should you slow a little and shoot only A's? So, to answer the million dollar IPSC question, "What is more important, speed or accuracy?" Now you know the answer: It depends!

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Menta l Aspects of Practica l Shooting

THINKING PRACTICAL SHOOTING

The Mental Process of Performance Years ago, most people believed that all it took to be a champion in any sport were the physical abilities and attributes, and correct technical training and knowledge. Anything to do with mental attitude simply was not considered part of the game. Sure, sportsmen were aware of stress in competition, but the champions always managed to win, so superior ability seemed to be the solution to that as well. Today we know differently. Sports psychology has progressed in leaps and bounds over the past 30 or 40 years, and no coach or sportsman today believes that success can be achieved through technique alone. Ask any serious IPSC shooter how much of his success he considers to be technical and how much mental, and he will probably reply, "At least 80% of my sport is mental." But ask the same person what portion of his training schedule is dedicated to mental training, and he will probably look at you with an embarrassed smile. Even though most of us know we need to improve our mental skills, we continue to spend all our time and effort on the technical aspects of the sport: improving the draw, reloading, shooting faster splits. We keep working on these skills and see improvement during practice. But then, under pressure of a big match, we are unable to reach our goals. Yet we persist, going away from a disappointing match performance believing we need to brush up on technique. The reason for this obstinate persistence is clear. It is much easier to understand and implement technical training than to figure out how our mind works, and how it influences our perforrnance. Today there is an abundance of books, movies, and seminars to help you tackle this challenge and learn more about improving your mental skills. Read, learn, and understand these mental processes. They' are without a doubt the key to improving your match performance. How do our thoughts and attitudes affect our performance? Well, first you have to understand the elements of thought, and how they interact.

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Our conscious thoughts Our conscious mind is very much like a TV monitor - it holds only one picture at a time. The pictures can be interchanged fairly rapidly, but at any moment only one is seen on the screen. The conscious mind is that part of our brain that we control by will. We can decide what thought is up on that monitor, what picture gets to hold our attention. In actual fact, we only control the picture on the monitor to a certain degree. Better control is crucial to mental success. If I were to say to you, "Don' t think about a pink elephant," you instantly have an image of a pink elephant on your screen. How long it stays there, or how efficiently you can remove or replace it with a more productive thought, is entirely up to you. It is an acquired skill. The conscious mind cannot control our shooting. Shooting is too complex an activity to be thought through, step by step. In no way can you consciously think your way through an IPSC stage quickly enough to shoot it well. You cannot think about trigger control, and then sight picture, and then gripping pressure, and so on. All these functions need to be accomplished subconsciously. So what part does the conscious mind play? It is in charge of giving directions to the subconscious, and then staying out of the way while the subconscious controls our performance. Later I will explain this in more detail. Our subconscious mind All our power to deliver a great performance resides in the subconscious mind. The subconscious mind is capable of doing a million things simultaneously, unlike the conscious mind' s "single image monitor". Anything we practice often enough, with enough attention, moves from the domain of the conscious to the subconscious, and our performance improves. At first learning to drive a car seems very difficult. We need to think about the way we sit, where to look, where to place our hands and feet, how to listen to the engine in order to shift gears, steer, indicate, and so on. It is difficult, and takes real mental effort. After years of experience, most of us are able to drive subconsciously. We drive while listening to music, talking on the phone, or daydreaming. In fact, our only conscious thought concerns what is happening outside the car, and even that becomes subconscious to a large degree.

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Our shooting has to be the same. We need to do enough repetitions so that any technical skill required to shoot the gun becomes totally subconscious, and requires no conscious thought or involvement. Each ti.me you train, each time you make repetitions, you are teaching your subconscious the technique. Be c arefu l how you practice! Always pay attention to quality! If you allow yourself to do bad repetitions, you are in fac t building bad subconscious skills. You would be better off not practicing at all. If you dry fire and allow yourself to pull the trigger off the A-zone bec ause It's only dry fire and it doesn't count, be aware that you are embedding that mistake in your subconscious. Don' t be surprised when, during a match, you pull the trigger off the target and hit the steel only on the second or third shot. That is, after all, how you practiced. Bottom line, each time you practice your technical skills, do so responsibly.

Our self-image in relation to our task We all have a preset opinion about anything we do, even if we have never tried it before. And if we do have prior experience, we certainly have established a self-image in relation to that task. Deep inside, we always know how we feel about doing something, although we often try to hide it, even from ourselves. If you have had a prior bad experience speaking in public, c hances are you will try to avoid that situation again. Public speaking, by the way, is high on the list of what people fear most. When you consider it, public speaking involves no technical difficulty. All you have to do is stand up and talk, two skills most of us have. Nevertheless, most people harbor this fear. The reason is that we are totally exposed when speaking in public, and if we have had a prior poor experience, maybe even during childhood, we fear repeating this same embarrassment. Your self-image is usually low when you attempt something new. You see yourself as a beginner, and you do not really expect to do all that well. Especially if others have been telling you how difficult it is. I remember when I was a junior rifle shooter on the National team in 1986 or thereabouts, shooting 375/400 in the Olympic air rifle event standing position was considered an excellent score. One trained for a couple of years or more to achieve this. Today, I see juniors with only a few months training shooting well over 380. True, the equipment has improved, but that is not the main reason. The scores have increased over the years, and nowadays, the norm for top juniors is

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to shoot above 390 in competition. There is no longer a self-image barrier to achieving these scores. 375 is no longer viewed as a score difficult to achieve. Many IPSC shooters consider the first stage of a big match to be a real problem, and expect to do poorly. Does that sound familiar to you? Ask yourself why the first stage should be more difficult than any other. Perhaps the level of tension is a li ttle greater, but besides that, the technical skills you are called upon to display are no different fr om those required during the other 20 stages in the match. And yet, many shooters enter the first stage with fear and apprehension, half expecting to fall flat on their faces. They have a poor self-image about their ability to do well. This may be due to a prior negative experience, which b as been reinforced by comments from veteran shooters about the difficulties of the first stage. I submit to you, that if you convinced a beginner the first stage was the easiest to shoot well, and shielded him from all the negative talk out there, he would excel in the first stage right from the start! Our self-image provides us with a comfort zone. We view ourselves in a certain way in relation to a certain task. The self-image works for or against us, in order to maintain that comfort zone. A good example of this can be drawn from Olympic shooting where the score is more quantified than in IPSC. If a shooter usually shoots around 590/600, with a best-ever score of 593, his comfort zone is probably from 588-593. As long as he is performing in that range, his self-image is content and does not get in the way. If this shooter starts a match in whi ch he drops 9 points in the first 30 shots (shooting sets of 98-97 -96), his self-image starts kicking in. If he continues at this rate, he will score as low as 582. He does not consider himself a shooter who scores 582, so his elf-image gi ves him extra power. Most likely he will finish up with sets of 99- 100-99, and a match score of 589 well inside his comfort zone. The opposite is also true. The same shooter begins fantastically, with sets of 99-100-99. If he continues this way, he will score 596, way above his comfort zone. Most likely he will start having doubts about keeping this up, and finish poorly, ending up again right in his comfort zone. Moving your comfort zone can often be the fastest way to improving your performance.

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How do these three elements interact? The following is a good analogy: Imagine you are driving a race car around a track. Your goal is to complete the lap as fast as possible. To achieve this, you need a powerful engine. A small l .6L 65 HP engine simply won't cut it, irrespective of how hard you try, or how skilled a driver you are. You have to have the horse power and speed to make it possible. Your subconscious skills are this engine. Having them is necessary to achieving a high standard, but they are not enough on their own. You have to have control over the car in order to complete a fast lap. You have to be able to guide it in the right direction, completing all the turns. You can have all the horse power in the world, but unless you point that power in the right direction, you achieve nothing. Your conscious mind is very much like that steering wheel in the race car. Its contribution is to keep you going in the right direction. Your right foot rests on the accelerator pedal . You need to be able to push that pedal all the way down to harness all the horse power at your disposal. Your self-image is very much like that accelerator pedal. It allows you to "floor" the pedal and maximize your subconscious (engine) power needed to reach your comfort zone. Or, on the other hand, it prevents you from pushing down on your accelerator hard enough to race ahead beyond your comfort zone. In order for you to do well, all three elements have to work together. You need to have an engine powerful enough to make your goal achievable (subconscious skills). You need to have good steering to keep all that power on the road and headed in the right direction (conscious control), and you need to be able to push down on the accelerator hard enough to harness all the power at your disposal (self-image at peace with your performance). When these elements are working together, a great performance seems effortless. Some call this being in the zone, and it is where we would like all our match performances to be. You need to work on increasing these elements separately, and yet in ' balance together, so that you do not find yourself out of sync.

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PART 11: MENTAL ASPECTS OF PRACTICAL SHOOTING

Improving subconscious skills Our subconscious skills are our engine, and we need that engine to produce enough power to meet our goals. How we train affects the quality of the subconsc.ious skills we develop, and how efficiently they are developed. You cannot cheat or cut comers . There is absolutely no other way to build subconscious skills other than doing multiple good repetitions.

Trying to do it rigbt from the start Starting off correctly from the very beginning is essential, and you might consider taking lessons from a competent instructor. Later it is more difficult to change a bad habit that has been embedded in your subconscious, than to learn a new skill. If you learn incorrectly from the start, you may expend a huge effort rooting out the mis takes, and improving that skill. A good analogy is driving an off road car on a muddy path. If you are the first driver on the path and no tracks have been imprinted in the mud, you can drive wherever you like. But if many have passed before you, it is most likely you will be forced to drive in the deep tracks already formed. You will need to work very hard indeed to stay out of them. If you do succeed to cut a new path, you will need to drive over it again and again in order to make new tracks, deep enough to overcome the previous ones. Each time you do a repetition, you are in fact deepening that track. If the tracks you are making are where you would like them to be (good shooting, quality training, and so on), all is well. But if you are allowing yourself to be careless, and make tracks in the wrong place, or if you are practicing a bad technique due to lack of knowledge, you will later need to invest a huge effort to correct this.

Doing only quality practice Our subconscious s kills are the technical elements of shooting learnt through many thousands of repetitions. Each time we shoot, or even dry fire, we are building subconscious skills. That is why it is so important to pay attention to the quality of your practice. If you allow yourself to practice badly, make sloppy reloads, or pull the trigger while you are off the A-zone, you are teaching your subconscious that it is okay to do so. For this reason, no practice at all is better than poor practice.

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Not always practicing at full speed Be aware that your technical precision deteriorates when you push yourself to full speed. At full speed you are not as precise in your motion as you are when shooting at a moderate pace. Each time you do a full speed repetition that is not correctly executed, you are teaching yourself the wrong subconscious skill. It is very important to do many slow repetitions, and then gradually increase the pace only when everything is running well. Go slowly, especially when you are learning a new skill or modifying an existing technique. Adopt the habit of beginning each practice at a moderate pace, and then gradually increasing speed. Very few repetitions need to be made at full speed. When you are in the match and the adrenalin is pumping, you will speed up anyway. During practice, favor precision and technical correctness over speed. Criticizing technique - not only results! Too often we care only about the score, and don't pay enough attention to how we achieved it. In a match this may well be the right attitude, as the score is what matters. But not in practice! Don't allow your timer's display and hits on paper to draw all your attention away from everything else. Note how you are moving, how the technique feels, and what it looks like. A training buddy or coach can be very helpful with this. Using a video camera in practice can also be extremely educational. Choosing training partners with care When you practice, your goal is primarily to build subconscious skills. How you shoot in practice, and how you choose to reinforce that practice, determines how efficiently you learn. There is no doubt that our performance is affected by the level around us. If we surround ourselves with top level shooters who are currently better than we are, our progress is accelerated. If we practice in a group where we are the best, our personal improvement is hampered.

However, there is a risk in training with better shooters. Since speed is a factor, you may find yourself pushing too hard trying to keep up with the pack. You may begin to lose your visual input from your sights, and get sloppy with accuracy and technique while trying to impress the others with your speed. This is not quality practice! This is making tracks where you don't want them. Keep that analogy in mind each time you shoot badly in practice. Only allow yourself to shoot at your correct speed, even when surrounded by shooters faster than yourself.

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When practicing - be all there I believe it was J . Michael Plaxco, in his excellent book Shooting from Within, who said, "You can gain 3 years of experience in 1 year of shooting, or you can gain 1 year of experience in 3 years of shooting. It all depends on how much you experience your shooting as you shoot." This is certainly the case when building subconscious skills. True, many correct repetitions are needed. Exactly how man y depends not only on the complexity and precision of the routine you are trying to teach your subconscious, but also on how receptive your subconscious is to the learning process. When you are training on the range, make sure you are all there. Don't allow your mind to wander. Focu on your training, and the quality of your shooting. Intensity and focus during your training cause the subconscious to learn the skills you are trying to teach it faster and more efficiently. Shooting well, shooting a lot Sometimes you come to a practice and you feel great! The gun sits perfectly in your hand on every draw. You hit the plates effortlessly and consistently. Your movement is smooth and precise. Everything feels just right, and you are shooting well. When this happens in prac tice - keep shooting. The more good quality prac tice you do, the better the subconscious skills you build. Similarly, when you are at a practice and nothing is going right, don't keep on practicing shooting badly. Remember that you are cutting ever deeper grooves in that path, and if your grooves are not exactly where you would like them to be, you are better off not making them at all.

Improving conscious skills Our conscious skills play a part in the preparation process, execution stage, and reinforcement stage. Each of these elements needs to be well executed in order to produce a great performance. The conscious preparation phase includes goal setting, building and running a training schedule, preparing for competition, preparing and analyzing a stage before shooting, and running a mental program prior to the start signal. The conscious execution stage involves mostly staying out of the way of the subconscious mind. A subc onscious performance is always better than a 43

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conscious one, as the subconscious is much more powerful. However, it is important to control the conscious mind as the subconscious performs. The wrong conscious focus can be detrimental to a good subconscious performance. Conscious reinforcement happens after our performance is over. Here too, correct conscious focus enables us to make the most of our reinforcement, and allows us to prepare for another excellent perforrnance.

Setting goals Goal setting is the first stage of any great achievement. Success requires planning and commitment, and this cannot be accomplished without first having a goal. A goal keeps your conscious mind focused on your target, and helps you stay on track with your training program. Utilizing a training program Few things keep you on track better than a scheduled and written training program. It is a critical part of your match preparation, and a full chapter in this book is dedicated to this. A training program is a conscious process. It needs to be well thought out, and workable. Keeping a shooting diary A shooting diary is a useful tool, even if you never again read what you have written. Simply the fact that you are committed to sit down at the end of your practice and think about your shooting makes it worthwhile. This conscious review of the practice or match you have just completed helps you reinforce the good things you did, and better understand the errors. Controlling your thoughts As mentioned before, the actual performance is subconscious, but our conscious thoughts greatly influence the outcome. If we could "turn off' our conscious mind during the execution stage, the final outcome may well be better. And certainly, the shooters who tend to "overthink" are not always at an advantage. The skills are subconscious, but the subconscious looks to the conscious monitor for direction and instruction. Whatever you have on your conscious mind's monitor, is what the subconscious, with all its power, tries to achieve. It is important to realize that the subconscious does not understand the word "don' t". It only understands images. If you say to yourself (conscious thought),

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"Don't miss the popper", you are in fact creating a picture of a missed popper on your screen. That is not what you want, but that is the image you create in your conscious mind. The subconscious sees the picture of a missed popper, and tries to achieve it. No good! There is a huge difference in the direction you give your subconscious when you think "Don't miss the popper!", or "Hit the popper!" The image you create as a guide to the subconscious is totally different, and the subconscious understands only images. So, beware what you think, how you think about it, and to whom you talk.

Consciously staying positive Two shooters meet in the middle of a big IPSC match. The one asks the other, "How' re you doing, Bob?" Now, no matter how well or poorly Bob is doing, nine times out of ten he pours forth with all his mistakes. In fact, he answers your question as if you had asked, "What have you messed up so far?" "Terrible. I shot a miss on the last stage, and yesterday morning totall y screwed up the first stage. I was too stressed out." Although he has shot 10 other stages reasonably well, he chooses to tell you all about his worst experiences so far. Why? Because he is thinking about that. He is not thinking about the good stages he shot. He is kicking himself again and again for his mistakes, so when you ask about his match, that is what surfaces. Furthermore, it is not socially acceptable to boast about your successes. So you play it modest, and talk about your failures. Of course, now you don't want to leave Bob feeling too bad about his shooting, so you return the favor and tell him how you screwed up a few stages as well. You each walk away fe eling better about yourselves, but in fact, you have just increased the chances you will make those mistakes again! By talking about your mistakes, you place that image of poor shooting on your conscious monitor. The subconscious, with all its power, is constantly watching that monitor for direction. Stay away from negativity during a match! Don't think about your failures, and certainly refrain from tal king about them, or listening to others talk about theirs.

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Celebrating or moving on Too many people choose to think only about what they do wrong. If they shoot badly on a stage, they walk away angry, and are unapproachable for hours. If they need to shoot shortl y afterwards, chances are they will string together two bad stages. Realize that by consciously thinking about a bad performance, you improve the probability of doing it again, because you are holding a negative image on your conscious monitor. Rather than dwell on your mistakes, dwell on your successes! When you shoot a great stage, don' t go away telling yourself, "I got lucky on that one." No! Tell yourself, ''That is how I always shoot." Feast on your success. Run it over in your mind, again and again. The more you picture great shooting, the more l ikely you are to shoot at that level again. I know from my own experience how difficult this is. In the past, a poor stage would really get to me, and I would beat myself over the head for hours. Now I realize that this attitude does not help one avoid similar mistakes in the future. You usually already know what went wrong, and what you need to do to correct it. But thinking about a poor performance only increases the chances of doing it again. Purposely staying away from negative talk Most shooting conversations on the range are about failures. Make a conscious effort to stay away from this negative talk. A few years ago I had the privilege of competing in the American Hand Gunner World Shootoff Championships. A friend, who also strongly believes in the importance of positive self-talk and reinforcement, participated in the match as well. We agreed in advance to speak to one another as often as possible during the match about how well we were shooting. We were not on the same squads I was shooting in the Open GM squad, and b e was shooting A Class Limited. Every time we met, we asked one another bow we were doing. "Fantastic," b e would say. "I shot that last stage like a machine. It felt great - I made all my hits, my draw was magic. I am shooting the best match of my life." I replied with a similar positive answer, telling him about my excellent shooting that day. Someone listening might have thought we were a couple of arrogant guys! But we knew better. By talking about our best shooting, we helped to set ourselves up to shoot excellently. We both enjoyed an outstanding match that year.

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PART II: MENTAL ASPECTS OF PRACTICAL SHOOTING

Doing mental rehearsals One aspect making IPSC the interesting shooting sport 1t 1s, is the lack of repetition. Every match you attend challenges you with stages you have never seen before, and will never see again. You shoot each stage only once, and you have to be at your best for that one run.

Much like your shooting skills, your stage knowledge and tactics must be transferred to the subconscious before it is your turn to shoot. If you have to think about where to head next on a stage, and what to do when you get there, you certainly will not be putting up your best performance. You need to rehearse the routine often enough in your mind, so that when you come to shoot for score, you can relax and let your subconscious guide you through the course. In order to reach this level of familiarity with the course of fire, run it in your mind many times before it is your turn to shoot. Exactly bow many times depends on your individual skill in preparing for a stage, and on the complexity of the stage itself. We'll discuss this in more detail later on. Controlling tension levels An optimum level of stress exists for each individual and each type of activity. Stress is not negative. In fact, stress is absolutely necessary to enable us to achieve our very best. We cannot give a peak performance if we are totally relaxed, especially in an aggressive explosive sport like Practical shooting.

However, as most of us have experienced, being too tense can also be detrimental to your performance. Controlling the level of your stress is an acquired conscious skill critical to success, and something we will elaborate on. Running a mental program to ensure concentration While the stages we face in a competition vary considerably, most of the actual elements and skills are repeated. You need to know how to execute them well, and you need to do it again. It has been said that the only two things you need to know in order to be the best precision shooter in the world are: 1 . Learn to shoot a perfect shot. 2. Repeat step 1 , until the match is over.

While this may sound like oversimplification, it is in fact true. Once you have the ability to perform a skill well enough, all you need to do is control yourself and your surroundings in order to execute this ability again and again. Since we

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are looking for technical duplication, it stands to reason that we should seek mental repetition as well. We would like to be in the same "mental place" each time we shoot. We would like to hold the same conscious picture on our monitor - the one that works best for us. We would like to have the same level of tension and the same point of focus. The best way to achieve this mental consistency is to run a preset thought process the same way every time you prepare to perform. In IPSC shooting, this is done while you prepare to shoot the stage. Your mental program is a string of thoughts, which follow these guidelines: 1 . Have a fixed point of initiation for running your mental sequence. It can be when you prepare to load, or it can be prior to that. Once you are in your sequence, avoid all external distractions. Do not make eye contact with or look at the spectators. Remain within yourself and avoid chit­ chat with the RO.· 2. Your thought process must always be positive! Never think about fears, failures, or negativity of any sort. 3. Keep it simple. Do not make the mental sequence too complex, or you will not be able to be consistent. 4. At the end of this thought process you should feel very ready to shoot. You learn to associate this mental sequence with the feeling of shooting a really good stage - and that is the feeling you want as you prepare to shoot. The conscious mind during execution As mentioned before, the actual act of shooting must be subconscious. Our conscious thought process cannot contribute much while we are in the execution stage. It should only come into action when things go wrong, and we need to "think on our feet" to change a plan. Other than these contingencies, we would be better off if we could shut down our conscious thought process as we perform.

This is especially true in sports with little or no need for improvisation, perhaps more so in Olympic shooting than in IPSC. I remember an incident back in my rifle shooting days. An Eastern European shooter dominated the 60 prone event, one of the toughest mental events I know. We met him at a big match, and one of our team members asked him a question about his shooting. His reply was a rather blank stare, and a confused "Huh?" He did not seem to have a great understanding of bow he did what he did. But still, he was the best in the world

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at the time. The country he represented had one of the very best rifle shooting coaches working with their National team, and after that encounter, we used to joke that all you needed in order to be the best, was a really good coach, and "Huh" ! In other words, thinki ng too much, over-analyzing, and criticizing yourself are not always productive. Especially when the competition is still in progress. Often the best way to go is not to think at all, and simply to put your trust in your subconscious skills built up during correct practice. But many of us find it tough to turn off our conscious mind and relinquish control. Practical shooting does require certain analytical skills and the ability to think on your feet when the need arises. But - don' t underestimate the power of a blank conscious mind, and an automated, subconscious performance. Staying in the present One of the keys in allowing the subconscious to take the lead is not to dwell on the past or consider the future as you are shooting. This is easier said than done. As we shoot through a stage, our m ind is working in "hyperdrive". It never ceases to amaze me how many complex thoughts we can have in the fe w seconds it takes to shoot a stage, or even a section of a stage. T hese thoughts almost always get in the way, as they send confusing messages to the subconscious as it tries to perform. When you shoot clean across the first four plates of a plate rack, the thought, "This is really going well," often pops into your mind - and invariably leads to a miss on the last plates. When you move out of a position and wonder where the l ast shot went on the last target - you invariably make a mistake on the next array of targets. Thinking about the sequence of targets in the second window, while you are still negotiating the first, is a sure way to make an avoidable mistake. Does any of this sound familiar? If so, you are guilty of not remaining in the present tense as you shoot. This is the cardinal sin of subconscious performance! Brian Enos, in his excellent book Practical Shooting Beyond Fundamentals, calls this the shooting tense. It is vital to remain in the present tense as you shoot. This allows you to clear your mind, and use your conscious only to channel sensory i nput quickly and correctly. All you really want to do is be open

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to receive information - to experience the shooting as it happens. You need to trust your subconscious ability to shoot for you. So what should you think about? "Nothing" would be a good answer. But it is surprisingly difficult to think about nothing for very long. You therefore need to choose what image to keep in mind. I sugges t something positive and pleas ant, something simple, that does not intrude on your subconscious performance, and allows you to stay in the present. A good sight picture is an option. The correct tension of the grip could be another. You need to find what works best for you, and build that into your mental program. A fully subconscious performance, in which the conscious mind b as no part, is a tru ly wonderful experience. I believe mos t well-trained sports men have experienced this at one time or another. When I am able to achieve this state in an IPSC s tage, I reach the end with no clear recollection of anything I did on the way. If I had to open a window, I don' t remember gripping the handle and opening it. If I had to make a reload, I know it was done because I didn' t run out of bullets, but I can' t recall the action. I do not s ense that my time was impressive, because I don' t recall trying to go fast. And yet the time is excellent, and the hits are great. This is a wonderful experience, and one you should wish to have every time you shoot. The trap of trying extra hard Sometimes a sportsman finds himself thinking that he has to try extra hard. This is the big match, and I need to do really well, so I must try harder. Understand that trying harder allows your conscious mind to push your subconscious to perform at a faster pace than it would like. A "conscious override", if you will. This rarely produces the results you want. Your subconscious speed is developed through practice, and it cannot be increased s imply because you consciously decide to do so. And when you do shoot faster, your accuracy and control deteriorate. You should aim to train your subconscious to deliver the results you want, and trust it "to drive" on match day. Controlling your self-talk You need to learn to consciously control your s elf-talk. Remember that it is even more important to control what you picture on your conscious monitor, than what you say aloud. Self-talk produces these images, even more realistically

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than speaking aloud. What you cause yourself to picture provides direction to your subconscious. Be sure always to talk to yourself in a positive manner. During a match never say to yourself, "You're a loser, you can' t shoot today, can' t shoot weak hand, can never make a tough long shot, fail when the pressure is on," and so on. Remember that your subconscious, with all its capabilities, moves you to achieve what you are picturing, whether you want that or not. Every time you catch yourself during a match thinking and self-talking in a negative manner make a conscious effort to stop, and direct your thoughts in a more positive way. I remember an incident at the Israeli Nationals a few years ago. The top two lady shooters in the country were battling it out for the title, and a close race was expected. The first of the two had a terrible opening stage. It was a big stage, and she had three mikes, and a rather slow time to boot. She was very disappointed with her performance and knew she would be lagging behind from the start. But I was very impressed to see that, after only a few short minutes of looking unhappy, she was able to focus on the next stage, and again talk positively about how she was feeling and how she was going to shoot that match. Her competitor started the match well, but made a rather silly mistake on the fourth or fifth stage. That cost her a bunch of points. She stomped off the range fuming, telling all who would listen how stupid she was, and how she couldn't believe what she had done. She went on and on, all the way into the next stage. There too she didn' t do well, most likely because she was still thinking about her errors on the previous stage. After that, she went on about the terrible day she was having, how she couldn' t do anything right. It was a self-fulfilling prophecy, and her match kept deteriorating. The fir t shooter was able to control her self-talk. She did not allow a terrible first stage to dictate her feelings about her shooting that day. She was able to shoot well the rest of the match, and make up for her bad start. Her competitor, who had a more negative attitude, was not able to recover from her error. Even though she had a comfortable lead in the first half, she lost the match. Anger is never a productive emotion in a sport that requires finesse and skill. One bad stage is not a good thing, but it does not necessarily mean your match is over. However, if you allow yourself to dwell in negativity, and carry that negative energy and anger over to the next stage, you are sure to deliver a string

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of bad performances, and truly end your match. Controlling your emotions, and controlling your self-talk, will allow you to show your true ability.

Building a stronger self-image So often we are dissatisfied with the results we achieve in our sport, or in our lives, for that matter. We look for ways to change these results. We buy new equipment - we change calibers, change divisions, or modify technique. We focus all our energy on changing external factors, not realizing that it is us ourselves who need to change. Our self-image produces a comfort zone in relation to any task, and then tries to keep us within that zone. Often the fastest way to change one's level of performance is to shift that zone. Change your preset self-image to the one you want, and results have to follow. If you have always finished in the top 25 of your club/region/country/world, but never in the top 1 0, you need to break that barrier by changing your self-image. If you see yourself as a shooter who can and should place in the top 25, then that is most likely where you will end up. If you see yourself as a top 1 0 finisher, you have a good chance of getting there. Your self-image allows you to tap into additional power from your subconscious, in order to perform in your new comfort zone. If that zone requires better shooting to make the top 1 0, you are likely to find that you can shoot better, if this improved performance resides within your comfort zone as dictated by your self-image. So, to reach a new goal, you often need to change yourself. You need to visualize yourself as that person, before you can become him in reality. I submit to you, that you will never become National Champion until you believe in your mind, before the match starts, that you can and should be. Nothing builds this kind of confidence like the real experience. The person who has the strongest self-image in relation to a specific task is the person who has already achieved this goal, and knows for a fact that he can do it. One of the reasons some top shooters stay at the top for so long, is that they have developed the self-image of a champion, and they expect to win. It is hard to beat the person who truly expects to win, especially if he can back it up with subconscious and conscious skills.

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I very clearly remember the European championships of 200 1 in Philippsburg, Germany. I trained hard for that match, and really wanted to win the title of European Champion. I knew I had a shot, but I also had a problem: World Champion Eric Grauffel. He was the current European Champion, and the only European shooter I have not been able to beat in competition. During that year I won, or came second to Eric, every match I entered. But I had never beaten him. In the months preceding the match, I did a lot of mental work focused on changing my self-image. I wanted to create this self-image: I am the favorite to win this match. I am the best shooter here, and I can beat all my competitors. For several weeks I used a number of techniques, and when I got to the match I was amazed how well it worked! Eric and I were shooting on different squads, on opposite sides of the range. In fact, after 2 days of the 4 day match, we had no overlapping stages at all. I kept hearing that he was having a great match, but so was I. At the back of my mind I kept hearing a little voice telling me that no matter how well he was shooting, he would be in for a surprise when the scores are in. This is my match! This confident attitude allowed me to shoot one of the best matches of my career. I was the only shooter in a field of over 700 to shoot clean, and finish with no misses or penalties. No easy task, as the course included some very hard shots indeed. I expected to shoot well, and I was comfortable doing so. Things went seriously wrong on the last stage of the 3rd day. I tore a muscle in my left calf, and had to shoot the last stage (fortunately a speed shoot from one position), practically standing on one leg. I had suffered a serious injury which would take over 3 months to fully heal. The following and final day I had six more stages to shoot, and I could barely stand. I remember the feeling of deep disappointment that night, when I realized for the first time that I would not win the match, and the title of European Champion. The following day, with my leg tightly bandaged, I hopped through the last stages with stars flashing before my eyes from the pain. I dropped a couple of seconds on each stage, and could no longer challenge Eric. He went on to win, and I settled for second. As it turned out, Eric was shooting the whole match better than I. Even without the injury, I would not have beaten him. But the point is - while I was shooting,

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I truly believed that I was, and should be, winning. This allowed me to shoot one of my best matches ever, and i t was a valuable lesson. Choosing the attitude you want and working towards it How do you change your self-image? Well, the first step is to decide what attitude and self-image you want. You need to consi der this carefully. If you try to create a self-image that i s not i n realistic balance with your subconscious abi lity, you will not be able to sustain i t, nor believe it. If you now have the self-image, I always fail on the first stage of a big match, you need to change i t. But not necessari ly i mmedi ately to / always shoot my best on the first stage. Perhaps change your self-image first to / am sfwoting so much better on the first stage now than I used to. Each time I compete, I gain experience and do better and better on myfirst stage. You' ll see the di fference. So how do you make thi s change? Lying to yourself often enough You can change the way you feel about something and shift your self-image, simply by telling yourself over and over again that i t is so. If you make a consci ous effort to tell yourself that since gaining match experience, your shooting on the first stage i s i mprovi ng, you wi ll begin to believe it. The more times, the better. But if, when thi ngs go badly on a first stage, you choose to mope over that all day long - you are destroying the new self-i mage you are trying to build. You will be reinforcing the old self-image / always fail on the first stage. So be careful to control your self-talk! Your self-image is always listening. Reinforcing positively and selectively This i s why the reinforcement of your performance is so important. Let' s say you shoot a first stage, and i t' s not great. But somewhere i n that stage you did something well. Perhaps the draw was really good, or the shooting i n the last position felt solid. You can choose to walk away from the stage, and reinforce only the fact that the total score was poor and that / always fail on the first stage, or you can choose to think only about the few things that went well during the stage, and tell yourself, "I sure am getting better at deali ng with the first stage i ssue. I am shooting the fi rst stage a lot better than I used to. " If you choose to solidi fy the second self-image, you will feel a little better about shooting the first stage next time. And because you don' t dread i t as much, you

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will probably hoot better. Now you can reinforce that improvement again, and gradually spiral up and up until you have the self image: I always shoot really well on the.first stage. I am fresh and alert, and I love shooting in the morning. Your problem is now solved, and it had nothing to do with improving your shooting skills.

Praising yourself to build self-image While it may not be socially acceptable to walk around tel ling the world how great you are - that is exactly what you should be doing if you want to build a stronger elf-image. You don' t have to say it aloud if that is inappropriate, but your self-talk should center on self-praise. Don't be shy ! Self-praise is much more beneficial to your progress than beating yourself over the head all day long for your mistakes. Be careful to control your self-talk! Your self-image is always listening. Rehearsal as a means of building self-image Many people dislike swingers (bobbers). They have a low self-image when it comes to shooting swingers, and they approach such stages with trepidation. If a stage published before a match has three or four swingers, they start worrying about it a week in advance. By the time they come to shoot, they are so intimidated that their worst fears are fulfilled. A poor performance on the swinger stage then reinforces their poor self-image regarding swingers, and this makes it even harder next time to do well on such a stage. You can break this vicious circle by rehearsing. Visualize yourself shooting the stage exceptionally well. Put as much detail as possible into your visualization the sound of the RO's commands, the tone of the buzzer, a perfect sight picture on the targets. Feel the tension of your grip, and the movement of the trigger. Experience the stage as realistically as possible, and always 100% successfully. You call all your shots clearly, you have a great time on the stage, and all A ' s ! Teammates come u p to pat you o n the back and say, "Great shooting". Enjoy the feeling of this accomplishment. Run this in your mind as often as possible. Try to get a handle on the feeling of shooting this stage exceptionally well. And then, when you come to shoot for real, tap into that feeling. All your positive rehearsals greatly improve the

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probability of your shooting this stage well. And if you do shoot it well - make sure you mentally celebrate your success all day long. Tell yourself, "I shoot excellently on complex swinger stages. I am the swinger master!" Coaching to build self-image Coaches and training partners can have a great influence on building your self-image. They help to build it up, or tear it down. So be careful whom you choose to spend time with on the range, and with whom you choose to practice. A good coach shou ld constantly be working to build, not only your subconscious ski lls like how to draw, shoot, and move, bu t also your self-image. He should be aware of the importance of what he tells you, and how b e presents his criticism and comments. You should leave each practice feeling better, not worse, about your progress and your shooting skills. If your coach or training partners are not offering you this - consider replacing them.

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The Champion's Attitude It is no secret that most of the winning is done by a very small number of competitors. Some say that 95% of the winning is done by 5% of the players, and I believe this is probably true. What sets these champions apart from the others? ls it really only their shooting ability and subconscious skills, or is there more to it than that? I believe that superior technical skill is only one part of what makes a champion. After all look how many shooters are able to win stages in a big match, but how few are real contenders for the title. The winners seem to be set apart, not only by their shooting skills, but also by their attitude and approach to their sport. I' ve listed some traits I believe are shared by most winners. You may want to adopt them, and join the winning circle ! A champion has a burning desire to win You don't stumble into the winning circle by accident. You work hard for your place there. Without a burning desire to win, the work needed to prepare for victory simply will not be done. Some people are by nature more competitive than others. Usually the champions are extremely competitive, and driven to do all it takes to excel in the sport they have chosen. A champion prepares the stage for his success If you believe that winning can "just happen", you probably have never won a big match. Success is never achieved by chance - it is a prepared-for event. Successful sportsmen are those who prepare the stage for their success. They are willing to do what others are not. They are organized and deliberate in preparing themselves and their equipment. A champion leaves nothing to chance. He does not hope his guns will work; he makes sure they do. He does not hope to be ready for the match; he works with a scheduled training program to make sure he is. A champion is willing to work hard to achieve his goals To a true champion, the taste of victory is worth all the sacrifice it demands. You need to be highly motivated, especially in a sport like ours with non-material rewards. You must be willing to do all it takes to fulfill that desire. I remember many a weekend training or competing while my buddies were out having fun. I remember years of waking up at 6 a.m. on Saturdays to get to a match by 8 a.m., 57

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while everyone else slept in. Are you willing to make the sacrifices? If not, you may never be able to achieve the goal of becoming a champion. A champion expects to win Very few competitors enter an event truly expecting to win. But I submit to you, that those who do are the only ones who have a real chance of winning. A champion expects to win. He has the self-image of a winner. He believes that he has done the work to earn the right to win, and he has no fear of success. Some people can never win, because they fear the role of champion. It can be intimidating, especially if you have never experienced it before. But the true champion yearns for the win, and believes he deserves it.

It has been said that winning is an acquired taste, and I believe there is truth in this. Many winners continue to win, because they establish the self-image of a winner, and that makes them harder to beat. A champion knows what makes him do well A champion knows what makes him deliver a great performance. He pays attention to his successes, and learns from them. He knows how much he needs to shoot the week before a big match in order to produce the best results. He knows whether to go to bed early or late the night before, and how early he needs to be up on the day of the match. He does "success analysis", and makes sure to do all he can to provide himself the best possible environment in which to succeed.

You are better off studying what makes you do weU, rather than learning what makes you fail, as so many do. A champion never gives up A true champion does not give up until the match is over. Even if things are not going well for him, his burning desire to win prevents him from slacking off and letting the match go. _He fights to the end.

I clearly remember a lesson I learnt many years ago, in one of my very first international IPSC matches. I was competing in the Belgium Open, and having a really good match. I had a real chance to win. About two-thirds into the match, we had to shoot a big field course. A friend and I saw a way to shoot this stage as no one else had done before. We were briefed that a partially transparent barricade was soft cover. By shooting two targets through this barricade, we

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could avoid going to two position , and cut seconds off the best time. They were tough shots to take, but we decided it was worth the risk. We both shot this way, and were the only competitor to do so. Towards the end of the stage, I experienced what we all hope will never happen in a match: the gun went "puff' instead of "bang". I was left with a bullet stuck in the barrel! Fortunately for me, it was not far enough up the barrel to allow the next round to lock up. I tried several times to rack the gun before realizing what had happened. I could not continue, and zeroed the stage - 140 points gone, match over! I was so disappointed I could taste it. Our next stage was a tough Virginia Standards stage, with targets back to 50 meters. Everyone was shooting really carefully. Everyone, that is, except me! I was so aggravated, I couldn' t care less. I shot like a maniac, and left with five misses. Who cares, right? As I was walking off the stage, the Match Director came running up to my buddy and me, and asked if we were the two who had shot through the wall on the previous stage. "Yes," we said. "Well, you both have to reshoot that stage," he told us. "We have decided not to allow this. You were the only two who shot this way, and you have to reshoot." I couldn't believe it! I had just trashed the match in the Virginia Standards stage, believing it was all over for me. That day I did not win the match, or even place in the top three. But I learnt a valuable lesson I have never forgotten. N ever give up! Even if you have a real problem during the match, you never know what might happen to your competitors. You may still be in the running. And even if you don't win, at least you have the satisfaction of doing your best to the very end.

A champion deals well with adversity Some competitors fall apart at the first sign of adversity. N ot the true champion. He knows that the match is long, and even if things do go badly, he can still come back. If anything, adversity helps bring out the best performance from a true champion.

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A champion wants his competitors to do well A champion wants his competitors to be in top form, and still beat them. He takes little joy in winning a match that offers no real competition. He seeks to compete against the best in the world in order to test his own skill and prove his worth. During the match, a true champion will therefore help a fellow shooter in need, even though he may lose the competition by doing so. A champion celebrates his successes and forgets his failures At a local match, you may sometimes hear a winner say things like, "I was so lucky to win!" or, "If so-and-so were here, I never could have won !" or, "I fluked stage 1 2, those steel just fell all by themselves", and so on. This is not the talk of a true champion, and those winners probably won't reach the top very often. A true winner does not say he won by chance. He worked for it, believes he should win, and expects to. When he does win, he knows he deserved it, and he is not ashamed to say so. Perhaps modesty prevents him from saying this out aloud, but he is nevertheless thinking it. Likewise, when he fails, he does not dwell on his failure. A champion chooses to think about success, not failure, because he realizes the importance of maintaining a positive self-image. A champion does not look to others for excuses A champion takes full responsibility for his successes, as well as for his failures. He does not seek to blame anyone if he does not do well. He chooses to control his destiny, and as such, realizes that his performance is entirely in his own hands. He does not believe in excuses or superstitions. He works to prepare himself for success, and trusts in his ability to achieve it. A champion is gracious in victory as well as in defeat A champion knows the effort and dedication required to achieve victory, and therefore wholeheartedly congratulates a competitor who beats him.

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The Power of Visualization Visualization is something we all do, every day. In a way, visualization is simply another way of saying imagination. We all imagine or daydream about things we want, and if we do that with purpose and focus, it becomes visualization. It is, without a doubt, one of the most powerful tools we have to elevate our match performance. It is important to realize that the subconscious and self-image cannot differentiate between reality and vivid imagination. This is the reason why visualization is such a powerful learning tool. It has been proven that thinking about something is extremely helpful in making it happen. Keep in mind that self-talk and visualization work both ways. Visualize yourself succeeding, and you improve the chance of success. Visualize yourself failing, and most likely you will do just that.

Visualization in preparation for a match goal When preparing for a match, visualization can best be used to ensure that your self-image and match goals are in sync. So that when you perform as you planned in the match, you are inside your comfort zone, and there is no conflict with your self-image. Part of your match preparation should include visualizing your success. Whatever your goal for that match, visualize it as if already achieved. Play it over in your mind, as often and as detailed as possible. The more detail you include in your visualization, the more convincing and effective it is. Each time you imagine achieving your goals, you improve your chance of doing that. You can visualize as you drive to work, or lie in bed. Visualize whenever you have a moment to think without disruption. A distinct advantage when visualizing a performance is being familiar with the range where you are going to compete. If you have never been there before, find out all you can about it. If you can get hold of a video filmed locally, all the better. Learn what the range looks like, what type of surface you will be running on, which props are likely to be used, the general lie of the land, and so on. The more details, the better.

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Once you have visualized your success often enough, you are at peace when it happens for real. It is what you have come to expect through rehearsal. This allows you to perform well, and not conflict with your self-image.

Visualization in preparation for a stage Visualization plays an even more critical role when preparing for a stage. As I have described, shooting has to be accomplished subconsciously. You need to shoot the stage and execute all the necessary shooting techniques without conscious thought. This, of course, includes the actual shooting plan for the stage (your stage tactics). As you shoot, you need to know without thinking where to go next, which targets to engage, and in what order. This automated performance can only be achieved if you do enough rehearsal/visualization in preparation for the stage. Consider the following: When to begin your visualization This is an important question, and depends on the complexity of the stage, and the time needed to prepare. Be careful not to begin your rehearsal too early. You should usually wait until you have seen the stage from a shooter's perspective, and walked through with the squad. You should not begin your visualization before you have decided on your stage tactics, and you cannot really decide until you have walked the stage. Be aware that rehearsing the stage, and then changing your mind and rehearsing another tactical solution, can cause some real confusion.

I remember a particular experience during a match in France a few years ago. Tt was one of those stages when you threw a dice to determine the color of your shoot/no-shoot targets in the last position. You began by holding the dice. As soon as you threw it, the RO took that as a signal you were ready, immediately called "Standby !" and activated the delay on the timer. You then had only a couple of seconds to look at the dice (which had three green and three yellow faces) and memorize the color you had thrown (the color of your no-shoot targets). The beep sounded. You then had to run through a maze, shooting targets along the way. When you reached the final position, you encountered the color-coded targets, and had to remember which ones to shoot. Well, when I was up to shoot, I took a deep breath, relaxed, and threw my dice. It came up green. I immediately started chanting to myself, "Shoot yellow, shoot yellow, shoot yellow." I was ready and waiting for the beep, but it never came. The timer failed. After 6 seconds or so, the RO put his hand on my shoulder, and 62

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said we would have to restart with a new battery in the timer. "Okay, I am ready to go," I sai d. Of course, this time I threw yellow, so I chanted under my breath, "Shoot green, shoot green shoot green." BEEEP .. . I ran through the stage, and when I reached the last positi on - I had no idea what color I had to shoot! This had never happened to me before, and I was rather shocked by the ex perience. I randomly chose one color, and shot. Turned out luck was on my side, and I chose correctly. When I reflected on this incident, I realized my mistake. I had intensely rehearsed both options, preparing to shoot. So when I ran the stage, the two rehearsals clashed, and conflicted with one another. This is the risk of running more than one tactical rehearsal. You have to be very sure to erase any trace of the previous versi on, and it can be done if you have sufficient time. B ut changing plans at the last minute, and running a second rushed mental rehearsal, is not very successful. What I should have done on that stage in France, was unload and return to shoot at the end of the squad, thereby allowing my previous "programming" to fade. This leads me to another issue. When you are running a rehearsal, it i s important that your self-talk involves only what you want to do, not what you don' t. In other words, if you have to pick a color and then shoot the oppo ite color, something I am sure you have encountered before, be sure to chant what you want to shoot, not what you don' t. This kind of "affi rmative action" self-talk is far more effective in programming your subconscious. Progressive visualization Your stage visualization should be progressive. Start by visualizing your way through the stage in slow motion while you are looki ng at the stage from behind the tape. Having the stage in front of your eyes makes the vi sualization easier and more precise. You have to imagine the targets you cannot see from behind the tape. Be sure to note their correct positions during your walkthrough. Start slowly, and then gradually increase your speed until you are vi ualizing your way through the stage in real time. Practice will enable you to do this very preci ely. By timing your visualized run, you will eventually be able to estimate your time on the stage before shooting it. Next, sit down in a quiet spot, and close your eyes. Visualize going through the tage in slow motion, but this time without the added input of seeing the stage i n

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front of you. Gradually increase your speed though the stage, until you can mentally run through without hesitation, in real time, and with your eyes closed. Only when you can do this, are you truly ready to shoot. Once you have done this amount of visualization, you will be able to run through the stage subconsciously, allowing your natural shooting speed to govern your progress, without any conscious thought about stage tactics. This enables you to give your best performance. So, how long does all this take? How many rehearsals do you need to do? This very much depends on the stage and on the individual. There is no doubt that visualization becomes easier and more effective with practice. I personally run between 5- 1 5 mental rehearsals before shooting a simple stage. On a complicated stage I do 1 5-30 mental runs before I feel totally comfortable. This can take 5 - 1 0 minutes or more, so you sometimes need to start before the walkthrough. If you know you are the first shooter on the squad, get to the stage early. You can watch the previous squad shoot, and begin an early rough rehearsal. Perhaps even before stepping on the stage. Obviously this will have to be refined once you have seen everything up close, but you can get a rough idea, and this will save you time later. It is also recommended to use visualization in training, to accelerate your learning curve. The two "angles of view" You can do visualizations from two basic angles of view. Each has advantages and should be considered and tried.

The first is from an inner point of view. In this technique, you imagine the stage from behind the gun, precisely as it looks when you shoot. You focus on your enses, what the gun feels like, and what the stage looks like as you move through it. This technique is particularly useful with stage preparation. It enables you to rehearse the stage as you will experience it when you shoot for real. The other angle is the external view. In this technique you visualize yourself as seen by a spectator. In effect, you watch yourself shoot as if watching a video recording. I believe this form of visualization should be used more for match preparation than for stage rehearsal. You can effectively use this view as you visualize your success at the match, building up your self-image for the win.

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Watch yourself walk through the range after nailing the last stage. Hear your fellow shooters come up to congratulate you. See yourself give the acceptance speech at the awards ceremony. You can rehearse that speech in your mind long before the match is shot. All these things can be seen from the external view, viewed as if videotaped by an outsider. You certainly do not need to exclude one or the other angle of view. You can successfully use both, mixing and matching as you please. Experience will teach you what works best for you, and when.

Troubleshooting visualization You may have noticed that I constantly advocate positive thought. I try to avoid dwelling on mistakes or thinking too much about What could happen if. . . . But in some cases you need to pay attention to potential problems that may arise as you run the stage, and build these into your rehearsal, in an affirmative manner. Let me give you an example. One of your shooting positions requires that you lean into a window to shoot. As you do so, your pistol needs to clear the lower window frame, which can be rather high. Pay attention to this as you walk through the stage. Duri ng the walkthrough, you do not have your gun in your hands, you are only pointing over the window frame with your empty fists. During the real run, you will be holding your pistol and perhaps a long magazine protruding out the bottom. Make sure your motion over the window frame allows even a long magazine to clear without incident. Once you notice this potential problem, use the correct self-talk. Do not say to yourself, "Be careful not to snag the gun on the window frame as I go through." That is negative. It creates an image in your conscious mind of banging the gun on the window ! Instead, say to yourself, "I will move the gun through the window high enough to clear it with my long mag seated." Do you see the difference these two sentences create in the conscious picture? During the walkthrough as you run out of the first position, you may notice a bump in the ground, not easily seen. You should then include this in your rehearsal, and say to yourself, "I will make sure to lift my foot high and move smoothly over that small bump."

Always have a perfect run in your mind When doing your rehearsals, always visualize a successful run. If there are three small steels to hit, visualize them going down as clean as can be. See the correct

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sight picture, hear the hit, see the sight lift perfectly. Gling, gli ng, gling. The more often you visualize a perfect run, the better your chances of making it happen when s hooting for real. Your subconsci ous and sel f-image are paying attention to the gui dance you give them wi th your consci ous visuali zation, so be responsible. See only what you want to happen, not what you fear might happen i f trungs go wrong.

A void watching the shooter ahead of you Try to avoi d watching the shooter immedi ately ahead of you. There are two reasons for trus. Firs t, you might see him do something you decided against, and see him do it well. You may begin to doubt your own tactics and wonder if you should consi der his way, whi ch you may now think is better. But you know i t is too late to make a change, so you are better off not watching hi m shoot. Furthermore, the most powerful visualizati on is that which is not visuali zed at all, but witnessed or experienced. You are trying to keep a very positive mental picture about the s tage. I f you watch the shooter before you, you may see him havi ng a great run. In my opinion that is fine, because i t keeps you trunking about successful shooti ng. But, you also risk witnessing a very bad run, and the last thing you want is to see a shooter missi ng the small plates agai n and again. I t will be very difficult for you to erase that negati ve i mage from your mind as you prepare for your run. You should therefore choose not to watch at all, and rather keep visuali zi ng the perfect run i n your head.

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Manag ing Match Stress Too many Practical shooters view stress and match pressure as something negative. This simply is not true. A certain degree of tension is necessary in order to produce a top performance in almost anything we do. In fact, the only time you would want to be totally relaxed is when you are trying to sleep. In an activity as energetic and explosive as Practical shooting, a state of total relaxation would not be the best condition in which to produce your top performance. On the other hand, it is possible that you can be too stressed and anxious, to the point that it hinders your performance. You therefore need to have control over your level of stress, to raise or lower it as needed, so that you can perform in your optimum stress zone. This may be easier said than done. The first step is to recognize what your optimal level of tension really is. This is very individual. Some shooters perform better when they are pressed hard. Others prefer to be more relaxed. This is one of those things that can only be learnt in the heat of competition, and is another good reason to get out there and compete as often as possible. If you wait to enter your first match until you are good enough to win, you will forever remain on the practice range. Competition experience teaches you many things, and one of them is to identify the right level of stress for you. Stress brings with it a whole array of mental and physical advantages, as well as some disadvantages. The advantages derive from the physiological changes of the fight or flight syndrome, which kick in when we are under extreme anxiety. The adrenalin starts pumping in the blood, and our survival instincts flare up. We become more alert, react quicker, and move faster and with more power. All this benefits our shooting performance, and is necessary for producing our absolute best results. Too often we focus only on the disadvantages of a state of tension. This only serves to increase the level of stress so much that we fulfill our own prophecy of doom, and allow ourselves to go over the top of the stress bell curve. The negative panic syndrome o produced impacts directly on our b ooting performance. We become too anxious, our fine motor skills suffer, delicate precise actions become more difficult to accomplish. Our muscle tension 67

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increases to the stage where we are u nable to make smooth flowing movements, and our timing and visu al inpu t become more erratic and confused. In this state, our ability to shoot accurately and to remember our stage tactics dramatically decreases. So it is clearly important to know where your personal optimu m stress zone lies, and to gain the ability to shift your current level of stress up or down as needed. Performance Level

,_Best Performance

Stress Level Sleepy

Too relaxed

Optimum stress zone

Too anxious

Panicking

f

The classic bell curve of stress vs perormance is shown above. As you can clearly see, total relaxation is not the optimal state. The optimum zone can be widened or narrowed, and can shift left or right depending on the nature of you r acti vity, and personal physiological and mental qualities.

Reducing your stress level on demand Most shooters face _the challenge of staying calm u nder competition pressure. We worry we won't be able to reproduce our top form in the match, and we often find ourselves too nervous to do well. The ability to reli eve this tension is a very important part of producing a good match performance. What do you fear? The first key to reducing anxiety is to understand the reason for it. What actu ally makes us feel so anxious and tense in competition?

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Stress is usually caused by fear. You therefore need to ask yourself, "What do I fear when entering a competition? I s it injury or death? Financial ruin or legal problems? What is it that I fear?" The answer is failure. We fear not doing as well as we expect ourselves to do, and as others expect us to do. We fear that after all the time, effort, and money spent on our sport, we will embarra s ourselves with a poor performance. This is basically what we are afraid of. We are afraid of shooting badly! Remember that you can only consciously think about one thing at a time. You cannot think about missing those small plates again and again if, at the same time, you are visualizing shooting them cleanly. I f you can keep your mind on great shooting, it cannot think about dismal shooting at the same time. Your stress is caused by fe ar. What you fear is poor shooting. Thinking about it causes the level of stress to rise. Therefore, by keeping your mind on positive images of excellent shooting, you keep it occupied and away from thoughts of poor shooting and failure. This in itself greatly improves your ability to control match tension. I t is a powerful tool of conscious mind control, and it becomes more effective with practice. Stress operates like a spiral. This is what often happens: A shooter arrives at the range and feels some tension. Rather than say to himself, "The tension I fe el is normal and positive. I t will allow me to shoot better. I expect to have a great day today!" he says to himself, "Oh no! I fe el match anxiety coming on. I f this gets any worse, I will not be able to perform well. I have to relax or I will shoot badJ y. Relax! Relax! Rel ax!" Of course his mind is now focused on what will happen if he fails. He is thinking about poor shooting, and this causes the tension level to spiral upwards and upwards. Pretty soon it is way above his optimum stress level, and sure enough, he shoots badly on the first stage. He could have avoided all that had he stopped that spiral effect from taking over and moving him over the top of the bell curve. Experience Some people think that top shooters are not challenged by match anxiety. They assume that experience gets the better of tension. Well, nothing is further from the truth. As you become a better shooter, you have more and more invested in your shooting sport. You probably have sponsors who are backing you and waiting for results. Certainly, more people are watching and video taping you on

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the range. Your failure is noticed by many more people. The price of poor shooting has just gone up. Of course, experience does teach you to deal with tension, as it enables you to break the spiral by believing you will do wel l. A champion has a strong self-image about his shooting ability. He comes to the range ex pecting to do well. He therefore thinks about great shooting, and his mindset keeps hi m in the optimum zone. But don't think that years of match experience automaticall y relieve you of match nerves! Ex perience does help in that it eliminates another basic human fear - the fear of the unknown. I f you have only ever shot local matches, you are not quite sure what to expect at a big national level competition. If you have never before experienced an internat ional event, you face a lot of unknowns. This is why it is important to collect all the information you can about the competition and its venue, and visit the range the day before the match. Knowing what to expect helps you relax. You simply eliminate the potentially frightening unknown, and have less to fear.

Identify signs of stress in others I find this to be a very stress-relieving exercise. I look at fellow shooters on the range, and identify their signs of stress: nervous jittering, s tretching, jumping up and down, tight shoulders, shaky laughter, and so on. Then I remind myself that everyone here is dealing wi th match pressure. I remind myself that I am better eq uipped than most to deal with it, because I have a good understanding of how it works, and I can keep my stress level to where it can help, not harm, me. I remind mysel f that the stress I am experiencing is positive and necessary for my match performance. I tell myself, "This is what competition is all about. You enjoy this !" And I focus all my thoughts on how well I am about to shoot !

The mental and physical connection Mental stress has many phys ical symptoms that we all know and experi ence accel erated pulse rate, sweaty hands, rapid shallow breathing, muscl e tension, dry mouth, and so on. When we are under mental stress, our body show physical reactions. The less known fact is that this link works well in the reverse direction too. I f we can control some of the phys ical symptoms, we can reduce the mental stress causing them.

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Thi s is the most useful anti-stress tool available, and it can easily be implemented. The principle i s simple: by loweri ng your breathi ng rate and mu cle tension, you reduce your physiologi cal/physi cal tensi on, thereby reduci ng your mental stress as well. It has been well documented and scientifically proven that you cannot experience anxiety whi le you are physically relaxed. You cannot be on opposite ends of the physiologi cal- mental spectrum at the same ti me. I f your body i s calm, you cannot be mentally stressed out. Thi s i s a useful connecti on, because physi cal tension i s easi er to control than mental anx i ety. In order for this technique to work well for you, you first need to practice at home under relaxed conditi ons. We all know that just telli ng our body, when under pressure, to "Relax! Relax ! Relax!" does not always work too well. To increase your abi lity to relax your body on demand, you need to create an associ ation i n your mind. You want your body and mind to associ ate a word or a simple acti on with a feeling of relax ati on and calm. A feeli ng with which you wi ll become fami li ar away from the range, i n the comfort of your home, through breathing and muscle relaxation exercises. Breathing exercises Controlli ng your breathing i s the key to reducing physi ological stress. One of the very first syndromes of stress is rapi d shallow breathing. Thi s in itself contri butes to the snowballi ng effect of anxiety a we experi ence a suffocating feeli ng when we breathe too shallow. This i s one of the most stressful feelings a human being can have. It is not by chance that cracki ng under pressure i s often referred to as "choking". We do literally choke! The fastest way to bri ng someone to a state of pani c i s to cut off their air supply. Even the smallest interruption to our breathi ng i s enough to increase stress levels at a subconsci ou level. Breathi ng correctly, slowly and deeply, allows you to combat the rapi d shallow type breathi ng brought on by stress. You regai n control of your oxygen and carbon di oxi de balance. Thi s feeling of control contri butes greatly to di spersi ng the anxiety associ ated with stress.

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To become more efficient in controlling your breathing under stress, do the following exercise daily: Find a comfortable quiet spot where you will not be disturbed for 10 minutes. It is best to lie fl at on your back, with your head supported. Allow your arms to rest naturally at your sides. Keep your legs straight, with your feet about 10 inches apart. Inhale slowly and as deeply as you can without discomfort. Count to 4 as you inhale, a slow regular pace lasting about 4 seconds. I magine your lungs filling up with sweet life-giving oxygen. Hold your breath for the count of 4. Count slowly, at about a 4 second pace. This should be a comfortable pause. You should not feel stressed to breathe again. Exhale slowly and calmly, again counting fr om l to 4. Do not blow out, but rather just allow the air to escape through your lips. As you breathe out, chant to yourself a key word which you learn to associate with the calm breathing you are rehearsing. You can use the word Slowly, or Calm. As you exhale, feel the tension exiting your body along with the air. As you feel the tension going out of your chest and diaphragm, allow your entire body to relax further. Repeat this cycle for several minutes. Do not rush or force your breathing. Do not worry if the pace is not precisely at 4 second intervals. Continue to focus on the relaxing sensation of slow breathing. Each time you exhale imagine the tension leaving you, and say to yourself your key word Slowly. During a match you may not have the time or a suitable place to do this exercise. But you will not need to. After a few weeks of rehearsing your breathing exercises, you will create a subconscious association between your key word and the sensation of relaxation you experience while doing this exercise. All you need to do on the range is take a few slow deep breaths and say to yourself as you exhale, Slowly. You will feel your breathing slowing down, and the tension leaving your body. This breathing exercise becomes even more effective when combined with muscle relaxation exercises.

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Muscle relaxation exercises It is best to do muscl e rel axation in conjunction with your breathing exercises. After 7-10 minutes of breathing slowly, you will feel very calm and relaxed as you lie in your peaceful place. Now begin to practice relaxing your muscles: Relax your body as much as you can. Continue to breathe deeply at a slow measured pace. Focus your attention on the muscles of your right leg. Lift the l eg 1 0 inches off the ground/bed/sofa, contract the muscl es, and hold it up for 10 seconds. Graduall y let it go. Allow the l eg to slowly drop back to the ground as you release tension from the muscles. Concentrate on the relaxed sensation of your leg. Experience what it feels like - heavy, warm, and totally rel axed. Allow your l eg to rest for 10 seconds as you concentrate on the rel axed sensation. As you do so, give yourself another key phrase. Release or Let loose seem appropriate. Then, repeat the process for the same muscle group in your l eft leg. Contract the muscles tightly and hold your l eg off the ground for as long as you can (until the muscles start trembling). Gradually release, and focus on the wonderful relaxing sensation. Say to yourself, Release. Repeat this twice for each body area. Start with the right l eg, continue with the l eft, buttocks and thighs, stomach, back and neck, ri ght arm, and l eft arm. Each time contract the muscles for at least 10 seconds, and then gradually release. Allow yourself to rest for 1 0 seconds or so, and focus your attention on the warm relaxation of the muscl es. Say to yourself, Release. Finally, contract all the muscl es together. Your back arches up off the ground, your fists are clenched tightly, and even your face muscles are contorted. Hold for as long as you can, then say, Release. Lie peacefully and concentrate on the total relaxation of your body and your slow rhythmic breathing. Enjoy this sensation for a few minutes. Stand up slowl y, and return to your daily routine. You will feel reenergized and rested. The entire routine, including the breathing exercises, shoul d take no more than 1 5-20 minutes. After practicing this daily routine for only a couple of weeks, you will be ready to take advantage of the mental and physical connection. When you feel tense

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and anxious in a match, take a few deep breaths and say to yourself, Slowly. Then, make a ti ght fist and flex all the muscles i n your strong arm. Hold for a few seconds and release slowly. As you release, say to yourself, Release. As you do so, you will feel the tension leaving your entire body! Although your focus was only on your strong arm, your entire body reacts and loosens up due to the subconsci ous association you have created through practi ce. If you are someone who worries about match stress and feels i t has prevented you from reaching your potenti al, this i s the answer. I submi t to you, that i f you do these breathing and muscle relaxati on exerci ses every day for 2-3 weeks, you wi ll be able to relax and control excess tension i n competi tion. You wi ll finally be able to reach your potential under pressure, on demand.

Increasing your stress level on demand This may sound i nconcei vable to some - the need to purposely i ncrease your tensi on level i n a match. But i t certainly can happen. After all, as the bell curve shows, you can be below your optimum performance level, as well as above it. Consider a wrestler or boxer, whose coach slaps hi m hard across the face as he goes i nto the ring. The purpose for this i s to get him aggressive and the adrenali n pumping. Of course, i t would be difficult to imagine IPSC shooters slapping each other before going i nto a match, but you get my meani ng. Bei ng too relaxed prevents you from exploiti ng your full strength and speed. You do not gain the advantages of the adrenalin release, and you do not push yourself to the limi t. Thi s can happen when you have lost interest in the match. Perhaps you have already lost more points than you bargai ned for, or experienced massi ve gun problems. You feel you no longer care about the result. Or perhaps i t happens late i n the day, when you are physically tired and possi bly a little dehydrated. Whatever the reas on, i t i s important to remember that your goal should always be to shoot the stage you are faci ng as best you can. What happened previously, or what wi ll take place later, i s of no consequence ri ght now. You need to maximize your performance on THIS stage. I t is possible you may need to rai se your level of tension. A feeling of apathy, boredom, or drowsi ness, cannot be tolerated as you prepare to shoot. You need to fire yourself up. Here are some techniques for doing this:

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Think back on the hard work you have invested Remind yourself of all the long hours you have spent practicing for this match. Think back over the practice sessions. Remind yourself that all the preparation was done for NOW. Remind yourself bow much this match means to you, and how much effort you have already put into it. Track the points Get involved in the points. Find out exactly where you are in the standings. If you are out of the race for first place, find those competitors who are immediately in front and behind you. Get interested in at least beating them. Don't allow yourself to think, "Finishing I i111 or 8th is equally disappointing to me. I don't care where I finish." Channel your energy back into the match by regarding the last stages as a separate competition. You can even decide to run a separate score sheet for those last few stages, in which you compare your scores to the match leaders. Challenge yourself to beat them on the last stages. Challenge yourself Make tactical decisions on the stages that will keep you challenged and interested. Perhaps take a few more risks than you usually do. Challenge yourself to shoot the next stage with no more than 4 points down. Challenge yourself to shoot clean across the steel. Nutrition and hydration Nutrition and hydration can play a major role in causing a feeling of apathy and fatigue. Make sure you drink enough, preferably cold liquids. Eat small portions during the entire day, so you do not need to digest a heavy meal. Eat some energy snacks to raise your blood sugar level. Use the physical and mental connection in reverse I ncrease your mental stress level by increasing your physical stress level. Tighten your muscles, and maintain some tension in your shoulders and arms. Do some short fast sprints, pushing yourself to your top speed. Hop around, to warm up your muscles. In essence, "slap yourself across the face".

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The Mental Games We Play Unfortunately, for some shooters, gaming seems to be part of the sport. You can often affect the way someone performs by telling them the right thing at the right time - or the wrong thing at the wrong time. Since our matches go oo for so long, and rivals spend many long hours together, there is ample opportunity to try and affect your opponent' s performance. Mental games work because they get you thinking about things other than your performanc e. Rather than keeping your focus on what makes you perform best, the psych-out artist will have you thinking about him, or bow well you are shooting compared to others, or a flaw in your technique that he has "graciously" pointed out. He is trying to help you, of course. I believe this should not be tolerated, but it is impossible to control. In fac t, some competitors do this to others without even realizing what they are doing. Ultimately, what matters is not what you say to someone, but what you cause him to think. Saying anything that sets your rival thinking negatively is detrimental to his performance. Some competitors are well aware of this, and use it purposely. Others do it innocently. But the damage is done. Many considerations determine how effec tively gaming can be used against an individual. To a large degree it depends on your confidence and focus. How important it is for you to look good in the eyes of others. Are you constantly worried what others think of you? Do you compare yourself to others all the time? Are you internally or externally focused? Are you seeking approval and respec t from others as you perform, or are you intent only on meeting your own inner goals?

The games Planting doubt The first shooter on the Super Squad walks back from a stage with a fast swinger and "innocently" says to the others, "Man, that swinger is fast! I t's almost impossible to get there in time if you shoot that other target first. This is really tough. Take c are there!"

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He is seemingly giving good advice and fair warning to the others. He is offering his help. Or is he? In fact, what he has just done is plant doubt in the minds of those waiting to shoot, whether or not they should attempt what they have already set their sights on. His one comment c an cause an avalanche of self-talk - which c an easily be negative self-talk if you do not control it. "Wow, is that swinger really so fast? I thought there was enough time when I looked at it. Perhaps not, it does seem rather tough from here. " (You are probably standing 3 times further away from it than you will be when you engage it.) "If so and so thought it was so tough who am I to attempt it? Maybe I should c hange my plan? Maybe I c an't do it?" So you end up either changing your t actics to a slower solution, or you go ahead with a little less confidenc e and a little more self-doubt. But once you recognize this comment for what it probably is, you c an protect yourself against the effects. You c an tell yourself, "I' ve timed it, and I know I can do it. lf so and so is trying to tric k me - too bad for him. And if he really couldn' t make it - well, I guess he' s just slower than I am!" Commenting on performance Seemingly innocent comments about your shooting c an be an intentional attempt at psyching out. "Your gun seems to be moving around a lot when you shoot. Have you changed your load?" or, "Seems like you got a real bad grip on the draw there. I hope that doesn' t happen to you again. " Comments like these force you to analyze mistakes you may or may not really be making. Either way, mi dmatch is not the time to try and improve your recoil control. If your gun is moving around a lot, so be it. You c an still shoot well by staying focused on your sights. But this kind of comment makes you realize that the others are watching you closely when you shoot, and that in itself c an be disconcerting if you are unaccustomed to the attention. Especially when such a comment comes from a top shooter you admire. You will find yourself standing on the line trying to look good for so-and-so, rather than allowing your mind to focus on what makes you shoot well. Causing thoughts of ranking and match outcome "You're shooting great! If you keep this up, you' ll be the winner!" A comment like this, which may or may not be said in malice, will set the shooter off imagining what it would be like to win the match. If b e has a very strong

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self-image and believes he should win anyway, such a comment causes no harm. Bu t if the shooter is an up- and-coming champion, who may be battling his way to his first big title - the last thing he wants is to focus on winning the match. He is not yet convinced and comfortable with the notion that he should win. He can' t imagine beating all the champions he admires. Once he achieves his fi rst win, the boost to his self-image makes him a much more dangerous rival, but until that time, a comment like this can really break his focus, and cause his match to take a tum for the worse. Reporting fake scores When asked about their scores, some shooters are in the habit of lying. They say 12.50, when in fact their time was 14.50. Or they may go the other way and tell you about mi sses they did not actually have. They do anything to confuse their competitors and hide their true score. In reality, this is not too effective in confusing the true score keeper, as anyone

worth his salt in score keeping will want to see the score sheet himself, check the verify list or ask the RO. But on the spur of the moment, a shooter can be thrown off balance if he thinks someone shot so much faster than he did.

Keep in mind that your competitor's performance has very little to do with you. Whether he shot particularly well or particularly badly does not impact you at all. You still have to go out there, and do what it is you came to do. Do not check anyone' s scores just before you are up to shoot. That can only set you thinking in the wrong direction. You have plenty of time to compare scores when you have finished shooting.

Defend yourself The best way to render the psyching-out game ineffective is not to play ego games at all. In others words, truly not to care how you look in the eyes of others, or what others think, or say they think, about you and your performance. Focusing on your own performance makes all external comments irrelevant. Of course, this is much easier said than done. We are all social beings, and most of us care dearly what others think of us. Especially if they are people we hold in high esteem, l ike the champions in our sport. The best defense against gaming is to recognize it for what it is, and what it is trying to achieve. Once you realize this, you can work to control the situation, and avoid the mental shift that the psych-out is trying to achieve. 78

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Trust no one When you are shooting in a big match, trust no one. Even though you may be pals with all the members of your squad today they are your competitors, and they want to beat you.

It is a real asset to have a true friend on your squad. Someone you trust and with whom you can let your guard down and relax. It would be better if that person was not in direct competition with you, perhaps shooting in another division, or maybe a spectator. Certainly not all the members of your squad are "out to get you", but why take the chance. Be friendly, but keep up your guard. Expect these little games to be played. Identifying them for what they are is half the solution to fouling their harmful intentions Consciously work at controlling your self-talk Remember, it is not what is said to you that matters, but what it causes you to think. Do not allow your mind to wander off in directions you know can be harmful. Do not allow yourself to think negatively. Do not allow yourself to feel doubts about a tactical decision once it bas been made. Do not think about match results, unless that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside, in which case, by all means, go there. Do not worry about how you look to others and who is watching or not watching you. Stay focused on the quality of your shooting, and feast on your good results. Do not dwell on your failures. Control your self-talk! Use ear defenders (muffs) There is very little that a competitor has to say to you in a match that is really beneficial. I am not saying you need to shut yourself off and be antisocial throughout the match. (Although some very good shooters are known to do just that.) But especially while you are preparing to shoot, it is advisable to avoid talking to anyone, or have them talking to you. They may not mean you any harm, but they can hurt your performance by saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. Listening to music under your ear protection is a very good way to shut everything out. Listen to something that makes you feel happy and confident. Or perhaps listen to something that "pumps you up", if that is what you feel you need. In any case, wearing a pair of headphones with some wires sticking out and sitting off to the side should be enough to discourage anyone from approaching you to make conversation.

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You certainly can and should allow yourself some up and down time during the match. You do not need to keep the same intense focus the entire day. But make sure that it is you who controls when the ups and downs occur!

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Goal Setting It is a well-documented fact that people who set goals in life achieve more than people who don't. It is also a fact that champions set goals to become champions. No one wins by accident ! One wins through dedication to training and progress, while remaining focused on achieving a specific goal. Setting a goal allows you to put what you want into focus and identify a clear target. This is a very powerful motivator that will keep you on track through the months of effort as you work towards your goal. Setting a goal is also necessary for building a training program. If your program is not geared towards a specific goal, it becomes pointless, and lacks a time frame. Simply wanting something does not make it a goal. My goal is to shoot better next year is not a good goal statement. You need to be more specific. You need to choose a goal that means something to you, on a personal level. Something that moves you emotionally. That is why a good goal needs to be your personal goal. Not faked or pretended. If you try to achieve something because someone else wants you to, chances are you will not be as motivated. A goal is not a goal until you have written a detailed plan how to achieve it, and taken the decision to commit yourself. Until then, it remains a "wish". Choosing the right goal is critical, and considerable thought should go into the goal selection process. But one thing is very clear: goals that are never set are never reached!

Choosing the right shooting goal for you The first step is to set the correct goal. This must realistically take into account your current level of shooting, and the amount of time (and money) you can dedicate to your sport. A true goal has to have a date attached. Without a date, there is no time frame in which to build your plan to achieve that goal. A short term goal can be weeks away, a long term goal, years. And certainly more than one goal can coexist simultaneously. A C class shooter can goal set to win his class at the State championships in 6 weeks' time, and simultaneously goal set to win the National championships in 2 years' time. As long as be has a separate scheduled plan for each, these two goals can run side by side. 82

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If you set a goal which is too easily accomplished, you lose interest and motivation. You rightfully feel you can achieve that goal without following the plan. A goal set too low does not keep you working to achieve it, and defeats the entire purpose of goal setting. If you set the goal too high, and build a realistic plan to achieve it, chances are the plan is unworkable and will be discarded. For instance, a C level shooter with one year's shooting experience, setting a goal to win the World Championships in 1 2 months' time, will have a real problem realizing his goal. In order to have even a chance at winning the World Shoot, he probably has to shoot 20 international matches, 40 local matches, 300,000 rounds in practice to get his skill level up to the required standard - and all this in one year. The plan is unworkable, and therefore will not be followed. It is not a well-set goal for this individual, and cannot be achieved. You need to set a goal that motivates and excites you, and is within reach over the set period of time. List why this goal is important to you Once you have set your sights on a particular goal, you need to ask yourself, "Why this? Why is this important to me? What will I gain if I achieve this goal?" In our sport, the answer is rarely money or fame. You can be an IPSC World Champion, and still be broke and unknown. We each have our own reasons for competing and our personal payback for achieving success. You need to be very clear, at least to yourself, exactly why you are willing to invest so much. You do not have to justify it to others, but you need to clarify it for yourself. When you look at your detailed plan, ask yourself if it is worth the effort to you. List what needs to be done to achieve your goal Most likely you need to do several things to achieve your goal. List them in as much detail as possible. If you need to buy new equipment, list the items, and the cost. If you need to gain more experience in international or large national competitions, specify which competitions you will attend, and the cost in money and time. Examine your training needs. How many hours of range time and how much ammo is needed? Where and when will you do these practice sessions? Do you need to improve your physical condition? How do you plan to do that?

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You may find that you do not exactly know what is needed. Or you may not be sure t hat you have thought of everything. In this case, you should seek the advice of a more experienced competitor or coach. A good coach should be able to analyze your shooting and have a pretty good idea what you need to do in order to reach your goal. He can also give you his opinion regarding your choice of goal, and t he time frame you set yourself to reach it. It is better to approach someone you know. A coach or e xperienced shooter who is famil iar with your match experience and learning curve, is better suited to give you advice.

Write your detailed plan to overcome obstacles Draw up a detailed plan to overcome each obstacle you listed. You will find that your goal setting process and training schedule are intertwined. If you need $5000 for a new race gun or trave l expenses, detail your plan to acqui re that money. Perhaps you will work extra hours, or deci de to use a savings account. Whatever it is, write it down. List the matches you plan to attend in preparation for your goal match. Calculate the cost to do this, in money and time. Take into account your leave allocation from work. Do you need more leave days? How do you plan to get that? Carefully analyze your present shooting level, and decide which areas in your game require improvement. Detail the training schedule, and the content of the sessions for building up your shooting skills. Calculate the amount of ammo nee ded, and the cost. Put as much det ail as possible into the plan, and schedule all the traini ng sessions and matches on a calendar, from now until your goal date.

Review your plan Take a step back, and a long hard look at your plan. Does it seem workable to you, or do you feel you won' t be able to stick to it? Does the plan call for too large a fi nancial investment, or can that money be raised and spent on your shooting? Have you allowed sufficient days for traveling to matches, and can you get to the range often enough to complete all the practice sessions you have listed? And there is one more important question you need to ask yourself: Do you feel the effort is worth it? Does achieving the goal mean that much to you? If the answer to all the above is yes, then you have chosen your goal successfully, and are well on your way to achieving it!

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Keep on track Keep your goal and your plan at hand, and review them often. You should think about your goal as often as possible, and always in a confident positive manner. Think about your goal as if you have already achieved it, and allow yourself to fantasize freely what that feels like. Review your detailed plan regularly, and compare your progress to the goal plan. Are you on track? Do you need to adjust or improve your preparation? One of the main advantages of training with a specific goal in mind is that it keeps you motivated and focused on your training. It is even more effective when you think about your goal every time you train. At the end of each practice session, copy your goal into your shooting diary , and write it as if it has already been achieved: / am the 2005 Steel Challenge Champion.

Types of goals You can work towards two types of goals, ranking goals and performance goals. A ranking goal is To be the 2005 World Champion in the Open Division, or To

win the 2006 Arizona State Championships in Production.

In order to achieve a ranking goal, you have to reach a particular ranking in a particular match. In a way, ranking goals are easier to work towards than performance goals, as they are straightforward and their achievement is absolute. If you win your match, you have achieved your goal. If you do not win the match, you have failed to achieve the goal. The disadvantage of ranking goals is that they depend on the performance of others, and over this you have no control. You may choose your goal correctly, and work perfectly towards it. You may shoot your best match ever, but still be beaten by someone who set the same goal as you did, and shot better. You need to keep your expectations realistic and understand there are others out there, equally dedicated, preparing to win the same match that you are. If you arrive well prepared, shoot a great match, and get beaten by a superior rival, accept that graciously. Don't feel defeated ! The other type of goal you can work towards is a performance goal. Here you gauge your success or fail ure by your own performance, not compared to anyone else, only in comparison with yourself.

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You can choose several criteria by which to measure your success: • Optimal match stress level. • Error-free match with no tactical or mental errors. • Good points without a single delta, or perhaps not dropping more than 5 points on any stage. • Shooting all stages within 1 0% of the stage winner. (This is partially a ranking goal, but not entirely.) • Calling shots and having visual control. • Positive mindset. These performance criteria are dependent only on you and your shooting, and are not affected by any other competitor. Making them your goal can do wonders for your shooting. However, performance goals do tend to be a little less exciting than ranking goals, and lack a strong motivating factor.

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Building a Training Program for Practical Shooting A champion shooter often inspires others to copy him. They try to du plic ate his success by u sing the same equipment he uses, wearing the same c lothes he wears, and employing the same techniques to shoot. In essence, this is what makes sponsorship possible for the c hampions. Manufacturers know that many others want to use the gear a champion uses. After all, - everyone, without exception, wants to be a winner. What most people fail to realize, however, is that a champion is not made triumphant by his match equipment, the clothes he is wearing, or the technique he is using to draw or reload. What sets a champion apart is what he has been doing before the event, in the weeks, months, and years leading up to the big c hampionship. To a large degree, the match has already been won or lost before it begins. He who invests in a superior training program, and arrives at match day better prepared technically, mentally, and tactically, is poised for victory. That is what the others need to emul ate.

Principles of a comprehensive training program A training program b as only one purpose: to enable you to achieve the goal for which it was created. It does not have to be easy or fun, although these are considerable advantages. Its sole purpose is to schedule and time you r progress, so that you reach your goal date at the peak of your ability. Training bec omes more effec tive when a goal is clearly defined. One' s learning ability is greatly increased when you are strongly motivated, as anyone who is studying what be really wants to, knows. Since achieving our goal has a personal pay value to us, we are motivated to reach it, and are better geared to working the training program. Going out to shoot on a rainy day or sweating in the gym is not always fun. It is hard to do if you are not well motivated. Therefore, goal setting is at the heart of any training program. A training program should take up as little time and money as possible, while still remaining effective. We all have interests in our lives besides shooting, and a training program that demands too much of your time and resources is doomed to be discarded. Pay close attention to this factor when you draw u p your

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traini ng program. ls it workable? Will you be able to persist over the long haul? If not, it should be modified from the start, and possibly an adjustment made to your goals as well. A training program needs to be written down and often reviewed. While the intention is to follow it to the letter, you need to maintain some degree of flexibility, and allow for c hanges along the way. You may find you need to spend more time than antic ipated on one skill or another. Or you may be forced to change your travel or match schedule due to unforeseen factors. While you should make an effort to stick to the plan, be realistic and make adjustments as you go along to keep your plan workable and on track. Your training program needs to cover all the elements of your shooting, not onl y technique. Include your physic al preparation in your program as well. Which sports activities are you doing to improve your physical conditioning? When do you do mental training, and what exac tly are you doing to build mental skills? This too should be built into your program. Since mental and physical training c an be done away from the range, prac tic ally anywhere and at any time, many people simply do not see the need to schedule them. But if it is not a written in your program, chances are it won't be done! Evaluate your mental and physical abilities in the same way you do your technical abilities, and make them part of your training program. The training program should be built to strengthen your weaknesses, while maintaining your strengths. Too many shooters are in the habit of always practicing skills they are already good at. They do not give much thought to their training program each time they come to the range, and natura! J y gravitate to prac tice the things they enj oy. These tend to be the skills t hey are good at. One characteristic setting champions apart is that they deliberately work at refining their shooting skills until they have no significant weakness in their repertoire. This is not achieved by always having fun. It is achieved by taking a long hard look at your current level in each skill area, and designating more practice time to improving weaknesses. In this way you will be prepared to handle anything a match designer throws at you, and still stay with the front runners in the competition.

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PART ill: PREPARATION

As you work through your training program, it is important to keep your focus on quality of performance, and not the score. Do not concentrate only on the timer, forsaking all else. You need to experience your shooting, pay attention to what you see as you shoot, and how you feel. This can be difficult if you train with partners who are very competitive. Keep in mind that a training program is not about beating anyone. It is about improving your skills and your abilities. Even though your goal may be a ranking goal, and achieving it depends on defeating others in competition, it is important that you do not allow winning to become the focus of your practice sessions. Work on quality of performance, and the ranking success will follow. Your training is more effective if you focus your attention on yourself, not on others. A training program helps you avoid over- or under-training. By scheduling your practice sessions well in advance, you will be able to stick to your plan, and not get sucked into excessive training due to external influences or self-drive. Over-training can be a real problem and can severely impair your match preparation. It happens without warning, and can be hard to bounce back from. Under-training also occurs when there is no scheduled plan in place. A few weeks before your goal match, you suddenly realize there is too much to do in too little time, and it is too late for changes. It is important that your training program includes various levels of intensity. You should not train with the same intensity the whole year round. This is a sure road to burnout, and to losing interest in your shooting. Vary your practice sessions. If you normally train three times a week, 600 rounds in total, go to the range only twice during some weeks and shoot only 300 rounds. At other times have four or five practice sessions and shoot more ammo. Apply a training program of varying intensity to your physical and mental regime as well. Spend more time on physical conditioning during off season than you do in peak competition season, when you want more time on the range. Spend more time on mental preparation during the weeks leading up to your goal event, than during the off season with no scheduled matches. As you plan your weekly practice sessions, keep in mind that short recurrent sessions are more effective than long irregular ones. You should not train 7 days a week under any circumstances, but three or four sessions are a lot more

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effective than only one or two, even if the same amount of ammunition is shot and the same number of hours invested. Your annual season should include a period in which you do not shoot at all. An off season, if you will. This can be one, two, or possibly three months, although that may be excessive. You need this time to reflect on the past season and recharge for the next. During this time you can have new guns made, or make changes to your gear. You should increase the intensity of your physical training, so you start the new season fit and ready to go. You want to get "hungry" again for shooting. You want to really feel the need to go down to the range. A break is crucial to achieving this feeling, and you will be more focused and motivated once the training season begins. Do not skip this break to try and get a head start over the competition. That may well cause you to burn out in rnidseason, and the others to pass you by. Do whatever possible to share your range time with the best shooting partners you can find. If you are serious about training to become a better shooter, it is very helpful to practice with others who share your intensity and drive. It is very hard to keep on track if you train with guys who just want to have fun. The best training partner you can have is someone following a training program similar to yours. And if he is at a higher level than you - all the better. Nothing accelerates progress more than being surrounded by a higher level of performance.

Steps to building a training program A good training program must be planned, written down, and scheduled. Follow these steps to ensure you build a comprehensive program: 1 . Set your goal: As mentioned above, your goal is at the heart of any training program. Your goal determines the intensity of your training schedule, and keeps you motivated and focused on following your schedule. Give your goal setting process serious thought. The whole program will be built around it. 2. List the matches you will attend: As you schedule your program, decide which matches you plan to shoot in preparation for your target match. The dates of these matches determine your competition season in your annual training program, and influence the content of your practice sessions. Of course, you aim to do well in any match you attend, but keep in mind that these matches are particularly in preparation for your target match. Do not schedule so many matches that you get tired or 90

PART ill: PREPARATION

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

bored. If you spend too much time, energy, and money attending matches, you may not have sufficient resources for traini ng. Analyze your current level: Establish a baseline of your current performance level in every aspect of your shooting. How physically fit are you now, and how fit would you like to be for your big match? How proficient are you in your mental skills? What training do you need? And of course, analyze your technical shooting skills. Determine what needs to be done to achieve your goal: Once you have objectively analyzed your current level, you are ready to specify the training that needs to be done. How much time do you need to spend on improving your accuracy? What about speed and other technical skills? What are your priorities? List training dates and times: Work with your annual calendar and mark the dates and times you will be able to train. Use different colors to indicate time slots for range time, physical training, mental training, and dry fire. You may be surprised to see how few range sessions you actually have before your goal match. Decide the contents of each session: List the contents of each training session. You may decide to adjust this as you go along, but stipulate preliminary contents for each. Take into account your annual training load in each area. During match season increase practice that prepares you to compete ( shoot more complex stages, do match simulations, and a lot of mental training). At the beginning of the season work more on technique, lots of physical training, and perhaps less mental. Experiment with techniques when there is plenty of time to reverse or implement changes. List all the assets needed: Review your scheduled matches and training sessions, and compile a list of resources. The amount of ammunition, targets, and other equipment required, the cost involved in shooting all the matches listed, the time needed to complete it all. Cut back if necessary. Step back and evaluate: Is your training program workable? Are you able to invest that much, and do you want to? Is the achievement worth the price? Does achieving your goal mean that much to you? If it does, and you feel you can carry through this plan, you are ready to proc eed. Adjust as you go: You may need to change your plan as you work your way through it. Don' t be too stubborn. While you should try to keep on track, nothing is perfect, and you have to roll with the punches. Do not allow yourself to give up or lose your positive outlook just because you

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could not go to a practic e session or two. Try to work around it. I find it helpful to keep my training program on a computerized file, so that updates and c hanges are easy to make. 10. Keep your training program handy and review it often : Print out your training program and carry it around with you in your shooting diary. Leave a copy in your desk at work. Review it at least once a week. It will help you to keep your eye on the goal. 1 1. Keep a finger on the pulse of your motivation: Even though the trai ning schedule should prevent any over-training, it is possible you have bitten off more than you c an chew. Your program may seem workable, when, in fact, it is too demanding. After a while you may find yourself questioning why you are doing all this. You may begin to consider the work excessive for the prize. If this is the c ase, you need to adjust your plan, and reduce the intensity. Forcing yourself to continue at the same pace, going to the range when you really don' t want to, does not produc e quality training. Remember that poor practice is worse than no practic e at all. A short break may be required to get you remotivated.

Deciding what to practice In order for your training program to prepare you properly, you must decide on which elements to spend more time. You need to know what to practic e. Should you invest more time improving your prone shooting ability, or rather work on your mid to long range splits? In order to make these decisions, you have to obj ectively evaluate your current level in each required skill. Not only technical skill, but physical and mental skills as well. When you evaluate your skills, compare them to your ability in other fields, not to the performance level of someone else. If you are a B class shooter, all your skills are probably at a lower level than a GM level shooter. You need to examine yourself, not others. You need to evaluate your proficiency in, say, shooting on the move, compared to your ability to execute other IPSC skills. Make a list of as many shooting skills as you can. A computer spreadsheet is great for this, as it allows you to sort the data you will later need. The longer your list, the more prec isely the skills c an be evaluated and developed. Give yourself a score from 1 to 10 for each skill. You c an use half numbers too if you like. Your strongest skills should get scores close to 10. Remember: you are evaluating a level compared to that of your other skills, not compared to that of the world c hampion!

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On a scale of 1 to 1 0, list how important you think each skill is in an IPSC match. Not aJI skills are used to the same extent, so some may be less critical than others. For example, being a great prone shooter only affects your score on perhaps 2-4% of the shots fired in a match. But improving your accuracy ability benefits you on most shots fired. The following list is an example only, and includes a very partial list of skills. Your list could well include 50 or more elements. Try to analyze your shooting into the smallest elements you can, and evaluate each one separately.

Current level

Importance

Technical shooting Accuracy shooting Entering shooting boxes Exiting shooting positions Kneeling shooting Long range splits Prone shooting Reloading Shooting on the move Shooting swingers Strong hand shooting Target acquisitions The draw Top speed shooting Weak hand shooting

8.5 8.0 8.0 7.5 7.0 5.5 8.5 6.0 4.5 8.0 7.5 7.0 9.0 6.0

1 0.0 8.0 8.0 6.0 9.0 5.0 7.5 6.0 8.0 8.0 9.0 8.5 8.0 6.0

Mental skills Controlling match stress Mental rehear al Positive self- talk Relaxation

4.0 8.0 4. 0 4.0

1 0.0 8.0 9.0 9.0

IPSC Skills

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THINKING PRACTICAL SHOOTING

Physical conditioning F lexibility General fitness Strength training

8.0 5.0 5.0

9.0 8.0 7.0

Using this data, you can now build a training index. This essentially indicates which e le ments require the most work. The training index takes into account the level of importance you give this element and your current level of competence. Create the training index by first calculating an inverted level for each skill (subtract your current level from 10, the highest possible level), and multiply that result by the level of importance. The lower your level in a particular skill and the higher you rate its importance, the higher the training index.

A

B

Current level

Technical Shooting Accuracy shooting Entering shooting boxes Exiting shooting positions Kneeling shooting Long range splits Prone shooting Reloading Shooting on the move Shooting swingers Strong hand shooting Target acquisitions The draw Top speed shooting Weak hand shooting Mental skills Controlling match stress Mental rehearsal Positive self-talk Relaxation

IPSC Skills

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Importance

C Inverted level (10-A)

D Training index (B*C)

8.5 8.0 8.0 7.5 7.0 5.5 8.5 6 .0 4.5 8. 0 7.5 7.0 9.0 6.0

10.0 8.0 8.0 6.0 9.0 5.0 7.5 6.0 8.0 8.0 9 .0 8.5 8.0 6.0

1.5 2.0 2.0 2.5 3.0 4.5 1.5 4.0 5.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 1. 0 4. 0

15.0 16.0 16.0 15.0 27.0 22.5 11.3 24.0 44. 0 1 6.0 22.5 25.5 8.0 24.0

4.0 8.0 4. 0 4.0

10.0 8.0 9.0 9.0

6.0 2.0 6.0 6.0

60.0 16. 0 54.0 54.0

PART ill: PREPARATION

Physical conditioning Flexibility General fi tness Strength training

8.0 5.0 5.0

9.0 8.0 7.0

2.0 5.0 5.0

1 8.0 40.0 35.0

The higher the training index, the more attention and time that element should receive in your training sessions. In this way you will focus on what needs to be worked on, not only what is fun to shoot! Data in your spreadsheet can be sorted according to the training index, giving you the following useful table:

Current level

Importance

Inverted level

Training index

Technical Shooting Shooting swingers Long range splits The draw Shooting on the move W eak hand shooting Prone shooting Target acquisitions Entering shooting boxes Exiting shooting positions Strong hand shooting Accuracy shooting Kneeling shooting Reloading Top speed shooting

4.5 7.0 7.0 6.0 6.0 5.5 7.5 8.0 8.0 8.0 8.5 7.5 8.5 9.0

8.0 9.0 8.5 6.0 6.0 5.0 9.0 8.0 8.0 8.0 1 0.0 6.0 7.5 8.0

5.5 3.0 3.0 4.0 4.0 4.5 2.5 2.0 2.0 2.0 1 .5 2.5 1 .5 1 .0

44.0 27.0 25.5 24.0 24.0 22.5 22.5 1 6.0 1 6.0 1 6.0 1 5.0 1 5.0 1 1 .3 8.0

Mental skills Controlling match stress Positive self-talk Relaxation skills Mental rehearsal

4.0 4.0 4.0 8.0

1 0.0 9.0 9.0 8.0

6.0 6.0 6.0 2.0

60.0 54.0 54.0 1 6.0

IPSC Skills

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THINKING PRACTICAL SHOOTING

Physical conditioning General fitness Strength training Flexibility

5.0 5.0 2.0

8.0 7.0 9.0

5.0 5.0 8.0

40.0 35.0 1 8.0

The training index tool is useful when you want to get a detailed view of your current performance level. If you are not sure of the importance of each element, ask more experienced shooters for advice, or review matches you have competed in and see how often each element comes into play. Break down the shooting into as many elements as you can, so your .List is as long as possible. Try to be objective as you score your current level in each skill.

The training load It is vital you do not train at the same intensity the whole year round. This is a sure way to lose interest and burn out. Once your motivation deteriorates, the qua.Lity of your training does too. You can avoid this by varying the intensity of training each element receives in your training program. The following chart shows an option for varying intensity of the three main elements in a training program: technical, mental, and physical. Training intensity varies at different stages of the training season. Training Load

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