Sport Psychology in Silhouette

[Innocent]

All good points. Trent, I do not believe that Lanny is a Psychologist either, but he learned and has been practicing the mental end of the game after an early entry into the olympics, where he figured out why he lost the gold. I think we all possess the techniques to achieve, the art of getting the mind to do what we know how to do is for the most part a trained practice. Having someone help us focus on that as adults is worthwhile, but rarely recognized.
Thus you see so many youngsters kicking our butt, the hand eye coordination works well, most in the sport are open minded and willing to follow guidance (many of us older coaches know how to do what needs to be done, just can't get get our own subconcious mind to act properly). One shooter mentioned that we should have the classes by catagory, i.e., single in school, single not in school, working, working and married, working, married with children....
How much shooters will pay for this type of service remains to be seen. Silhouette is not a money making sport for the vast majority of people. For the very few that I know that win frequently, they are by my definition, professionals and should actually be in another class. Dave Bonner did an analysis of the top ten shooters at the nationals for a ten or fifteen year period, it was the same ten people. I can assure that at least two of them are sponsored by ammo,firearm manufacturers, have the full support of all the new developments in equipment, and gunsmiths behind them. Would I trade my life experiences, education and work style for that life? No, there are times that I would consider it, but like all things in life, those times do pass.
Group sessions would be an interesting propsect, with the offering of independent consulting. I have seen many of the physical techniques taught at some of the larger matches, very basic tecniques, but almost always overlooked by adults. The scores in general were higher across the board, very little is taught on the mental game, talked about to the limit of "Mental game" and "think only good shots", "do not focus on the last shot, it is gone", all good coaching, but it does not cover the confidence instilled when you have the "I'm going to win, today" focus.
Mary

[Bob259]

Trent, I have used mental imaging with some of my students to help them overcome test anxiety. No qualifications, but the techniques are simple and, from what I've found, safe. My scores are much better when I practice what I preach, and there's no doubt that professional training would help.

I've used and taught Mental Imaging with new pistol shooters and it really does dramatically improve the scores. I believe that would be a great benefit to everyone, as in our busy lives we all to often forget the basics and loose our focus.

[ppkny]

I agree with getting some kind of mental training and would encourage reading "Can I Have Your Attention" by Joseph Cordillo to get a deeper understanding of how the brain handles recurring memory events. It's not a self help book but rather a exploration into the mechanics of how the brain handles events.
ppkny

[Innocent]

The real question is, how would the brain handle shooting at chickens like 259's....alternating colors vs. trying to hit my spinning birds? This thread is getting too deep and needs some visuals to think about.

Innocent

[BCloninger]

but it does not cover the confidence instilled when you have the "I'm going to win, today" focus.
Mary

And that is one goal of mental imaging in one line. The "I will win" or "I will improve" outlook. That's a positive, goal oriented message we need ingrained. Sure, image each step in building your stance, shouldering the rifle, aiming and taking the shot.

ppkny, the book looks interesting! Thanks for the suggestion.

See, this mob can act serious!

[Innocent]

See, this mob can act serious!

Naw, life is too short to stay serious.

Innocent

[BCloninger]

See, this mob can act serious!

Naw, life is too short to stay serious.

Innocent

It won't last.

[Jeaux]

Silhouette is not a money making sport for the vast majority of people. For the very few that I know that win frequently, they are by my definition, professionals and should actually be in another class.
Mary

That is an interesting idea Mary and one that I think warrants further exploration by the Silhouette Committee.

[Hawk-1]

Trent, I would suggest your wife teach what "she" has learned from her shooting experience. She could write a book and show by example. That is one I would buy. If you will notice most novice try to copy whatever the match winner is doing, and try to buy the same equiptment. I doubt they would pay for counceling, but would probably buy a book. The mind is truly our best "position". Most shooters never plan on making money on this sport ;therefore they don't want to spend any more than they have to. Good luck to your wife with her calling. ps my masters in clinical psych. and $4.00 will get me a cup of joe at starbucks. (small cup)

[Jerry G]

The difference between the ones that are real good and thoes that are just good for the most part is dedication to training and practice. By practice I don't mean just going out and shooting but, practice the good things, not the bad. That doesn't just apply to sports but life also. You have to believe you are good at what you do and have a set of &&&& that are large. You also have to have some humility so you don't come off as cocky.

[Trent]

BC - Yes, positive imagery is a big part of it. And like Mary said up above, we as adults sometimes need someone to instill that in us. We almost all have the skills inside us already, but sometimes it takes an outside source to help us unlock it and then the light bulb come on and it makes sense. Could be a book, a video, a consultant or a Sport Psychologist.

Some of the things that my wife teaches me are so simple that I am like "duh, I should have been doing that", and other things are much more involved and require laying down on the ground and doing some mental "exercises". Some people might be afraid of trying some of them because they seem like meditation, but really is just a technique that prepares you for competition. Pretty neat stuff.

Mary, you mentioned before that having her get involved in the sport would be to her advantage and that is something that I want to have her do. She always shows a lot of interest in the shooting sports as far as the mental side of the game goes. She got to visit the Olympic Training Center down in Colorado Springs last year and was so excited that she kept texting me photos of the athletes shooting and stuff. If I remember right she got to meet Lones Wigger, and I was a bit jealous. I think she would really love to eventually work with Olympic biathletes. She also has her sights set on working with tri-athletes and runners. She is a runner and went to school at ASU on a scholarship for running.

The group session is something I am more curious about. I would be interested how that would work. One nice thing about group sessions is that it is generally less expensive for the individual.

[Trent]

Trent, I would suggest your wife teach what "she" has learned from her shooting experience. She could write a book and show by example. That is one I would buy. If you will notice most novice try to copy whatever the match winner is doing, and try to buy the same equiptment. I doubt they would pay for counceling, but would probably buy a book. The mind is truly our best "position". Most shooters never plan on making money on this sport ;therefore they don't want to spend any more than they have to. Good luck to your wife with her calling. ps my masters in clinical psych. and $4.00 will get me a cup of joe at starbucks. (small cup)

Hawk, my wife hasn't spoken of interest in writing any books, but then again I haven't asked. Both of her parents are Dr.'s and her mother has written several books (some interesting, and some are text books for teaching). I'll have to ask her if she has interest in doing that at some point in the future.

I do agree that 99% of the novices would be reluctant to pay for mental preparation, and honestly - I think the novice has so much room to grow that working on the mental side of things could probably wait... but that could be the opposite of what works best. I could be totally wrong on that. (I've been wrong before! )

[Trent]

Thank you everyone for the great input so far.

Now, I am going to go work on my mental game! In other words... I am going fly fishing!

[Innocent]

If I remember right she got to meet Lones Wigger, and I was a bit jealous.

Trent, he is a real person, and quite a blast to sit down and have a few drinks with. While I have not seen his boys in years, it was interesting watching how he handled them on the firing line on our youth, vs. what some of
our other coaches/mentors did. His daughter was several years younger, and into softball at the time, so we didn't pay much attention to her, but as I look back on it, he worked the mental games with her as well, while pitching to her.

Ask your wife about parent and spouse instruction on sports. I can remember, while I never had any problems taking coaching from my father while practicing, during a match, the sight of him would completely blow my concentration.
As an instructor, I have seen too many spouse situations totally destroy any learning, yet there are times I have seen it sucessful as well. I have coached one young lady that was doing well under her fathers lead, up to a point, he could not break her into the AAA, once he finally let go she went quickly to a master shooter.

Enjoy your mental training, and I'll save some feathers for you to tie when I pluck the birds!

Mary

[jneihouse]

Having coached a couple of pretty good shooters to a high level in the sport (as Innocent has), the most recent being 11 year old Mini Kitty who went from shooting a 4 and a 6 in her first match a year and two weeks ago to AAA and shooting consistant mid to high AAA scores with only a bad bank here and there keeping her from Master, I feel I can speak with some authority to the subject. Mental aspect of the game is HUGE, no doubt about that...but you gotta have the basics of form and execution or all the concentration in the world will still result in the bullet going somewhere other than wher you intended....That's where a good coach/mentor is invaluable....An experienced coach (accent on the experienced part) is not only a teacher, spotter, and mentor, but will know his or her shooter inside and out...They will give the shooter the mechanical basics and then they will work on the mental aspect of the game...feeding the shooter just enough to let them digest the information and not enough to choke the learning process. The coach will encourage, and scold as necessary, and MUST know what each shooter that they coach can tolerate without losing confidence in themselves. A coach should know their shooter will enough and have developed a bond of trust to the degree that the shooter will always shoot the shot that the coach calls, and will give the coach honest feedback ie: "I broke the shot here, instead of where you called". A coach that has developed that bond with the shooter will be able to know what mechanical adjustments that need to be made to the shooter's form from where the shot struck based on the shooter's call of where he/she broke the shot. Certain muscle movements and habits will cause a shot to go "off call" in a certain way....the coach should recognize this and correct the mechanics of the shooter...The coach should also know his/her shooter well enough to know when that shooter is "hitting the wall" mentally, and be able to bring that shooter through that "wall" without losing targets......A sports psychologist could be a lot of help, but so much of this process can only be learned by doing, and spending hours on the spotting scope...It should also be of value to understand too that a coach may well be past his or her "prime" in the sport and may be "outshot" by his pupils regularly...A good coach will take a certain satisfaction from that, knowing that he or she has passed along something to another shooter that is of great value and enjoyment..

A long time ago someone said to me, when I was having a particularly difficult time with a young baseball team that I was coaching at that time, and was nearly to the point of employing the YST method of coaching (YST= Yell, Scream, and Threaten), "You can't push a rope"....took me a bit to catch on, but that phrase has served me well for years...Think on that phrase when you are working in a leadership/mentor/coaching position with others...They are the rope...You can't push a rope...you must employ other means to get the rope from point A to point B...

just my 2 cents FWIW

Kitty