I'm trying to re-enter the game after a 3 year layoff resulting from a motorcycle accident. I have only shot a couple of matches since coming back, and one of them, today, was awful..... I was in the late twenties and AAA both guns before the wreck... kind of discouraged.....

What do you say to yourself after a bad performance?

"I had fun"....remember the body doesn't work that well after accidents, even if it has been three years. Enjoy the fact that you were able to get out and shoot, I still have really bad days but it doesn't matter because I can still get out there and smell the burning powder.

Mary

Innocent wrote:"I had fun"....remember the body doesn't work that well after accidents, even if it has been three years. Enjoy the fact that you were able to get out and shoot, I still have really bad days but it doesn't matter because I can still get out there and smell the burning powder.

Mary

Yeah, you're right.....my sense of fun is totally linked up to the number of animals that fall off.....guess I better "redefine" what fun is at a match.... I wonder if I can have fun regardless of how many I get..... gonna try I guess; or sell the gear......

Thanks, Mary....

Family, friends ,fun and food. Then comes the shooting. The 4 F's always make up for my lack of performance.

OnaginOffagin wrote:I'm trying to re-enter the game after a 3 year layoff resulting from a motorcycle accident. I have only shot a couple of matches since coming back, and one of them, today, was awful..... I was in the late twenties and AAA both guns before the wreck... kind of discouraged.....

What do you say to yourself after a bad performance?

You congratulate yourself for having the guts to try, and promise to improve.

I say "next time".

It's what keeps me coming back... knowing that I can do better, and striving for that.

I try to pick out at least one or two specific things that I'm not doing well and work on those through the rest of the match, as well as plan for a way to improve those things before the next match. Sometimes, it's something as small as making sure I place the butt of the rifle in the same spot on my shoulder each time. Sometimes, it's bigger things like executing each step of the shot sequence without skipping any, something I should never have to think about after having been in this game for a few years now. There are days that I get in a hurry or get rattled and skip steps (like one breath instead of two between shots), and then I wonder why I'm just "not steady" like I usually am. The idea is to keep building, fixing one problem and keeping it fixed while working on the next one.

OO...making to the AAA's means that you have a lot of knowledge and experience down, there is a great deal of pleasure in taking the time to coach some of the newer shooters into better scores, even when you are shooting poorly yourself. You know how to do what needs to be done, getting the body to work sometimes just doesn't happen, but watching the joy on a newer shooters face when you help fix a little problem and they gain a point or two is worth the effort and then some.
Remember...it's all in the spotta!
Then you will have a good day once in a while and that adds to the fun.

Mary

Well, thanks again everyone...... but I think I'm done. I'm an older guy, and I need to eliminate everything that doesn't add to the quality of my life now. After sober reflection, I'm very unsure of my ability to not judge myself by my score, which is a fatal flaw for any shooter. Looking back, it's always been a problem for me. My heart wants to go on, but my head keeps coming up with obstacles -- expense, distance to competitions, age, the effects of the injury, lack of shooting partner/spotter, unfairness to my non-shooting wife -- that are very real and insurmountable. I'll keep my gear for a bit, just to make sure I'm solid in this decision, but I think it's made..... It's a great game, silhouette, and deserving the very best devotion from those who participate in it; I'm just not sure I have the spirit or the will left for that devotion. But thanks....

In essense, boiling it all down, the only question is: would I be happier shooting or not shooting.... and I'm afraid the answer is obvious.

That’s not good news OnagainOffagain...... I really think and hope you reconsider. Make the trips and take the wife, it's a big family and she may enjoy, if not for the matches for the new shopping places All of us are getting older and that's part of the challenge of doing your best and competing against yourself for bettering your scores.

Hope you reconsider

Hey, there, I think you were the guy I was talking to, NSP Red Vest and Jacket(?)- I can't remember your name. Did you leave your book at Pe Ell?

I heard you talking about rifles and issues, it'll take a few outings to get back in stride, like the skiing, pretty rusty at the begining of the year and improving quickly. I shot a good score and a tie for my lowest ever- I earned it at the Conrad Cup last month- it's always something. My shooting seems to go with cycles- some good some bad; but the good is soo good it keeps me coming back to try for better.

Rick

...and face it. If we had to win to have fun we'd never have shot that second match. There are several charter members here of the Ray Charles / Stevie Wonder Shooting Society and plenty of open slots. We just have to drive farther to embarrass ourselves now because the locals know us...

Onagainoffagain, don't give up just yet. I had a real bad spill on my bike in 2004. Punchured my lung, ruptured my spleen, broke my collar bone...and thats what they told me about before they put me in a morphine induced coma for a week. not sure what else I did to myself. It took me a few years to get back into form and I still struggle to maintain my classification by having to use a new hold. I don't know how old you are but I'm 50 now and I'm not giving up till the toss me in a hole and cover me with dirt. Hang in with it and give it time.

You make a really good case for quitting, no doubt.....bottom line, if we define the amount of fun we have by the number of targets we knock down, then fun will go out of this sport rather quickly...this is a sport that does not necessarily favor the bigger, faster, stronger athlete, but it surely doesnt' favor the older, worn out, worried, harried, guilt ridden, pain wracked soul either...but there are a lot of us out here that resemble the latter much more than the former....Why do we stay in the sport? for all or some of us it is the reasons listed in the posts above...great friends, great fellowship, and an opportunity to "pay forward" the blessings this sport has brought to us in the form of helping a newer/younger shooter....For me it has been the reward of coaching a couple of young shooters into Master class and of being an ambassodor for our sport and helping build our local program into one that has sustainable numbers and growth. It is my vision to leave behind more than I take away when I go and finding ways to fulfill this plan brings me a lot of joy. None of this has anything to do with the scores that I shoot. This is a tough sport to master, and a harder sport to stay at the top once you get there....We need new shooters to come and to stay and not all of them will make Master, in fact more won't than will, so the continued success of our sport depends on a lot more than the high scores that a handful shoot.....If you loved the sport enough to shoot your way to AAA I challenge you to love it enough to bite the bullet, shoot some lower scores and help someone else catch or fan that spark that drew you in.

Good luck whichever way you go.

Kitty

First thing I say after a bad performance is usually "Damn I need another spotter, this one sucks!!"

I just know it is not my day when I have a bad one or I compare my scores to everyone elses and see if everyone was struggling maybe due to conditions etc. Sorry to hear about your physical issues I can imagine how that migth affect your abilities. Just think about it from the standpoint of being a new shooter. Sure you are AAA and not shooting those scores now but just shoot for fun and if you still enjoy it you will probably find yourself re-learning how to handle the new conditions presented to you physically and start the score climbing again.

I was back to shooting 3 weeks after open heart surgury and even though I am getting older and stiffening up etc etc I am still improving.


Dee