10 meter Air Rifle Match #7

This will be short as it is more for my training than any form of sharing useful information.

I had skimmed a little of Ways of the Rifle and Air-Rifle Shooting.  One nugget of info stuck which I tried to use.  I tend to get anxious or nervous when I start to shoot.  So, let me tell a short story on myself.

10+ years ago I went to my first "big" match.  By big I mean HUGE!  150+ silhouette shooters at the biggest event of the year, Winnsboro!  First shot, there I was with my mentor/spotter Fenton S.  I was trying to get the shot off and I was shaking  so much I could not get on the right bank let alone animal!  Fenton looked down at at my shorts which were shaking just as much as I was.  HA!  He said "What's the matter?  It's just like any other match."

I guess it is just the way I am wired.  I don't think I can change it.  Thus the reason I try to train all year.  My goal is to make breaking the shot feel like second nature or "subconscious".  My weakness, the more I try to execute that "perfect" shot, the "less likely" it is to happen.  If it is not habit or "routine", odds of success is low.

I had some of that last night.  My first shot was a deep 10.  I built my stance and did all the basics.  The next 5 shots were 9s.  Then I started to "try" to shoot well so as to not ruin the good run I had going.  I think you know what happened.  I was in and out of this mode for most of the match.  I look at the positive, I am getting better at "building" my standing position.  Now I need to reinforce the habit.

That said, here are the results.  I thought 12 10x was going to be tops this season.  How the heck did I shoot 15 10x on the second match of the year?  Goes to show just how big the mental aspect of this sport is for me.

2012-13 Season score log

#1 501 (81 81 84 85 82 88)
#2 515 (87 88 89 83 85 83) 11 7s or lower, 15 10x.  previous practice 1x (3.6)
#3 485 (82 82 80 77 86 78) 19 7s or lower,  7 10x. Daisy pellets, reduced barrel weight.(3.6)
#4 494 (88 74 87 88 76 81) 14 7s or lower, 11 10x. JSB SCHaK pellets. First Tuesday night.(3.6)
#5 522 (89 88 90 88 82 88)  7 7s nothing lower, 11 10x. Many high value 9s! H&N + SCHaK (3.2)
#6 492 (75 85 76 84 86 86)  14 7s or lower, 6 10x. SCHaK (3.8)
#7 520 (88 84 90 86 87 85)  8 7s, 12 10x.  SCHaK (3.8)

2011-12 Season score log

#1  515 (87 83 87 88 90 80)
#2  510  (85 89 85 86 82 83)
#3  532  (94 87 83 91 89 88)  (season high, 94/100 tied best ever 10 shots)
#4  530  (87 90 90 93 89 81)
#5  524  (86 84 88 91 85 90)  
#6  517  (88 85 88 87 90 79)
#7  524  (82 91 88 91 84 88)  

Personal Top three 600 scores.  Goal, 540.

539  (93 90 90 85 87 94).  11x 7 or lower, 22 10x.  11/??/08
532  (94 87 83 91 89 88)   3/??/12
530  (87 90 90 93 89 81)   3/??/12

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