Ever lost your Mojo?

Been shooting (again) for a couple of years now, & soon decided to concentrate on shooting skeet, with an occassional club sporting shoot once a month. Cutting a long story short, worked hard and made some progress with the skeet, got into A class, and had the good fortune to get my one and only hundred straight in a major competition. In the meantime, my sporting shooting got worse and worse, which I put down to shooting so much skeet, and whilst I was shooting skeet well. wasn't bothered too much by the poor sporting results.However, ever since the 100 straight my form has plummetted, really struggling to get even 25 straight. In addition, my sporting shooting has hit an all time low, mojo has definitely disappeared. The last three months have been really dificult, severe lack of form leading to lack of confidence, and a downward spiral in performance.I appreciate that we all have ups and downs in form, and I'm sure in the long term it'll all sort itself out. But how do you cope? Do you practise more/less? See a coach? or maybe have a break? I guess we're all different, but would be interested to see how common this is, and what strategies you employ.

Hello Bobsuffer with the same problems as I expect most of us mere mortals in the shooting world do.Just as I think I might be coming to terms with my shooting it slaps me in the face. Something to do with expectation me thinks,well not being very good at it, dont help I suppose. Have not found how to deal with it but if you do find a method please let me know.On a serious note the fact is that you have achieved 100 straight proves that you have the ability . Lot of people never achieve that. Regards Rob

I would suggest you are putting yourself under too much pressure to perform to that standard again too soon, chill out for a while and have some fun shooting then switch on again when you nee it next.

My first suggestion would be a lack of concentration,especially where skeet is concerned.An example of lack of concentration in sporting shooting is when you are on a stand of,say,four pairs.You clean kill the first three pairs and clean miss the last pair.Your brain has said,'This is easy' and so doesn't concentrate quite so hard and the inevitable happens.You are now at a loss to know what went wrong,it was all going so well.Shooting skeet is 100% concentration and my guess is after your success with your first 100 you are,subconsciously, not trying quite as hard as you were.You now think the wheels have fallen off and severely doubt your own ability at skeet and sporting.Different people tackle this problem in different ways but my suggestion is to keep on trying. Remember, the hardest clay you have to break is the next one you shoot at.Forget the last clay that you powdered,concentrate on breaking the next one.Good shooting. Vic.

Vic may be right, but be careful. For a long time I would miss the last pair (still do) and for me it is down to OVER concentrating. You become so fixated on `not screwing up a straight` that you lose your flow or gun-speed. This might be something to think carefully about. Certainly, if you get to the stage where you are tense and full of fear of missing, you just wont shoot your best. last time I started to really dip, I just stopped registered shoots for a while and did some easier fun stuff to get back in the saddle. Try relaxing and concentrating less! It might be what you need..CSC3

Brilliant advice. I agree totally . Just relax and enjoy then the scores will come.

P.s. Never defend a score in your mind. You build a score by thinking 'one at a time' . Forget what the last score is.

Have to agree with CleverSC3 for me its definately trying too hard, nothing smooth and a double checking of the lead and stopping the gun trying to be to exact. When I shoot with the attitude of not expecting too much, I do better than I thought?

Some great advice here guys, many thanks. Seems like I'm not alone I do tend to put too much pressure on myself, maybe I'll shoot a few different disciplines, just for fun. Already had my first go at FITASC, score was rubbish but really enjoyed the format.Doing a clay shooting trip to Northern Cyprus in early November, not competitive just some fun shooting. So looking forward to some relaxation. Thanks again for your insights - Bob

Bob I've had the same problems with my Sporting shooting for a long time now, I think we all have our own level the when we reach it there is nothin more we can do to get on further and climb another step, but even though I'm not an out an out Skeet shooter I do shoot it a bit and a lot better and more competitively than I shoot sporting, what I do when I shoot skeet I know I can shoot 25 straight regularly so if I'm uninterested on the day I look to the best shot on the squad and I try to either if I'm in front of him try not to drop a bird so he's thinkin I'm a threat or if i'm behind him I try to keep up with him and not to drop a bird and keep the pressure on him so he get's to realize I'm behind him on the same score or better - it helps me, but in Sporting I just go shoot and if it works it works and if it doesn't there's nothin I can do about it, I've shot some or even most of my best scores when I'm not caring or prepared for the shoot - I don't think I have a mo jo for Sporting anymore /wp-content/forum-smileys/sf-laugh.gif Nigel

A bit more of mine dissapears every week!

Interesting viewpoint Nigel, I'm almost the opposite, trying not to look at what other shooters do, good or bad. Walk away from the stand after I've shot. look at the clouds, blades of grass, anything but the other shooters. I think that target shooting of any type, is a sport that is truly individual, just you and the target. Nothing anybody else does can influence how you approach the shot, just you and the target. There are no strategies, that I'm aware of, when you would change the way you shoot, to take account of another competitors performance. Unlike golf, also considered to be an individual sport, where you can choose to take more or less risk according to how the competition is doing.A very good Olympic skeet shooter told me that it's all about concentration, when to turn it on, and more importantly when to turn it off. I try not to concentrate at all until about 30 seconds before I'm due to on the stand, take the shot, then turn it off again as I leave the stand. His point being, that we find it almost impossible to have good concentration throughout the event, therefore little and often is less tiring, and more effective.I had recently forgotten that piece of advice,and your post Nigel has reminded me, if it wasn't dark I'd be off to Bisley now

Hey you lot, I said he was trying too hard first not Cleverclogs .

Hi Bob,  I hope you got a chance to try out that advice you'd been given, let us know if it worked ?  Nige