The Science of the Tight Collar

I'm not claiming to be a top competitor - but I'm aware of the pressure that mounts as you get into a tight situation in shooting - the last peg for a personal best, or being a few shots behind the pace of your mates on a round of sporting.

On Sunday for example - I was on course for a personal best which I managed, but I dropped 4 target on the last peg at Four Counties which would have given me 3 x 20+ parcours out of 4. On the way home, I wonder if I choked?

I'm fascinated by the concept of choking in sport - I don't believe I ever suffer from stress, but something goes on, and when I sat down in the evening to watch the highlights of the Golf, I was mystified by watching Adam Scott hit four bogeys in a row to lose the Open.

I'm sure that Mr Coley will have some input here - but this article : http://www.wired.com...e-tight-collar/ - is really interesting, talking about a physical track and a cognitive track to sports performance.

Worth a read for anyone who Is interested in this part of sports performance.

Interesting. Also consider that the last peg on old system FITASC is often harder than the others though... But an interesting subject to see what people say!

Nah - I choked/lost concentration that I had really had up until that point. Missed 4 that I really should have hit. Missed a quartering rabbit twice (once in the single, once in the pair - over the top), then missed a more distant rabbit that I killed in the single, and a little flat g/a which I hit in the single. Funny how I can play back every single miss. :angry: I don't remember feeling any pressure, but I walked away from the peg ruing those 4.

forget them .they are gone . you can't get em back. only a few "talented" ones are able to do this.

Try to shoot each bird/pair as if it were the first on that stand.

Your pre shot check,run through it as you load up.

Feet, hold point, break point.(everyones is different)

You should be thinking of your pre shot check as you read the above,you will now read it again.

You should not be able to hear peoples comments,they should be a fuzz in the background.

chiefy

i shoot sportrap practice most weeks at the same ground hitting 20 to 23 most the time but ive never strated it,dosent make sense when i miss it can be any of the targetts so it not a bogy target thing.

From the last 20 years the research I have carried out shows traits in squaded disciplines,. so Skeet, Trap & FITASC - most misses are consistently seen at targets 16, 17 & 18 of a round of 25. For those where there is a cognitive recognition of the score, misses when on for a straight are seen at 22, 24 and 24 - either a single miss or two out of the three.

The Adam Scott is an interesting one, Nick Faldo was actually speaking about visualisation, he had gone through the visualisation of not just winning, but what about after winning, the press conference etc. Nick was one of the first golfers to have a full support team in place. We only have to look back to Rory Mc and his "choking". It is fine people saying treat every target as a new one - but once you think like that then the cognitive reaction for the subconscious is broken.

In clay shooting then choking is never far away, the pressure of a straight, the knowledge of it slipping away. Paul Chaplow has had a very impressive year in DTL - another 100/300 today - he is shooting with confidence, but also people around him are making enforced errors, not only are they conscious of their own score, they are under pressure of missing. Choking is a state of mind, it is where you become conscious of not doing something and trying to correct it, the more time you spend trying to stop it, then the more you slow your process down.

Choking is probably an unfair phrase, it is a breakdown in the cognitive response to a target you are going to shoot. Why does this happen, it happens because of self evaluation - evaluating a mental checklist in milliseconds. Once a negative thought or mental distraction intervenes, then it is up to the individual to use a number of coping strategies. Choking comes from audience distractions, ego, competition and performance related factors ie winning.

I hate the word chocking!!

Especially when said about elite athletes.

The article is very interesting.

Matt you said it yourself....'you missed 4 that you should have hit'..........that thought is putting pressure on yourself even after the event. It sure as hell would have done it after the first miss of a bird you thought you should have hit.

Like Phil says, you have to have the coping strategies for the unhelpful thought that jumps in at the wrong time. The article is good because you cannot help thinking.......but it is what you think about!!! And at what time....

I think I am going to try the singing to myself at the next UT competition whilst imagining that I am Asian!!

Maybe this BBC article gives food for thought!!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18902643

For a bit of perspective - I'm not beating myself up about it - as Jasper said 'they're gone, and I cannot buy them back' - but I was being analytical about the four I missed. The singing tip is one I have used, but in the moment on Sunday I wasn't doing that.

I have found that as people get better one of the things that Phil mentions definitely kicks in (without them knowing or recognising it) and that is 'ego'. It comes along with confidence and we are all guilty of it. It is part of feeling great when you do an awesome shot or a great score outside the 'goals' that you have set yourself. Especially after achieving national or international team status...... Then you have to learn really fast how to deal with that.........or you will get ego problems whether you recognise them or not.

The really focused shots do not show any emotion after missing a target, not even a wince and they only ever discuss their miss with their own training manual. Master this and you are going in the right direction fast.

I've stated this one before....a shooting mate was watching John Stafford when he missed for the first time in 1800 DTL targets. Whilst a little cartridge throwing would have been in order he said John's eyelids didn't even flicker..

It is all about routine, train to react as if every target is broken, then you will never faulter, equally the knowledge that you will miss a target, just as much as miss one. The key is to do the same thing everytime, hence a system that I have refined for clients over many years focuses on the same routine each time and the use of self talk and centering. If you accept you will miss a target at some stage, then it is not a surprise - it amazes me that many shooters really think they are always going to hit every target and get so annoyed if they miss one - was talking with a leading Sporting Shot recently and we were talking on this subject, we spoke about routine and also about missing - he said "I have won a World title on a 178 ex 200, and I have lost a World title on 196 ex 200 (scores approx for the example)" so does missing really matter?

With much of the heart rate research conducted by myself, you can see a change in approach, even though the shooter says there was no change - if you create a mental void ie try to think of nothing, then the void will be filled with a thought, most times a negative one!!!

This thread is slipping into NLP with a rooting of some Jean-Paul Sartre's book, Being and Nothingness. If you have read that then you have not been shooting enough and if you have, you might never shoot again.

chiefy :wink:

Not sure we are heading down an NLP route??

I agree with Phil.....NLP was a 70's 80's thing which is discredited now.

I'm too young........what is NLP???

Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) is an approach to communication, personal development, and psychotherapy created in the 1970s. The title refers to a stated connection between the neurological processes ("neuro"), language ("linguistic"), and behavioral patterns that have been learned through experience ("programming") and can be organized to achieve specific goals in life. According to certain neuroscientists, psychologists, and linguists, NLP is unsupported by current scientific evidence, and uses incorrect and misleading terms and concepts.

Thanks Nicola