Are you Ready to Compete?

[HeadHunter]

This was in Lanny's latest Mental Management Newsletter. I like his take on a lot of things; he didn't win the Gold by being a goof.

Are you Ready to Compete? by Lanny Bassham

Now there's a question all of us have asked ourselves at one time or another. When do you start competing? How do you know if you are ready? One place to start is to determine what you want to accomplish by competing. If your sole purpose is to win you might think that you should not start competing until you are performing at a high enough level in training to beat the competition.

Nice idea but it will not work and here's why. The only way you can train for competitions is to compete in them. There is a big difference between the training environment and the competition environment. We often find ourselves training either by ourselves or with a small group. In a competition the field is full. Add people and you have a totally different environment.

Next, there is no pressure in training and plenty in competitions. You need the pressure to bring out the best in your game. Competition pressure is either an asset or a liability depending on your attitude about it. One thing is for certain. You have to be able to deal with it and it is just not there in training.

Additionally, competitions create contacts. You need people and knowledge to aid you in reaching your goals and many of the folks with the know-how are at the competitions. When you compete you are able to watch, listen and talk to the veterans and see first hand what you are up against.

Finally, try competing in a number of sports before you decide get too serious about choosing to master one. You will never know how you like a sport until you give it a try. Many athletes have found that they were much better at individual sports after they had poor showings in team events. The opposite is also true. Take advantage of any opportunity to try out a sport. It just might be your calling.

Written by: Lanny Bassham (info@mentalmanagement.com)

Lanny Bassham dominated his sport (International Rifle Shooting), [for 6 years] winning 22 world individual and team titles, setting four world records and winning the coveted Olympic Gold Medal in Montreal in 1976.
http://mentalmanagement.ipower.com/

[DonovanM]

Competition pressure is either an asset or a liability

OMG I'm having flashbacks to Accounting 101! LOL!

[Wheeler]

I remember posing a question to a former match director regarding classification scores vs. match performance. In other words, did my match performance reflect the level I classified at. The reply, or words to that effect were: The classifier is the classifier and a match is a match. People that shoot the classifier all the time don't always perform well in a match.

Good thoughts to reflect on, thanks for the mental stimulation HH.

[Failure2Stop]

Some of the best advice I ever got was from two GMs (USPSA), Jason Jones and Phil Strader while I was attending one of their courses.
I was telling them that I wanted to compete in the action shooting sports but wanted to get "better" before starting.
Their unanimous advice:
You won't know what to do to become more competitive until you compete.
The longer you wait, the slower you will progress.
Take what you have (as long as it meets minimum requirements) and go shoot.
Evaluate your performance against those that are shooting better, and see what they are doing differently.
1/2 of the game is stage planning, and you need to see what people are doing and why to be competitive.
Don't put yourself under the pressure to win the first few times, get your hits and learn from the others.