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Thread: Competition set back

  1. #11
    Member olstyn's Avatar
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    Sep 2014
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    Minnesota
    Quote Originally Posted by Duelist View Post
    In my local club matches, if an average number of certain guys show up, I’ll be about tenth. If they all show up on the same day, I’ll be lucky to be 15th. If none of them show up, I might be in the top five. Once, I was second. When ringers show up from out of town, we all are shoved down in the stats.

    Matters not what others do. Matters what I do. If I do something stupid, I learn. If awesome guy from out of town shows up, I watch him and learn. If doofus with a Sigma in a sausage sack shows up, we mentor and make sure he doesn’t put holes where they don’t belong.
    That sounds pretty much exactly like my local matches, except that I'm guessing the skill pool is a bit deeper at yours than mine; I'm usually in the upper end of the scores in Production, and I'm only a middle-to-upper C class shooter. My usual squad spent a lot of time last summer mentoring some new folks, and it was gratifying to see the ones who were willing to listen and learn progress from mildly scary to safe and improving their scores. Some of them had some pretty lame DQs along the way, but nobody got any new holes, so I guess it came out OK in the end.

  2. #12
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    Nov 2013
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    Illinois
    I have pretty much accepted that I suck.

    But I suck less than I did yesterday. Getting the HF of your stages (and classifier/standards stages) is a fairly reliable indicator of if you suck more than usual or if the other guys are just on fire.

    Case in point:

    If I compared myself to a bunch of other dudes it would be counterproductive. I can shoot a local USPSA match and sit in the top 20 of 80 shooters and then run on over to a place like Alpha Range where a huge number of nationally competitive shooters hang out and wind up in the bottom 20 of 40 shooters while still shooting the same hit factors.

    But here's the kicker. Some days you will suck more than others.

    In a perfect world, shot timers would to be able to directly upload all of their stats to Practiscore for the most detailed look possible at your shooting skills on a given day, but the best we can do til then is a hit factor score.

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  3. #13
    I don't wax philosophical about such stuff, it is a human activity and results will be variable. Some days I am on, some days I am not.

    If you are shooting Steel Challenge or other standardized event like bullseye, you can chart your scores and know how you are doing. When I was shooting F class, every shot was recorded for score, group, or velocity, depending on what I was working on at the time. Also nice to know how much time on a rifle barrel, they don't last forever.

    But if you are shooting one of the novelty events, USPSA, IPSC, IDPA, CAS, various local offshoots, you seldom shoot the same stage and probably never shoot the same match. USPSA Hit Factor varies a lot depending on the stage layout. Maybe 45dotACP can tell something if the MD is in a rut and uses the same Classifiers a lot. Or you can set up Standards to practice on your own time. But mostly I go by my placement relative to shooters of known ability and of the match as a whole. If I beat A, B. and C, I know I am doing well. If I beat A but not B and C, I figure he is down worse than me.
    And of course I remember the gross stuff, like shooting Ds or 3s, or worse, a miss or no-shoot, or conspicuously blowing a reload, or missing my spot on the next array, or catching a Procedural. I don't guess you guys do stuff like that, but I am the Captain of Team Mediocre after all.
    Last edited by Jim Watson; 11-10-2018 at 05:58 PM.
    Code Name: JET STREAM

  4. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by ranger View Post
    I have had demanding jobs. I actively shot USPSA and Sporting Clays. I realized that "shooting" was my hobby and that it should be fun. I focused on having fun and doing the best I could with the amount of time (and money) I had available.

    Due to career demands, I took a sabbatical from competition and frankly never went back. I got tired of driving long distances and standing around all day to shoot 3 - 6 stages that only took a very short time (if I did them right!). I still shoot and practice but quit competing.
    Why did you tell us this?

  5. #15
    If you primarily want to win, USPSA is a lousy sport. In my experience, folks too focused on winning or placement burn out. You have to love the process to enjoy USPSA over a long period of time.

    USPSA matches are a great reality check for the value of your practice, and what your skills are. It is easy to think you are better than you are when just practicing alone, with a few friends, or going to timmie classes. USPSA is the most challenging and satisfying shooting sport I have participated in.
    Likes pretty much everything in every caliber.

  6. #16
    Member GuanoLoco's Avatar
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    Feb 2016
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    Birmingham, AL
    It is useful to assess that motivates you.

    I have a friend that badly desires to WIN, preferbly HOA, and things like Division and firearms are chosen to help him achieve that goal. Production, Single Stack, etc. will never be a thing. If he wins all is well, if not it is a bad thing for him emotionally.

    Other friends like matches over practice, and are driven to win, but happy to win in their division. If they win, that is great, but if not, there is some serious long-lived dissatisfaction that drives them further and further.

    For me, the half-life of motivation from a win is too brief to be useful, and I simply don’t experience enough pain from a loss for it to be reliable motivator. On the other hand, a practice session where I am laying down new Personal Bests, or where I experienced a breakthough of some sort, or was very pleased with my performance or improvement, or I matched Dry Fire par times with live fire results ... now this turns my crank all week and I can’t wait to get another shot at it.

    So, what turns your crank?
    Last edited by GuanoLoco; 11-10-2018 at 10:26 PM.
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  7. #17
    I have a hard time disconnecting the developmental value of shooting competition from desire to win or place as high as possible. I think it is hard, if not impossible, to become a better shooter through competition without caring about measurable results, and results are measured in classifications and placements. However, these things, in my mind, should be important between the matches. During the matches I try, to the best of my ability, to only think how to shoot this stage in front of me with the least amount of suckage, and move on to the next one.
    Doesn't read posts longer than two paragraphs.

  8. #18
    At local matches, who else is there definitely effects your placement. I have joked that I shoot better in MT than in AZ, which really is the fact that the AZ area has a high concentration of great shooters.
    Likes pretty much everything in every caliber.

  9. #19
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    Nov 2012
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    Erie County, NY
    I compete against myself as I won't win against younger and faster folks. I test my skills. My goal is reasonable accuracy at a speed that I can perform. So, in a past carbine match I was delighted to be the most accurate with only 3 down. Time was slow though. The last match, not so hot on the move and some bad jams. So something to work on with the gun and movement. I like jams in the sense that I'm not bamboozled by them and can clear reasonably efficiently.

    As far as placement and competition group, I once came in second after a national champion with revolver. I was also last (just two revolver shooters that day). I was happy that my accuracy was in range of the champ.

    My squad has gelled into supportive guys - some old and some young. One is just a demon winner. One is older than me and slower. We all help each other out.

    I guess my goal is to guarantee that I can run the gun accurately and reasonably quickly (not champion level). Is this cognitive dissonance that I won't win - perhaps a touch.

    It's like weight lifting (when I was doing heavy weights), I would never match my friend is was the real deal heavy lifter but under his watchful eye I made real progress. Progress counts.

    I also think classes from pros who can evaluate your technique is very useful. I've said before that Tom Givens gave me a great clue. When I screw up in accuracy, I find that I retrogressed to that flaw and correct.

  10. #20
    Member
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    Oct 2015
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    N. Texas
    Quote Originally Posted by GuanoLoco View Post
    It is useful to assess that motivates you.

    For me, the half-life of motivation from a win is too brief to be useful, and I simply don’t experience enough pain from a loss for it to be reliable motivator. On the other hand, a practice session where I am laying down new Personal Bests, or where I experienced a breakthough of some sort, or was very pleased with my performance or improvement, or I matched Dry Fire par times with live fire results ... now this turns my crank all week and I can’t wait to get another shot at it.

    So, what turns your crank?
    This is pretty much my sentiments as well. For me it really is how well I actually shot vs comparing with others. Like you, if I run drills where my times/accuracy is good I’m very happy.

    Perspective.. Got back on the horse today and shot another match. Funny is going into it my perspective was less concerned at all with where I place but how well I shot and ran the match. So my perspective was a little different going into to it. Weird to hear myself say this but I was pretty pleased overall with how I shot today. I went pretty fast and I actually had 3 mikes on 3 different stages which usually would send me through the roof but outside of really those 3 shots, generally speaking was pretty good. Not all A zones but fast, with good groups, just had those 3 that were pretty bad. Stages were fun with high round counts in each.

    Haven’t seen yet where I finished, I don’t expect to have done well overall but my take was it was really fun stages today, my speed was pretty good. Like always, the different between me and a really good shooter is just consistency. I felt like the speed I ran the course today was good but I just have to get consistent.

    I really have no great expectation of finishing first, I’m not that delusional, I just tend to be pretty competitive and hate loosing anything but again, if my perspective it set correctly, it usually works out for me. I tend to get ahead of myself and as I have gotten older (slower, can’t see as well, etc,) I tend to think I can do things I did when I was younger. Sucks getting old. As most have mentioned, when I stop worrying about where I finish or comparing myself to others and just push myself to continue to improve, that’s all that really matters.

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