Getting competition ready
Top Sporting Shot and coach Matt Hance continues his instructional series by looking at how you can prepare for a competition.
Failing to plan is planning to fail …
As I have said before, people go shooting for a variety of different reasons. Many go for the social aspect and some to train and compete. Nonetheless, it is important for everyone to understand for what reason they are out shooting, whether that be to train and compete at the highest level or just to have fun. In this article I’ll be looking at how you can best prepare yourself for a shoot to put in the best score possible. While having fun is still a large part of why I go shooting – it’s too expensive as a sport to not enjoy yourself – competing requires a great amount of dedication and focus.
Properly preparing for a specific competition can start as much as a year in advance, in the form of booking hotel tickets, flights and logistics for an event abroad. This preparation is essential to ensure that we are able to put in the best score possible on the day of the event. Indeed, some may begin to practise specific targets or presentations that they may expect to face, which again will allow them to get the most out of the day.
I’ve been competing in this game so long that once the logistics are in place, I’m mostly ready for the event with a little bit of fine tuning here and there. That said, there is a lot that I have put in place in advance that allow me to have the confidence to win on the day.
‘See better shoot better’ Ed Lyons
Much of my career has been carefully selecting the equipment I use, finding the gun and gear that I am confident with. Many years ago now, I spent time with the sports vision expert Ed Lyons, finding lenses that work best for me. As Ed will tell you, everyone’s eyes are different and so finding a set of lenses that suits your needs for varying light conditions involves a lot of trial and error, but is an especially important part of your kit.
To relate this to what we have already covered, which is having the right lenses that optimise and enhance your vision and allow you to have an earlier pick-up point. This improves your hand-to-eye coordination by improving target acquisition. In short, what you can’t see you can’t shoot.
I have two lenses, one light and the other much darker. Rhys will often alternate between two lenses during the shoot and favours purple lenses that neutralise green backgrounds. Finding the correct frame for
you is also something that you have to take into account. Rhys uses the Pilla X6s, with a wrap around style, I use the Pilla Sportsman 580x model, which sit better on my face.
Last year, during the lockdowns, when shooters had to train at home, Ed produced a series of vision training kits to help shooters maximise their visual performance. His kits are perfect for those looking for the extra competitive edge and were an instant hit with shooters worldwide as well as students of mine. There are three kits available, with different combination of vision exercises to suit different needs.
Ed also offers specialist visual assessments, held at his clinic in Wolverhampton. Such assessments look at a full range of factors important for shooting, including depth perception, hand-to-eye coordination, eye movement tracking and eye dominance. The kit is not the be all and end all. But is definitely something that you can use to your advantage at home to work on developing your vision for shooting.
‘Get the mental edge’ Henry Hopking, peak performance consultant
I have also spent time with Henry Hopking from the Brain Training Company, a leading psychologist-physiologist with students all over the world. With competitions being so closely fought these days, the mental game is key. If you’re looking to get the last target over a 200 bird event – one single target can often mean the difference to making the podium or not - mastering the mental game is key. Time training with Henry has definitely been instrumental in my success and I would recommend his services to anyone looking for the ‘mental edge’. Often having great levels of focus or concentration are what come to mind when shooters begin to think about the mental game. I would better describe this as getting into the ‘flow state’; where there are no disruptions and total focus is on the target. Henry believes that success in shooting can be expressed simply by this 100-piece
jigsaw puzzle. Teaching that in this game technical ability can only get you so far. While that sounds wrong, I would agree that such a large proportion of the sport is about mentality that, without the other components, you are left with an athlete who can shoot, but not consistently under pressure.
Other than technical ability, the puzzle recognises the importance of having confidence in the equipment you use.
Along with glasses, we have ear defenders, another piece of equipment that can be found in various forms in every shooters kit bag. Over recent years, particularly in Sporting and FITASC, there has been a huge increase in the amount of people opting for in-ear solutions, such as plugs or moulds.
Whatever product you choose (I prefer Cens DX5), ensure you have confidence that they won’t let you down on the day and that they will keep you safe – tinnitus is no fun. Another item that you will no doubt see lots of shooters playing with are chokes. Some fiddle, some don’t – it’s up to you. I have always shot the same constriction through both barrels as it’s one less thing to think about.
We can all subjectively appreciate a pretty gun, but we all love a reliable one. Reliability is a primary factor that everyone should look for when buying a gun, and should not be second place to looks. The same can definitely be said for cartridges.
I am extremely fortunate to be sponsored by Hull, and have worked with them for the past 18 years. I choose the Hull Pro Ones in a 28g No 8 and occasionally the odd Sovereign in 6½ , depending on the job in hand. I would choose a 6½ for anything on edge and over 40yds, but it is not always as simple as that, and my dislike of rabbits normally forces me to break out the Sovereigns.
The ability and consistency of modern cartridges is phenomenal, and I can guarantee you that they are all better than we are. Place your faith in one type – not necessarily the most expensive one – and stick with it.
I could keep on going with this list all the way down to what fuel I put in my car. The point is to find a product – whether it be gun, cartridge, choke – that you have confidence with and allow you to perform to best of your ability.
Competition management (the blue section of the jigsaw) is mainly to do with logistics – for example, turning up to the event on time and knowing what to do with yourself before shooting. This includes everything you can do before you get into
the stand to allow you to reach the flow state.
It’s important to realise that there is far more to shooting than turning up to a training session or competition and simply converting cartridges into cases … To me there’s a lot more to the process of good shooting than that.
Henry emphasises that as soon as you arrive, you should be engaging and acting in different mental states. For example, you should afford yourself time to relax before shooting, but only after getting your equipment ready and ensuring that you are prepared for the round (e.g. clothing, cartridges, nutrition and hydration). Even then, you should know when its time to leave the club house and avoid an unnecessary conversation with a competitor who may be trying to get into your head.
Another portion of Henry’s work (particularly with me), and where he helps his students to achieve a consistent mental state – increasing focus and decreasing anxiety on demand – is largely to do with developing a bespoke pre-shot and postshot routine.
The real purpose of a pre-shot routine is to distract your conscious into productive thought towards hitting the target. The components of a pre-shot routine vary depending on the person, hence why some routines are longer than others. But all routines should help to deal with the external factors that could potentially make you react negatively in a physiological way.
We are looking to try to occupy the brain and influence brain state. Where at times we will want to activate the brain and prepare ourselves for maximum focus, for most of the time we will want to relax the brain and allow it to recharge in between shooting.
Henry compares the brain to a battery that needs to be continually resupplied and recharged in order for us to reach the flow state.
Along with achieving a consistent routine and mental state, we also need to have selfbelief and confidence in our ability.
Focusing on all of these things, within our control, will help us to experience ‘flow’ or the ‘flow state’, allowing us to shoot to our best ability.
“We want to relax the brain and and allow it to recharge”