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October 7th, 2014

How to Shoot Great Under Pressure — Tips from Lones Wigger

The digital archives of Shooting Sports USA feature an interview with Olympic smallbore shooter Lones Wigger. This constitutes the third and final part in a series by Jock Elliott on pressure during a match and the methods top shooters use to handle their nerves. Read Part I | Read Part II.

Shooting Sports USA

The Fine Art of Not Cracking Under Pressure – Part III

by Lones Wigger, Smallbore Rifle Olympic Medalist

lones wiggerIt’s pretty complicated — this subject of dealing with pressure. I’m a precision shooter and have learned to excel in that discipline. You’ve got to learn to shoot the desired scores at home and in training. And once you’re capable of shooting the scores, you may not shoot the same way in the match because of the match pressure. As a result, it takes 3-4 years to learn how to shoot, and another 3-4 years to learn how to win — to deal with the match pressure. It takes several more years to learn how to do it when it counts.

To win, there are several things you have to learn how to do. You have to do it from within. You have to learn how to train just as if you were in a big competition. You work on every shot. You have got to learn to treat it just like a match — to get the maximum value out of every shot. You have got to use the same technique in practice and in training. A lot of shooters have a problem because they change their technique from practice to the match. In competition, you work your ass off for every shot. You have to approach the training the same way.

A second way to combat pressure is to shoot in every competition you can get into so that you become accustomed to it.

Do Everything Possible to Prepare
The third technique is preparation. Before you are going to shoot in a big competition, train hard to do everything you can to raise your scores. So when you’re in the match, you know that you have done everything humanly possible to get ready for the competition. If you have self-doubt, you will not shoot well. You have to have the will to prepare to win.

When Gary Anderson was a kid, he couldn’t afford a gun or ammunition. He had read about the great Soviet shooters. With his single shot rifle, he would get into position, point that gun and dry fi re for hours at a time in the three different positions. He had tremendous desire. He wanted to win and he did whatever he could to get there. When he finally got into competition, he shot fantastic scores from the beginning.

Visualize Winning to Train the Subconscious Mind
A little bit of psychology: You picture in your mind what you want to do. You have to say, OK, I’m going to the Olympics and perform well. Picture yourself shooting a great score and how good it feels. You are training your subconscious mind. Once you get it trained, it takes over. A coach taught me to visualize the outcome, and it worked. Eventually you train your subconscious and it believes you can win. At first I didn’t know about teaching the subconscious to take over, but now I do it all the time. And it certainly worked for me at the 1972 Olympics. What it really takes is training and doing the same thing in training as at a match. If you are “just shooting,” you are wasting your time. READ MORE….

CLICK HERE to READ FULL ARTICLE featuring interviews with Brian Zins, Bruce Piatt, Carl Bernosky and Ernie Vande Zande. (Article take some time to load.)

Story courtesy The NRA Blog and Shooting Sports USA.
Permalink Competition, Shooting Skills 1 Comment »
February 7th, 2012

Read About F-Class and Field Target Comps in Shooting Sports USA

ssusa F-Class ChampionshipPast F-Open Class National Champion (and Forum Member) Larry Bartholome, has authored an authoritative article on the 2011 F-Class National Championship held last fall in Lodi, Wisconsin. Larry writes: “With a wind tunnel for a range, and rain that canceled the final team match, only the strongest stood on the winners’ podium when the Championships ended”. Larry provides a day-by-day guide to the match, with complete results for both F-Open and F-TR classes. You’ll find Larry’s article in the February 2012 edition of Shooting Sports USA.

You can read, for FREE, the digital version of Shooting Sports USA. CLICK HERE to read Larry’s article (pp. 20-22). Along with the report on the F-Class Nationals, there are many other items of interest in the February edition of Shooting Sports USA. You’ll find a 14-page 2012 Event Calendar that covers NRA competitions all across the country.

ssusa F-Class Championship

Field Target Air RifleIn addition, this month’s edition features a well-written, 4-page Guide to Field Target Competition by Jock Elliot. Field Target is a form of outdoor silhouette shooting using high-tech PCP Air Rifles with high-magnification scope. Check out the special Marauder Hybrid bullpup used by Team Crosman member Ray Apelles in the photo below. These high-end rigs are not cheap. A “full-race” Open Class Field Target rifle can cost up to $3000.00 with another $1000.00-$3000.00 for optics.

field Target air rifle

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