combinations of outcome, performance, and action goals with short, middle and long-term time frames. Men- tal rehearsal, often called imagery or visualization, is a very powerful skill that can be developed through understanding and practice. The term mental rehearsal is preferred over imagery or visualization since many people do not “see” images or visualizations and since the most important aspect of mental rehearsal is recre- ating the internal “feelings” of the activity in order to “ex- perience” all aspects of the activity on one’s mind. True performance comes


from deep within the “deep- er part” of the mind rather than from the highly verbal “active thought” part of the mind. The former is where our best performances come from while the latter becomes an interference and obstacle once the ath- lete is past the initial learn- ing phase of a specific activ- ity or skill.


The “deeper part” of our mind cannot distinguish the difference between perform- ing an activity and mentally rehearsing the activity. Thus, for training our mind, men- tal rehearsal has the same benefit as actual training. Certainly we must also train in order to build physical and technical capability and fa- miliarity; however, mental re- hearsal allows us to perform even more “training” of our mind. Ultimately in competi- tion, it is our mind which de- cides the outcome. Mental activation level is a way of discussing how “hyped up” an athlete is when perform- ing. When an athlete is too calm, their performance is


sub-par. Conversely, when an athlete is “hyped up” too much, his/her performance also suffers. This latter con- dition is quite common! For each athlete, there is an optimal level of mental activation for a given activ- ity. For most people, hav- ing some adrenaline (not too much) and excitement puts their mind and body in an optimal state for per- formance. The senses and mind are on full alert, the body is able to respond and the athlete discovers new levels of capability. When one is too hyped up,


knowing how to reduce the mental activation level is a powerful tool in the competi- tor’s toolbox. One technique is to gently deep breathe, also known as belly breath- ing. If athletes have learned and trained this technique, it is a physical thing they can decide to do right in the heat of competition which will calm their body and their mind. This has the added benefit of quieting all the chatter going on in their head. After a pause to belly breathe for several breaths, the athlete may then regain an appropriate mental acti- vation level, refocus and go back to work. Another tech- nique is to pick out a tiny item and quietly stare at it for a minute. Pick out some- thing tiny. Stare at it. Soon, one will become less excited and again the chatter will subside. Then rest your eyes while you set up for the next shot and enjoy. Learning how to increase


or decrease one’s mental activation level, and then learning one’s personal op- timal level, will allow an ath- lete to perform much better


with increased enjoyment. Self-talk is all the things we say to ourselves as we shoot. Too often, these things are critical, negative, counter- productive and unfriendly. In training, when I see athletes visibly react to a shot they don’t like, I will sometimes ask them if they would like to share what they just said to themselves. Their facial re- action is often hilarious! Uni- versally, they do not want to share what they said. I then ask how they would feel if I had said the same thing to them. They always say they would be very upset with me if I had. If we are supposed to be our own best friend and supporter, why are we so harsh to ourselves? Remember how the deep-


er part of the mind cannot distinguish between mental rehearsal and actually doing an activity? Another interest- ing aspect of the deeper part of the mind is that it only processes positives. That is, it does not understand negation. When someone says “Don’t shoot an 8!” the deeper mind hears “Shoot an 8!” This is not helpful! Self-talk is a form of


mental rehearsal. What are you telling yourself about yourself? Is it positive? Is it constructive? Is it taking you in the direction you want to go? Become aware of what you are saying to yourself, stop when you catch it hap- pening, and turn it around to positive things. Instead of “You stupid idiot!” after a bad shot, one might be bet- ter served with “I over held, forced the shot, and didn’t reject decisively like I know I can. I will allow the shot to unfold and reject if it doesn’t happen soon enough or if


it isn’t unfolding properly.” This is much more helpful and affirming for the next shot and for the athlete’s overall development as a competitor. Attention control is anoth-


er important aspect of high performance. Where are we mentally focused? Is it help- ful to us? Anything in the past of future (even if only a second or two in the past or future) is not helpful. We need to be only in the Pres- ent Moment and focused only on the task at hand. Often, when athletes look


around during a match, they are told “Don’t look back, keep looking forward, keep your head in the game.” One international athlete told me that she would look around on purpose so that she could resolve any curiosity (“Who just walked on the range?”), let the thought run, and then refocus without distrac- tion. Just because an ath- lete does not look around doesn’t indicate where their attention falls. Let the distracting


thoughts run so they can dis- sipate, breathe to become relaxed and quiet in body, mind, and spirit, refocus, quietly pay attention (with- out control or judgment) to what is happening in the present moment, and allow yourself to perform a shot process. We have touched on only


a few of the myriad aspects of the so-called “mental game” in this article. The books “Body Mind Mastery”, “Extraordinary Golf” and “Sport Psychology and Com- petition – The Psyche of the Shot” listed on the Resourc- es page of my blog are excel- lent references.


July 2014 | USA Shooting News 47


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68