On The Firing Line
By: JP O’Connor Believe: Part 62 in a Series This is a classic reprint and was originally published in 2005 as Number Twenty-Five in the series. When asked what the dif-
ference was between a day when she fi red a 390 in Air Rifl e competition and a day when she fi red a 397 or bet- ter, a 19-year-old World Cup champion in smallbore rifl e replied, “The only difference is in my confi dence level that day. If I believe I am on top of my game that day, I am. If I don’t believe I am, I’m not.” She didn’t say a word about her technique, positions, shot process, concentration, or anything other aspect of shooting — just that one con- cept. (Nine years later, she became an Olympic cham- pion.) In writing about his study
of “fl ow,” Mihaly Csikszent- mihalyi says that one of the critical elements for fl ow to take place is that the chal- lenge of the task must be well matched with the ca- pability of the performer. Even when this is true — as determined by an outside observer, such as a coach — the performer must believe this is the case; otherwise fl ow cannot take place. Abhinav Bindra of India, a
brilliant technician and per- former in our sport, echoes similar sentiments. One may indeed be among the best in the world (as he cer- tainly is, being both a World and Olympic Champion), yet one’s training process and schedule must be such that the performer believes they
Rebuild My Confi dence When an athlete loses
confi dence and no longer believes that he/she can perform at a high level, it is frustrating at best. But all is not lost as one athlete dis- covered. Despite
numerous
are prepared and able to meet the challenge. If this is the case, he will fi nd himself in the “fl ow state” or “zone of forgetfulness” when he shoots, and the results are world class. Other times, as when competing in a World Cup with very limited train- ing ahead of time, or with a new rifl e, he may or may not have the same level of belief in his preparedness to match the challenge. This is all very normal and affects the way the performance unfolds. Because he under- stands these concepts, he is
52 USA Shooting News | September 2015
able to plan his training ac- cordingly. With all the emphasis
we place on technical as- pects of the sport, such as our equipment, technique and on the physical aspects including our positions, it seems odd that something as seemingly simple as what we think or believe can have such an impact on our performance. Experience, however, repeatedly shows just how true this is. The sto- ries of two champions lend insight and illustrate this theme quite well.
achievements, including gold medals and at least one record-setting perfor- mance, this 19-year-old ath- lete was coming off of a sea- son where one thing after another had eroded her con- fi dence and it showed in her scores. Two months before a National Championship, she asked an old coach of hers if they could work together to help her work through the current situation. They talked about the situation, her feelings about it, and most importantly, explored her assessment of why she was struggling and what she thought was needed to break the cycle. They also discussed the coach’s ob- servations and suggestions and together they came up with a plan of action. Some of their train-
ing session activities were planned in advance by the coach. At one point, he sug- gested a short session using a Noptel electronic trainer “just to see” if they might notice anything interesting or helpful to the process. Uncharacteristically — but by design — the coach allowed
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