2003-08 August 2003 Coaching Hour – Doubts & Goals

With the 2003 National Sporting Clays Championships approaching, we touch on a variety of topics, ranging from pre-tournament practice to re-examining goals and reviewing the shooting log. This session also includes a chat on the interplay between fear and excitement and a checklist of necessary ingredients for a sporting clays peak performance.

The Power of Still Eyes

 Gil: I want to start off with one thing: if you can keep your eyes still before you call for the bird, you will be flabbergasted at what it will do for your game.

I was practicing with Phil Bartash and Jimmy McDaniels earlier this week. I had a machine with a battery that was a little low, and if I punched the remote and I wasn’t close enough it wouldn’t throw. And they started complaining about it.

I said, “Guys, that’s one of the best things that can happen to you at practice because it shows you if you’re moving when you call ‘pull.’” So I would admonish everybody to continue to work on that. And you can have a separate part of your routine that specifically deals with where your eyes focused on something until you call “pull.” And your eyes must be still for at least a beat before you call “pull.”

It’s an easy thing to take for granted, especially on days when your eyes are really working well and the birds are lit well. It’s the first opportunity for doubt to come into your approach. If there’s the slightest bit of disbelief in your plan, those eyes are going to be moving. I know. I caught myself doing it the other day.

 Brian: I recognized that I wasn’t getting a good hard focus on where the target was and I had a target with some hard speed to it. So I was kind of rushing on that target. But once I got my eyes still and called “pull,” and just kind of settled down and watched it, I had no problems. But it’s those momentary glitches I was talking about that will cause you some problems.

Those Doubting Eyes

 Gil: That is the first place you will find doubt affecting your performance. Your eyes will move before you call “pull” or they’ll move as you call “pull.” They won’t be set. Now we’ve harped on everybody about keeping your eyes still before you call “pull.” Keep them still as you call “pull.” Keep them still until you see the flash of the target. But it occurs to us in doing just the little practice that we get to do, that is the first place that doubt will get in, because you’re just not sure. You’re keyed up and tense, and your eyes will move before you call “pull,” so just be aware of that.

I think you’ll also find that the deeper in your plan you get and the deeper in your routine you get and the more belief you have in your plan, the more relaxed you’ll be and the more calm your eyes will be and the clearer the targets will be. Just remember that when doubt enters in, everything’s going to speed up. It’s a normal human emotion. It’s a normal thing for doubt to come in and make you speed up everything you do. And at the risk of embarrassing you, you’ve had trouble with that, haven’t you?

 Brian: Absolutely.

 Gil: Everybody does, it’s just at different levels. Making sure that your eyes are still and your body is set and calm before you call “pull” in your routine will pay big dividends during those pressure situations.

Assessing Goals at the Year End

 Gil: The first planned topic tonight, I have titled doubts and goals. Those two things are not generally grouped together, but by the end of this segment I think you’ll understand why I put them together.

This is the time of year when the year’s drawing to a close. You’re writing in your log and maybe you’re getting to the end in your mind before you should be. You’ve either achieved your goal or it looks like you won’t be able to achieve them, or it looks like you could – one of those three.

If you’ve achieved a goal, then it’s very, very important that you make another goal. It’s very important that you always have a goal. Once you’ve achieved one, create another one immediately. Regardless of whether you change it eventually, you need to have some kind of a goal. Those of you who have achieved  some part of your yearly  goal,  make sure that you have another one. And make sure that you stay focused. Control what you can control and go for it. But if it’s to the point in the year with only a couple of shoots left to go, that it doesn’t look like you’re going to be able to achieve a goal, that’s okay. Bob Shannon talked about this a little bit  last year. You’ve got to forgive yourself, and let  it go and  don’t  worry about  not achieving  that goal.  Just make another one.

I mean you’ve got a couple of shoots left. Make another short-term goal, and do your best to achieve it. But if you don’t go ahead and create a goal, you’re going to be out there driving the boat with no destination. Just remember that winners evaluate success based on achieving pre-set goals, not on their scores.

This time of year it’s easy to get caught up in what you haven’t been able to do, and if you do that, it’s easy to waste the rest of the year. Just look at what you’ve done, look at what you’ve learned. You’ve got to understand that through the year things change and you must constantly, in a more realistic way, look at the curve balls that life has thrown you. It’s just like Jack Parker said, he had a bump in the road, he had to go to the hospital and have something done. And Jack, you said you won’t be able to go to the state shoot because of that.

 Jack: Correct. But I’ve looked, and there are more shoots down the road.

 Gil: Hello! See there? Listen to that. So you have to understand that all of your goals and your ability to achieve those goals are based on whatever else is going on in your personal life. I know that you have to constantly reassess where you are, where you want to go with your game and what’s going on in your personal life. And Vicki and I have had to do that more this particular month than we ever have.

 Earlier this year when we were planning the year we left some extra days open this month to practice for Nationals. We’ve never done this before, but we were excited about it, we were looking forward to it, but something happened. Some crazy people looked at our house and decided to buy it, and my, how life has changed. What’s important in our lives has really changed. Talk about having butterflies. It’s kind of like going to the car after a shoot and you’re going to put your guns up. And you have the gun wiped down and it’s in the case but you haven’t shut the case and somebody comes up behind you on the shoulder and says: “Hey, you’re in a shoot-off.”

As far as you were concerned the day was already done. You were already home and now you’ve got to reconvene all your senses and get back in the game. We’ve had to go through permit people, contractors, septic people, AC, the bug people,  etc.

The reason I’m telling you this is to let you guys know that you’re not alone in what you’re going through. The principles that we’re talking about apply in life as well. This whole process has reaffirmed in our lives, just how strong doubt, fear and excitement really are.

A Personal Experience with Doubts and Goals

 Gil: You have to understand that our house has been on the market for a couple of years. After the first couple of showings we learned not to get excited, because it’s a really big place and it’s going to take a unique person to buy it, and we hadn’t considered that when we first put it on the market. So the first couple times we had people come look at it we got really excited, which is a lot like how you feel when you go to your first registered shoot. You’re too excited to know to be afraid. But our realtor got us aside and explained we had a very unique place and to just be patient.

So we waited and we got this offer and the price was negotiated and everything was going great and everybody agreed on it. And our excitement level went straight up. About three days after that, our fear and doubt level exceeded the excitement level tremendously. And that “what if” voice began to take control. “What if they don’t like it? What if they like it but something happens at the closing?”

I’ve got to tell you, my brain was going around like a dog in a catfight. There were thoughts coming into my mind, my speech sped up, my thought process sped up and it was just because I let the voice in. It’s a very similar thing to when you’re shooting a course and you’re on a good run and you don’t miss any on the first two-thirds of the course and your thoughts go to the future. When we started wondering “what if,” we were no longer in the present. So after a while, Vicki and I sat down and decided that we were worrying about things that we could not control because we were staying in the future. They say that buying a house is one of the three most emotional things you’ll ever do, and I agree with them.

It showed us a lot about what doubt can do to you. Our emotions fed on each other. It was all negative, and the closer to closing it got, the more the doubt grew and we finally realized that we were setting our own emotional traps and we were falling right into them. We were anywhere but in the present. We resigned ourselves to the fact that, if it happens it happens, if it doesn’t it doesn’t. Much like you should think when you’re shooting a good score. Once we sat down and took a realistic look at it, we got our expectations back under control. And our fear and excitement levels were back in line.

Fear and Excitement

 Gil: And when I say that, remember there are two things that create adrenalin. Fear and excitement. And we went from an adrenalin high on excitement within three days to an adrenalin high on fear. And our mantra after this was: “If it’s meant to be, it’s okay, and if it’s not, that’s okay. But we’re going to do everything in our power to help the process along.” From that point on, instead of dwelling on “what if,” we dealt with “what is.” We dealt with each problem as it came up, and the situations immediately became problems that we could solve. We resigned ourselves to the fact that we were not going to celebrate until the check was cashed. And I’m sure you’ve all bought homes and this is probably old stuff for you, but this was a big emotional thing for us.

We sat at the dinner table and talked about this last night, about how many similarities there are between the journey we went through and the journey people go through when they’re shooting sporting clays. There’s no need to worry about score until you fire the last shot, and then you better not worry about it until you’re in a shoot-off. We stopped hurrying we stopped worrying. And except that time I ate a dozen Krispy Kreme donuts, I don’t think I’ve ever been as out of control as I was for about a week there, worrying about what they were going to find wrong with the house, or if the deal was going to go through.

It was a real emotional rollercoaster, especially for me, not so much for Vicki. She’s a little bit more calm in these situations. But knowing that hurrying up and worrying and flitting from subject to subject mentally was a normal human emotion, it helped me understand what

I was going through and helped me get back out of it.

It’s the same thing in shooting. Shoot one bird at a time. When you stop worrying about it and just let it happen, everything will fall into place if it’s meant to be. And we found a great new house and now we’re celebrating. But this has been a real reality check for us on emotion, expectation and doubt, and especially how fear and excitement affect the adrenalin in the body. It’s something that we’ve referred to in a casual way several times, but I want you all to understand the importance of what fear and excitement do to you. You must have some of both to compete well. You’ve got to be fearful enough of the situation to give every target the respect it deserves. But you also have to be excited enough to be there, to believe in yourself enough to get out of your own way and break the targets. That’s a fragile balance.

I was talking to Jimmy McDaniel earlier this week when we were practicing. He said, “The only time I ever ran 100 straight in a 28-gauge event on skeet was when I visualized for a whole week what I was     going  to do.”

I looked at him and said, “What happened?”

And he said, “It just happened. It was just like I’d already been there.”

I said, “Well, do you think that might work in sporting clays?”

And he got that deer in the headlights look, so I think he’s going to start visualizing more.

You’ve got to approach these things, especially a big shoot like the Nationals, and not worry about the outcome, because you can’t control the outcome. I know we’ve said this over and over again before. But I feel like, if we continue to have problems with it, we’re not the only ones out there. So know that you can’t control the outcome, you can just control the process mentally and physically. And the result is just the result.

Strive for Two Things

 Gil: You’ve got to remember to strive for two things, just two things: excellence in focus, and the plan, because perfection is the result of excellence. Our goals and attitudes had to be changed in reference to Nationals as you can see. So all we want to do now is just go and have some fun, and that’s okay. I guess that’s pretty much the point of the first segment. You can have your goals, but you have to understand that life is going to throw you some curveballs and you may have to adjust them. Just because you set them doesn’t mean you have to keep them.

It’s okay to change your goals, but remember, you’ve got to have one. And I want all of you to know something. We appreciate the hard work that you do, but you’re doing it for yourself, you’re not doing it for us. And whether you shoot well, win, lose or draw, or if you stink it up, we don’t care. If you stink it up that just means we’re going to make more money in shooting lessons in the future.

I want you all to know something else. We’re proud of all of you, because it takes a very secure person to open up as you guys have on this Coaching Hour. And to open up with us as you have in lessons. We want you to know that we don’t take it lightly. Remember that if you’re not doing this for yourself, you’re doing it for the wrong reasons. Never let anyone rob you of the pleasure of enjoying what you have the time and the means to do. Like Jeff said, we ought to be thankful to God for allowing us the time and the means to play a game like this. And what a pleasure it is to do it with the people like those we meet on the road.

Versions of Visualization

 Gil: I hope you’ve all been practicing visualizing. Bob Shannon was gracious enough to give us some information and we’ve talked about this several times, but it’s of utmost importance right now, especially if you’re going to the Nationals. You’re three weeks out, there’s no time to go practice and get a new move. There’s no time to go and cram for the final exam.

If you can, spend all of your available time just visualizing yourself doing well. You will experience a calm control when you’re over there, I hope, that you’ve never experienced before. I’ve done this a few times in the past when I was competing and it had remarkable results. The last few months we’ve been talking about self-talk, and self-talk, in a way, is very similar to visualization. They’re both shortcut tools to build subconscious confidence, or to build self-esteem or to eliminate doubt. It’s important that you use these things.

Visualization is a powerful tool. Steve Mancinelli was shooting skeet this year and he was talking about how this year he was going to visualize not only shooting well, but actually going up and getting the trophy. Because he found himself through visualization, not only getting on the airplane to leave, but arriving there, getting a rental car, going to registration, seeing the people that he wanted to see, being able to walk away from the people that were speaking negatively, seeing himself do well at every event. And he found himself in the top four or five, and because he’d never actually been in that position, he could feel himself becoming anxious. And this year, he said he’s not only going to visualize himself doing all the other stuff, but also visualize himself shooting in the shoot-off well, and receiving the trophy.

If you can spend as much time as you can, and I mean as much time as you possibly can, I suggest that you do. Dick Baker, are you out there?

 Dick: Yes, sir.

 Gil: Dick, do you remember when we were talking to Craig Hill about visualization, how he just turned into a six-year-old kid?

 Dick: Yes, right.

 Gil: And he was smiling and he was jumping around, and he had his hands up like he was shooting birds. I’ve got to tell you guys, the more fun it is and the more fun you make it, the quicker it imprints because you’re attaching that all-important thing called emotion to it.

Visualization is not a formal thing, like sitting down at church or sitting down to a formal meal. You can do it driving down the highway. Everything in your life for the next three weeks becomes a target, and you shoot it with your hands. Just be totally, passionately consumed with visualizing everything you see. If you’re out in the yard and a bird flies by, it’s a target. If a car drives by, it’s a target. Practice focusing on very small parts of a very large scene so it’ll train your eye to more easily go to the front of the target. Follow things that are hard to focus on.

Take advantage of any time you can to do internal visualization on things that are around you, and just play, like Craig was that day when he was running a round like a six-year- old kid with his first skateboard. It’s a fun thing. Visualization cannot be something that’s very strenuous and very structured. It’s got to flow, and it’s just got to happen. If you don’t have a lot of time, set some time aside and use external visualization to see yourself doing well. I just cannot stress how important visualization is. Do it in more places than the shooting  box.

The reason I think we keep coming back to this is that we see so many people relive their failures. And when they’re reliving them, they’re putting a lot of emotion to them and they can see themselves failing. Just don’t go there. Replace all that stuff with visions of breaking targets and doing well.

It’s not self-deception, it’s self-direction. You’re going to think about something. You can’t not think about something, but you need to begin to spend as much of your available time as possible visualizing. And have fun when you do it. Last month, I think we were talking about tension, and Bob Shannon was talking about how smiling is a subconscious function. You’ve got to think to frown. And if you look at visualization as work, it’s not going to happen. This isn’t work. You can smile. And it’s cheap, it don’t cost you nothing.

You need to visualize yourself shooting different kinds of targets. Go through all the trajectories. I think it was Nate who said earlier this year that every night before he goes to bed, he picks his gun up and does 10 to 20 reps on every trajectory that he has to shoot. Every trajectory. The more you can keep the gun in your hands and play with the gun, the better off you’ll be.

You’ve got to visualize yourself being smooth, not rushed. I was re- reading Lanny Basshams’ book the other day. He doesn’t call this visualization. He calls it rehearsal. And that’s a good way to look at it, if you’re having a hard time understanding visualization and what it does for you. You’re just rehearsing what you’re gonna do. The better your rehearsal, the better the performance because the better your rehearsal, the more subconscious your performance. When you’re visualizing you need to think about how easy it is just to trust it, just to swing and to shoot with trust. All those things that you can attach emotion to will make your visualization that much better. Be as consumed as you can be with this between now and Nationals. As much as you can. As much as you can. And Dick Baker?

 Dick: Yes?

 Gil: It’s okay to smile while you’re doing this.

 Dick: Oh, that’s the greatest thing I’ve found while doing this. That smile works.

 Gil: I’m telling you, you can’t think negative thoughts while you’re smiling. I don’t know if you guys have been around in a lesson when I take somebody’s gun and take a shot with it and miss. I just smile and say, “I’m better than that.” And I go right back to hitting the target. It’s an  amazing  thing.  Dick,  I  think  you  had  a  little  trouble   with visualization earlier because you were trying to make it too much like work.

 Dick: Absolutely. That was a good point that came out of watching Craig Hill. I had been so serious about it and like you said, he was like a kid with a toy. It was sprinkling and raining and he started out under the tent and before you know it he’s outside in the rain. I was just way too serious with it.

 Gil: Well, it is a game. Just remember that it is a game, and it’s supposed to be a game. And some of us take it more serious than others at different times in our lives, but it is a game. And the more you can go and relax, have a good time and smile, the better off you’ll be. You need to visualize yourself on the first station too. That’s where those first station jitters come in. So visualize yourself on the first station, with targets you’ve never seen before, and imagine yourself walking up there and making your plan, and you’re shooting them backwards from everybody. You never doubt your plan. You believe it. You get in that box and you smoke all eight birds. That’s a big deal.

Monkey-see monkey-do often happens.

Visualize yourself on the last three stations, closing on a good card. That’s where the voice is going to come in. Thoughts of score will come in and you’ve got to visualize yourself finishing with a good card. And give emotion to it.

It makes my visual process so much easier when I use my hands when I visualize. And as I said that my hands just came up and shot two crossers. It’s just a natural reaction for me. And I know out at the practice field when Vicki and I are teaching, the blackbirds are flying over, the doves are flying over, the martins are flying over, and it’s just an amazing opportunity when you have that many aerial targets instead of just looking at them, focus on their heads and just move with them. Move with them. When you’re visualizing, it’s important that you try to feel that feeling. It’s a lot easier to visualize something if you can feel it. And did I tell you, it’s okay to smile?

The more you visualize—this is a big one—the more you visualize your performance, the less often the things you can’t control come into play. That’s huge. We’re gonna talk about some of those things here, because there’s so many things that have to come together for you to have a good peak performance. And there are some factors you can control and some you can’t. What you’ve got to do is be concerned about the ones you can control. And the more you visualize, the more subconscious your whole tournament will be and the less you’ll be affected by the things you can’t control.

I’ve got to share this little story with you, and it won’t take long. In 1992, I had a bet with Jess Briley about whether or not you could run 100 straight in every gauge in skeet with a cylinder choke. And I went and shot the Grant Elsing Skeet Shoot with him. It was six weeks before the skeet shoot, and I didn’t practice a round. But every moment that I had—driving around in the truck, shooting sporting clays target, whatever I did—I was breaking skeet targets in my head. Remember when I told you about the skeet pad I made in my office and I would visualize shooting skeet? Well I went back to that box, and I was shooting skeet targets for six weeks. I didn’t practice, but I went out there and I missed two or three birds out of five hundred. I was one hundred percent totally consumed with shooting skeet for six weeks straight.

Every waking minute I had, I was shooting high two or I was shooting high three. I was shooting doubles from six. High bird, low bird singles. Just doing that enabled me to be already there before I got there. It’s a powerful tool. I think I said earlier this year, it’s one of the most powerful shortcuts to peak performance you can have. So I want to emphasize to you that you just can’t do it too much.

The Performance Triangle

 Gil: Tim Gallwey has a performance triangle that he refers to. If you’ll imagine a triangle in front of you with the point at the top, he’s got the word ‘performance’ at the top. And the word ‘enjoyment’ is on the lower left and the word ‘learning’ is on the lower right hand corner of the triangle. And he explains that performance is 100 percent attached to the amount of learning and the amount of enjoyment that you have. When you’re practicing, you’re there to learn and enjoy yourself.

That increases your performance. When you’re performing, you’re there to enjoy and you’re there to learn. If you can conquer that demon about trying too hard and just going out there and having a good time, I know that it will affect your performance in a positive way.

Log Review

 Gil: This would be a good time in your year to review your log. It’s also a powerful tool. Gosh, every time I talk about a tool I say it’s one of the most powerful, but it is. It’s a powerful thing to keep a log. You can read back through your log and remember what you did well. You can look at everything you’ve learned this year. And without a log, you tend to forget what you did well. You tend to remember the things that you didn’t do well. And you also tend to forget the things that you’ve learned.

It’s like last week, I was talking to Danny Cummings about the 14 Tips video. It is designed to be a review of just some basic things and some advanced things that tend to trip people up. I said, “Danny, did you learn anything from the video?”

And he said, “Yeah, you’ve said those things 100 times but I still forgot them until I looked at them again.”

And that’s one of the values of having a log. It will allow you to see how far you’ve come this year.

Tom Kirchmer started out in D class this year, he shot doubles for three weeks and went over and shot an 82, and the high score was 88 and he was in D class. He just punched in to AA at the Zone Shoot. Now think about that, guys. And this guy’s left eye dominant, shooting right- handed with both eyes open. That’s something that some people think can’t be done. But he’s got a log. And he reviews his log, so review your log. It’s important that you do that. Keep things in perspective.

Improve the Overall Game

 Gil: You’re going into a big shoot, we don’t want you to over-practice, but we don’t want you to take it for granted either. And when you’re practicing, work on improving your overall game. Don’t just work on your weaknesses. Improve your overall game.

I was talking to Dean Olson a couple weeks ago, he was having trouble with a particular target. Actually, he walked up to me and said, “Do you want a testimonial? I was having trouble with a certain target and I went home and put the flashlight in my barrel and made one move and realized what I was doing wrong.”

So maybe practicing with the flashlight in the gun barrel might help. The more time you can spend with that gun in your hand and the more time you spend smiling and playing, the easier it becomes.

Look at your schedule for the next three weeks. If you’re going to shoot tournaments, fine. Just remember that it doesn’t matter if you win. That has no bearing on your performance at Nationals. It’s just another day. Even if you won it, it’s just another day. You need to plan your practice sessions according to your weaknesses and your strengths. Don’t practice too much. I was talking to Frank Wood today in California. He was calling to get the log pages. He said he’d been trying to keep a log but he wasn’t organized, and he wanted to know if we’d mind sending him a log page.

I said, “Tell me how your practice is going.”

He said, “You know it has been so hot, rather than taking a flat of ammo out there, I just take the shotgun shells and pour them in a  bucket, and I go out until my focus stops, and as soon as my focus stops,  I stop practicing.” As hot as it’s been, that may not be a bad idea. Like    I said before, be sure to look at everything else that’s going on in your life, because in order for you to be all there on game day, the rest of your life has to be in harmony. And that’s more important than most people realize. Being able to say, “I did the best I’ve ever done today”    is a big deal. We talked about that a couple months ago.

Be aware that, at a big shoot, most people are going to try to get you to attach your self- worth to your score. Don’t go there. Don’t let them drag you to that place. The phrase, “I may not have had a high score but I shot well,” may be one you’ll want to adopt. There’s a huge difference between doing your best and shooting your best score. I hope you can appreciate that. Some of my best shoots have been when I didn’t shoot well early in the match and I knew I had to refocus and come back and I did, and that gave me the courage to not miss any on the first few stations.

Ingredients of a Peak Performance

 Gil: I’ll run through these quick. I’ve listed several things that have to come together in order for you to have a peak performance, besides having good swing mechanics.

You’ve got to have total calm focus on every target with your eyes still. And I mean on every one of those targets.

You’ve got to have the correct plan, and the ability to trust the plan, and the only way you can gain that ability is to believe in the plan.

You’ve got to have a good subconscious routine.

Here’s one: Shooting the course at the right time. Not many people think about that, but there’s some luck involved when you have to    shoot certain targets. I know there have been quite  a  few  courses where I’ve shot the course one day and came back to look at it the next day and said one of two things. Either, “Man, I’m glad I shot it yesterday,” or “I wish I could have shot that one today.” And that’s just the luck of the draw.

You’ve got to learn to not care about score. You’ve got to learn to stay in the present. Eliminate all distractions in your personal life.

The quality of your practice sessions in the next three weeks will control how well you shoot. Knowing you’re on a good card and not caring is where being able to visualize the last three stands will come into play.

Here’s one you can’t control: hope your gun doesn’t malfunction. I hope your gun fits, like Marty Holt. She was at the world FITASC and shot a couple of days before she realized that they put the stock back on her gun after fixing it and it wasn’t adjusted right.

The weather comes into play, but you can’t do anything about that.

The weather plays a big role, but you can’t do anything about that.

Dealing with emotional outbursts from other shooters. All that negativity, and you know it’s out there. You are like a cork in the middle of the ocean, or a rattle trap in the middle of a dump truck, I mean it’s just huge, there’s a lot of it out there.

It’s important to have seen all the presentations at other tournaments so nothing is new.

Eating well, sleeping well, and not having car trouble on the way to the shoot.

Reacting to misses correctly and correcting misses correctly, and so on. There are just thousands of things that have to come together for you to have a peak performance. Some of them you can control, and some of them you can’t. And the more you visualize your performance, the more these things can’t get in. I know I’m going over and over on the same point, but I believe in it so strongly. And we use that whenever we do TV shows. We use that whenever we have to confront a group for instruction that we’ve never seen before. The more you can visualize yourself doing well, the better you’ll perform more easily. And you realize you’re going to have different levels of performance, so if you have one day that’s exceptional and one day that’s not quite as exceptional, don’t worry about it. And, for God’s sake, don’t go to the scoreboard and see where you’re at after the second days at Nationals because it’s irrelevant. Everybody’s shooting different courses.

So in reviewing your log, you’re going to find that some of your best performances may not be your top scores. Constantly read that log over, as Vicki told me earlier, it’ll keep things in perspective. To be able to score while being attacked by outside influences is tough. When you read about how you overcame that, the easier it is for you to overcome. Because these monumental things that happen to you every year are very easy to forget, and that’s because negativity in and of itself is easier to sell and easier to give emotion to. Review your log and realize how much you’ve learned.

As you get better at controlling emotion and doubt, the things you can’t control begin to matter less and less. It’s all about trust guys. It’s all about trust. You’ve all got good moves, you just have to learn to trust.

Practice Before Nationals

 Gil: I’ve got a few minutes left. I want to talk to you just briefly about what I think you should be practicing on. Practice your breakpoint, practice trusting your breakpoint, work on your overall game as I said earlier. Not just on one target. If you’ve got a problem target, work on it, but don’t let the fear of that target consume you. Make the targets easy on that problem target and get in there and pick your breakpoints. Keep your eyes still as Brian and I talked about earlier. Make sure your hands are relaxed. Shoot some true pairs. Shoot some report pairs. Shoot some singles moving the breakpoints. You probably ought to spend a little time between now and Nationals shooting birds in the first third of the flight path. Sometimes, not all the time, but sometimes being able to take that bird in the first third of the flight path will be a benefit. Most of the time, it’s not, to be honest with you. The first half is plenty, but sometimes it will be a benefit. And to be able to walk in their confident, knowing you’ve done it three weeks before several times, that will help you control the doubt.

Keep your eyes still and your hands calm when you know you have to move fast to see the bird. Stay away from the hard ones. Improve on what you have in your computer. Don’t try to do something new. If you see somebody doing something in a way that you don’t do it, now is not the time to go over there and say, “Show me how to do that.”

And your stroke is there. Your stroke is a product of your work and dedication and visualization. And when you go over there to Nationals, just go have a good time, but improve on what you already have in your computer.

I can’t stress this enough, especially for you older guys. Jeff Kruger was the one who brought it up to me, and we’ve talked about this several times. You’ve got to get a lot of rest. Good sound, restful sleep, about a week and a half before you go to Nationals.

I also know it’s going to be hot over there and if you can practice in the heat of the day a couple of times just to see how long your gas tank will last that might be a good idea. I wouldn’t do it every day, just a few times to see how your body is reacting. Try if you can at least the week before Nationals to concentrate on getting plenty of rest.    And make sure you get plenty to drink. I would concentrate on the electrolyte drinks because you know the electrolyte depletion rate is greater than the replenishment rate. I don’t know about you guys but I’m going to start having some Pedialyte when I’m over there. I’m going to start having some Pedialyte in the next two weeks. Just a little bit here and there.