Competing against my toughest competitor: Me

Over the last couple of months I've put a lot of my energy into the planing and execution of a rifle competition a few friends and I run. It has been difficult at times as we all have other commitments also however it's a labour of love as we do it to help introduce new shooters to that particular form of shooting. It's a family-friendly event and it's been rewarding to be a part of the organising group. We have our third event coming up in July however I'll be absent on the day as I'll be in Europe. That relieves some of the pressure from me from an organisational perspective and I've had the chance to focus on some of my own shooting.

On the 20th of May I'm competing in an IPSC match (practical pistol shooting) run by one of the clubs here. I'm not sure how many shooters there will be however there's usually somewhere around 150 or so. I wrote a post a few weeks ago with some video footage of me shooting at a small event at my own gun club which you can see here.

I certainly wouldn't rate myself as shooting at anywhere near the top level when compared against some of the other shooters however I'm not shooting right at the bottom either; I'm sort of solid mid-pack I guess. I typically shoot at around 60% of the top shooter in my division (the state champion and number two in the country) with my accuracy being very good, but my speed hurting my score somewhat. My old bones have trouble moving me around the range as quickly as my mind goes these days so I'm always going to be slower. There's a lot of fire and movement in this style of shooting.

I used to be a reasonably competitive person...OK, I'll be honest, I still am, however it's different now. I don't compete for accolades, ego, prizes or status, it's more a competition with myself, to perform the best I can and better than the last time. A race, or competition, against myself I guess. Now, don't misunderstand...Winning is still my goal and I always play to win however I also understand that I can't always do so and that I can't compete against some of the other guys or girls for various reasons. I work hard to be my best though, at work and play, and will always strive to perform at my peak. Aiming at mediocre is not part of who I am.

In the last week or so I've been working on my draw and aim in my garage which basically involves drawing from my holster (pictured above), aiming at a small dot on the wall and pulling the trigger (no ammunition of course). The idea is to create muscle-memory and improve the speed at which I draw and send my first and second aimed shot. I can now draw, aim and fire in just over 1.5 seconds and know I will strike the target in the A (Alpha) zone which means maximum points. What I can't do with this type of dry fire is simulate recoil of course. I also practise ejecting and changing magazines quickly and cleanly which in competition I do on the run to save time. Doing the magazine change when static (in front of a target) is simply a waste of time. If you saw the video in the post I linked above you will see what I mean.

I'm hoping this practice will help me climb the leaderboard and shoot at higher than 60% of the winner. Just to explain, the winner is awarded 100% for the win and everyone else is ranked as a percentage according to that percentage. Generally to shoot within 50% of the winner in a competition would be considered good. I'm aiming for 70% on the 20th of May. The medal below rewarded me as top rookie at the State Titles earlier this year however the real reward was to get through my first major IPSC competition without disqualification and the huge amount of knowledge I gained. That knowledge helps me improve as I add to it with each practice session and match.

So, it's refreshing to be able to focus on my own shooting for a change as lately it's been all about the rifle challenge I stage. The repetitive nature of draw-aim-trigger pull-trigger pull-holster-repeat is also quite relaxing. I do it for about 10-12 minutes a night as I find that any more time tends to see my concentration lapse and my style disintegrate. I'd rather work at it for 10 minutes and be highly productive than 30 minutes and be sloppy and unproductive. It's worked so far I guess. I'll probably take some photos at the match on the 20th and may also do some video as well which I will share at some stage. If I suck on the day or I shoot well I'll enjoy myself and without the stress of feeling like I have to compete with everyone else I can focus on shooting against my toughest competitor...Me.

[- Design and create your ideal life, don’t live it by default -]