# nerves at a big shoot



## FITAfanatic (Jun 29, 2009)

When your practicing, you need to shoot they way you would at a tournament. If theres pressure at a shoot, find pressure while practicing. Have a friend over to practice and place bets on your shots. Who ever gets the highest score after a round of five arrows gets the money. Try haveing people watch you so theirs eyes on you like there would be at a tournament. If you expose yourself more and more, you will used to the pressure more and more.


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## subconsciously (Aug 22, 2009)

Also, go through your shot sequence on every shot in practice. Then do the same at the tournament. Remember that it is a sequence. Practice or tournament. Shoot form.


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## aread (Dec 25, 2009)

Good advice above! 

Also, shoot as many tournaments as you can. Sooner or later, you will learn to become comfortable in the tournament environment. 

Go into each tournament with a realistic goal. Set a goal that you can accomplish if you are shooting good. A lot of archers set a goal of shooting their practice average. With the pressure of a tournament, you really shouldn't expect to do more than that. If your average is good enough to win, great. But if it's not (like most of us), then it's not realistic to expect to shoot better. 

Often, an archer will go to a tournament thinking, "If I can just get a hot streak going, I can win this thing". This sets up unrealistic expectations that lead to added pressure that leads to bad shots, poor scores and frustration that leads to more added pressure, that leads to more bad shots, that ... well you get the picture. It ain't pretty. By the time you break out of the downward spiral, you often don't even have a chance to reach your average.

Another tournament goal is to shoot a certain percentage of good shots. Obviously, we all want to shoot 100% good shots. But for many of us, that's simply not realistic. Again, the goal should be equal to your practice average. We practice & train to shoot 100% good shots, but if we were already shooting 100% good shots, we probably wouldn't have to ask about tournament pressure.  

Another thing that helps with nerves on the line or at the stake, is to do the let down drill. Come to full draw and metally review all the parts and pieces of your form. Evaluate if the parts of your form at full draw are where they should be? If not let down and draw again. If it's right, hold for 4 or 5 seconds, then let down. If you can't achieve and hold consistent form during practice, you probably won't do it in competition. This builds confidence in your ability to stay on target for as long as it takes to get off a good shot.

All of this boils down to building confidence in our ability. Accuracy and winning come from confidence. 

Hope this helps,
Allen


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## IsHeBreathing? (Feb 11, 2011)

I get this to. 

My last 1, and first real one, after19 targets, I knew i wasnt in it. Pressure disappeared and the last 11 targets were 5 11's and 6 10's.


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## Trykon Mike (Aug 25, 2007)

Shoot your form and trust your shot.


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