Nerves?

[James Park]

I am conducting some adhoc research: of those who shot the AA Nationals target event, who got nervous for the first end? Why? How did you deal with it?

[James Park]

Interestingly, careful research has shown that you need to get a bit nervous in order to shoot your best (but not overly nervous otherwise you will perform worse). Hence, the trick is to control the amount you get nervous, and get it into the optimum zone.
Because of my medical history, I now struggle to try to get nervous, and risk under-performing because I am not sufficiently nervous.

[Flame]

Yep

Nervous for the first end of every shoot
I get rid of it by making fun of my bad shots when I'm scoring the first end then it goes away

Funny though I don't get nervous at matchplay

[Flame]

I did notice when shooting with you at the matchplay that you rush up to the shooting line really quick as soon as you can and was wondering if that was your way of putting yourself under some pressure and get a little nervous

[clever_guy]

"research has shown that you need to get a bit nervous in order to shoot your best"

You need to be "aroused" not necessarily nervous - more anticipatory. But I will bet 90% of athletes are genuinely nervous prior to an important event, and that nervousness is magnified with the importance the athlete puts on the event. I think archery (and particularly indoor) is one of those sports that is more nerve-wracking than most because to be competitive at a high level every (or almost every) arrow has to be perfect - and you have that reoccurring pressure 30-60 times in each portion of an event

[James Park]

I did notice when shooting with you at the matchplay that you rush up to the shooting line really quick as soon as you can and was wondering if that was your way of putting yourself under some pressure and get a little nervous
I like to get to the shooting line straight away so that I have time to get ready for the first shot - so I can get into the best mental state early, and also to shoot an arrow early in the allowed time.

clever-guy: yes, I agree that it is "arousal level" rather than "nervous". I simply used "nervous" because I thought it would be more generally understood. I agree with your coments.

[clever_guy]

"clever-guy: yes, I agree that it is "arousal level" rather than "nervous". I simply used "nervous" because I thought it would be more generally understood."

On the same note I had a conversation with some high-level archers who have tried beta-blockers and prozac to see what effect they had on shooting (no names of course, due to obvious WADA issues) - but the general impression was that while they suppessed the nerves with Prozac their arousal level was lowered to the point where their performance went down as well. They felt they lost their "edge" for each shot and shot more "carelessly".

Haven't tried it myself, but it might be an interesting experiment (out of a tourney of course).

-CG

[Aarleks]

I was quite pumped up for the first FITA. I shot every end, apart from the last one, very quickly, which is unusual for me. The end result was a pb by 22 points over my practice pb and 80 points over my Star pb. The next day I was down abit and couldn't find 'it'.

In the matchplay I couldn;t get nervous for some reason and consequently shot my average. However, in the teams matchplay I was very nervous for the first end. This settled for the second (with some cheering from Jim and Zoe that was very much appreciated :D :D ) and I shot a 28 (out of 30).

This is probably my biggest lesson from the Nat's.

[Jay Bowden]

At the Nats this year I used a secret (legal) weapon to counter the nerves.
More on that later.

I find that nerves can be detrimental to scores, so I try to keep myself calm and focussed before and during shooting.

Although it did get pretty nervewracking shooting third in the team matchplay behind Steve, who was shaking that much he had to load the same arrow 4 times before shooting it, leaving me with 30 seconds to shoot my 3 arrows,scoring 8-10-9 with 8 seconds to spare.

[The One]

I am the master of getting hellishly nervous for the first end or two of every shoot. And I mean really nervous. There are times when I have to come down, because my legs are shaking too much to control a remotely steady shot. I find that this nervousness is heightened if I shoot a bad shot, or if I need to come down as well, and the shaking generally increases. I would love to be rid this problem, and while I keep telling myself that it's nothing to be nervous of, my body knows better than I do, and starts acting nervous, even if mentally I'm fine. It's almost as if getting nervous is a habit for me, now, and that can't be good. I've only ever had one major FITA Star when I wasn't nervous (it's fine for field and club shoots), and that was because I didn't realise that we'd started scoring after the practice ends.

[clever_guy]

The One;

"I would love to be rid this problem, and while I keep telling myself that it's nothing to be nervous of, my body knows better than I do, and starts acting nervous, even if mentally I'm fine. It's almost as if getting nervous is a habit for me, now, and that can't be good."

There are a lot of little tricks you can try, but at the end of the day the more tourneys you shoot, the more you learn to manage the "nervousness". I think at the base of it, nervousness as you are describing comes from you putting unrealistic goal pressures on yourself - and *you* know internally that you will fail. Modify your tourney goals, such as looking to shoot around your practice average, and incrementally adjusting goals as you progress takes a lot of stress off. A good reason to have a coach to work with and help you "adjust" your goals and prespective. I don't want to scare you, but you *may* be setting yourself up for a good bout of Target Panic (TP), if you keep winding yourself up with anxiety.

If you are that nervous I would suggest arriving early to competitions and doing some jumping jacks, or jumping rope for a few minutes and burn off some of that nervous energy - providing you are fit. Keep in mind though you don't want to do the exercise to close to when you shoot, so you can cool down, and you should practice exercising before shooting in your practice sessions so you know the results and how much exercise is just enough without impacting your shooting performance negatively. If you aren't fit, this may be may not be great advice as your shooting performance will definately dip.

You may also want to try some relaxation exercises. If you want search www.archerytalk.com for "relaxation exercises" and user "clever_guy", I think I posted some there at one point, maybe on AF as well.

Think Positively,

-CG

[The One]

Just shot another couple of FITA Stars, and for the first time, I was hardly nervous at all on the first ends. This is mainly because they were such low key events, with the first at my club, which didn't seem out of my comfort zone, and the second in pouring rain, so I didn't really have any high expectations. I was, however, really happy to shoot a 265 90m distance in the pouring rain, with a lot of changing wind. Unfortunately, my fingertab got water-logged partway through this shoot, and the scores turned bad.

[CW]

I am conducting some adhoc research: of those who shot the AA Nationals target event, who got nervous for the first end? Why? How did you deal with it?

I was so nervous my arms were shaking :-?. After a couple of ends it went away. :D

[2Dogs]

Having shot a Top 10 in 3DAAA a couple of times now, I find it far more nerve racking then any Matchplay I've ever shot.

I think it's the combination of not knowing the distance and the making a total dick of yourself by missing a target in front of everyone that gets the heart pumping :D

More FITA Fags should shoot it for Matchplay practice :D......but then again certain FITA fags like KURU and JUGGS just don't have it in them to make the top 20 let alone a top 10 :wink:

[clever_guy]

"3DAAA"

Doesn't that involve some fetish with rubber animals?...

;) :P :lol: :lol:

-CG

[mbomike]

%xNerves= The direct proportion of pressure of being in an unknown situation

For the first time last weekend (3DAAA Ipswich), I held 1st place for 20 targets. Keeping a nice 7 points between myself and Dwayne.
Then the nerves kicked in, also with a bit of complacency. Then the fatal mistakes started to surface. Starting with a missed target at 18m. Talk about shattered dreams. From then on it was hard to put the mistakes behind me and soldier on.
The good thing is that I managed to come up to 1 point behind on the first day.
The following day was pretty well much the same situation :-?
I haven't been in a situation where every effort I put into the game counted so much. It is good to know what the feeling is like now, for the next time I will be more in tune with the pressures of 3D :D

[Juggs]

More FITA Fags should shoot it for Matchplay practice :D......but then again certain FITA fags like KURU and JUGGS just don't have it in them to make the top 20 let alone a top 10 :wink:

ill be there this year paul

[Juggs]

ive shot 3 bloody 3ds and you having a go at me for not making a top10.

paul you may better me in height but i got you in chomosones

[Kuru]

How does that saying go again 2dogs, the older you get the better you were :lol:

[2Dogs]

And don't you forget it :rofl:

Hell Juggs I've only shot 5 3D's and made the top 10 in 2 :wink: