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Monthly matches-practice or competition?


Kirk James

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How do you view monthly matches? Do you shoot them for practice or is it more for the competition or both?

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What Smokestack said...  I go for fun but practice and competition both happen too.

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Cannot sleep, shooting on my mind.

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For me every match from a monthly up to regionals is the same.  A miss at one is no more important than a miss at the other.    I go to have fun.  It's all practice and competition. This is just a fun hobby I don't take it too seriously

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Fun, more than anything.

 

I only get to shoot maybe a total of 8 to 10 times in a good year so practicing for a competition seems pointless. My little brother and I are competitive against each other mostly and when my cousin issues a challange there is that, but it's still all in good fun.

 

Fun is where is starts and stays.  When it is no longer fun I'll find something else to do.

 

 

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1 hour ago, evil dogooder said:

For me every match from a monthly up to regionals is the same.  A miss at one is no more important than a miss at the other.    I go to have fun.  It's all practice and competition. This is just a fun hobby I don't take it too seriously

 

+100

 

I wouldn't trade the fun and the friendships we have made for one clean shoot.

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The competition is what makes it fun.^_^

 

I try to push myself as hard as possible at monthlies. I put as much pressure on myself as I can. That provides practice for bigger matches. I’m lucky in that doing this also provides an extra measure of fun for me. 

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If there's a scoresheet and a timer, it's a competition. For me, the time between the LT and the ULT is about executing all that I practice before and after the LT and ULT,  regardless of Monthly match or higher.

 

Totes

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I haven't had much chance to travel to, and shoot, the bigger nationwide matches, and I'd have little expectation of bringing home shiny belt buckles, so Regionals are a big thing for my wife and me, and monthlies are probably 80% of our CAS activity.  So we view the monthlies as most of our competition and visiting opportunity.  We usually do our practicing at our ranch, or do dry firing drills at home in our living room.   

That perspective could change if we get more time for traveling around to other matches. That's hopefully not too far off now. 

 

Monthlies are also a great excuse for getting together with friends for lunch afterwards. 

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For me, it's about shooting with a great bunch of guys. I'm not a socialite. Actually I'm a man of few words in a crowd. But there are a lot of like minded guys and gals who assemble every month (x4) to have a good time.

 

From observation of those I shoot with, competition appears to be with yourself and the writing of the unique stages (the more creative the better). This is evident when a clean match goes south or someone has a train wreck and all of a sudden things become more like a county fair shooting gallery. No one gets upset about it, no one argues about calling a "P". For me, the final score standings are just a way to gauge how I did relative to the complexity of the stages/match. A 34 second stage may be the best score overall. No one I shoot with has ever complained about how a stage was written because they couldn't do a ten round dump across all stages. When this happens, you'll see my back side heading for the truck.

 

I'm in final stage renal failure and am living on borrowed time attached to "Dracula", my blood sucking kidney machine. For me, shooting with you guys gives me a reason to get up at 5:00am to head to the range where all my daily issues disappear for at least a few hours. My Pard "Let's Go" helps me on and off the range to insure this can happen. He's like the brother I never had, but then he is from the "Legion of Brothers" after all...

 

Competition is practice, so are we not doing both?

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I use them purely for practice to see how fast I can go. It’s the only practice I get where someone else is running the timer so I have to wait for their pause between stand by and the beep. Also dealing mentally with the things that can get in your head, like the shooter in front of you blowing up on the stage or other distractions that can cause you to lose your focus. For me the game is probably 85-90% mental. Keeping my head in the game while distractions are going on around me is the hardest thing for me. I can’t get that kind of practice from just running drills on my own. This doesn’t mean that I don’t enjoy seeing my friends while I’m there also. 

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6 hours ago, evil dogooder said:

For me every match from a monthly up to regionals is the same.  A miss at one is no more important than a miss at the other.    I go to have fun.  It's all practice and competition. This is just a fun hobby I don't take it too seriously

Says one of the fastest gunfighters alive

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Since I can't make it to state, regional, or national matches, the local monthly matches are my only source of competition.  Fortunately, I have my own property out in the country that I can use for practice 2 or 3 times a month.

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35 minutes ago, Cheyenne Ranger, 48747L said:

 

so what do you focus on, then?

The two "things" change from match to match.

 

I limit my focus on two things because I have a simple mind.

 

Phantom

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1 minute ago, Phantom, SASS #54973 said:

The two "things" change from match to match.

 

I limit my focus on two things because I have a simple mind.

 

Phantom

 

 

If I found all of our brass, it was a good match!:D

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Unless I'm injured, which is happening more than I like as I get older, I'm going as fast as I can.  Even if a knee hurts and I'm on antibiotics which are screwing up my heat control system in 95 degree heat, it's go fast.  I'll back it down if I need to to not hurt stuff, but I don't like it.

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Absolutely, positively monthlies are for practice ............... right up until that dang timer goes off.

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This is a very complex question.  There's so much that goes on between the ears.  The answer to monthly's practice or competition or fun is really YES.  How do you handle the pressure if you call it "competition"?  How does your approach change when it's "practice"?  How does your attitude change when it's "for fun"?  I could probably write a long essay on this.  But it really boils down to what do you do to yourself depending on your approach? 

 

Or is it a better approach to just go to the match and shoot and have fun?  Frankly, the most mental calmness generally comes from that.  Regardless of whether it's a monthly or EOT.  Everyone is different.  Figure out what works for you and don't worry about the rest.  They're outside your control.

 

Doc

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It's rare for me to break 30 seconds, so it sure ain't for competition! :lol:

 

Camaraderie, socializing, having lunch and a BS session after the match. At only 64, I'm not old enough for golf yet, and it beats playing Bingo down at the Legion Hall. ;)

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I put more pressure on myself when I'm practicing both mentally and pushing physically to make the perfect pickup or shoot faster, or whatever it is I'm working on at that time.  I found out a long time ago that I do a lot worse getting all spun out because it's a state, a regional, etc.  A stage is a stage is a stage.  Every one of them is an opportunity to execute with perfection and a possibility of a train wreak.   I can easily pick up on posse members tension, angst, etc and it does have a negative effect on me so I try real hard to not be one of the ones "transmitting" that kind of energy. 

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I have noticed that clubs in my area of the country  that treat monthly matches like state or annual matches have better attendance.  They go through the categories and announce each persons place.  They give out business like cards with your category and placement..   Some clubs also do this also at USPSA matches.   Bullett 19707  

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I've said it a 100 times........ Phantom is BORG.

 

It might seem like a simple mind..... but its fully involved.  Resistance if Futile!

 

Back to the OT:

Its a mixture for me.   I might have a 'practice attitude' at some matches.   I might

be trying out a new mod or pushing the limit on how not to look so clumsy.

 

Then there are those times I show up at a match and feel like I'm ready to put it all

together and try to mix it up with the competition.

My mind desires to stay focus and yet enjoy being around friends and hoping they do well also.

I don't like my competition to falter.  I want them to be at their best, which normally pushes

me to be at my best.

 

..........Widder

 

 

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