Competiton yips?

[BillO]

Does anyone have any suggestions or recommendations they would feel like sharing? When shooting at the range by myself or even with a buddy I can shoot fairly well. When I go up to the line with my team I seem to fall to pieces and I am actually closing my eyes while snatching at the trigger. I know what I'm doing but not how to stop. I'm becoming rather frustrated and I think that if I can't get to the bottom of this I'll have to drop out of the sport.

 

[Michael t]

I always tell myself to relax and I am here to have fun.. Do you shoot in the same position on line? Maybe moving from one end to the other,get in the middle of the pack... try shooting at a target closer to eye level for 1st target... we are there to have fun....

 

[Robtweb1]

I've never been on a shooting team because I'm not good enough. But I work in law enforcement and every year have to requalify with my weapon and occasionally have to shoot a combat course, which is more stress. To complicate matters, I have a tremor disorder which is getting worse as I age and is worse with stress. You have obviously have developed some kind of stage fright, and I would suggest spending as much time shooting as you can, until you can do the whole thing in your sleep. That is what helps me.

Give me a rifle and I can hit anything. With a handgun, I barely get by.

Robert

 

[deleson1]

Does anyone have any suggestions or recommendations they would feel like sharing? When shooting at the range by myself or even with a buddy I can shoot fairly well. When I go up to the line with my team I seem to fall to pieces and I am actually closing my eyes while snatching at the trigger. I know what I'm doing but not how to stop. I'm becoming rather frustrated and I think that if I can't get to the bottom of this I'll have to drop out of the sport.

Since you say you can shoot by yourself fairly well you have mastered some of the shooting skills required. Your problem seems to be you cant shoot with distractions. Going to the range by yourself will not cure this. Go to the range with a few friends. If your gun can be dry fired without damaging the gun, do so while others are shouting at you, banging on a pan, doing anything to distract you. When you can weed out the noise and keep the gun steady dry firing you will improve greatly. You can also try this at close distances taping a cheap lazer along your barrel. You can see how much you are flinching by the point of the lazer when you are distracted. When I became a K9 officer I had to qualify with the dog at my side. Daytime no problem, but the muzzle flash at night would drive him crazy. Try shooting with a 90 lb shepherd jumping up and down, pulling the leash, barking like crazy. Took a few weeks but evidentually he would lie down and didnt care if I was shooting or not.

 

[Michael t]

Try looking for a N-SSA team in your area,they can probably help you. As bad as i shoot the 4th Kentucky took me in..
Go to N-SSA.org and take a look...