Where is my flashlight?
June
2008
Shooting
Tip
by: Dan Schindler
 In late 2007
I made some important changes to my shooting. That meant I was putting
my attention on those changes during practice. Early this year I was
still working diligently on those changes, even during my tournaments.
As a result of that, my attention riveted on specific parts of my
shooting, I slipped and made errors I don’t usually make.
One match station in particular had a long, fast, right-to-left crosser
through the trees that was causing everyone problems. Hiding in plain
sight was a breakpoint on our far left where the target coasted gently
into the grass at about 40 yards, a much more manageable shot. One
pointed out to us by Mike who shot last on our squad. No one on our
squad saw it but Mike. For me, a simple but costly oversight caused by
my attention being elsewhere.
I like to refer to our attention as our flashlight. Match pressure
bearing down on us, our attention is often bouncing around, distracting
us and making concentration difficult. For that reason, it’s important
that we be aware of where our flashlight is pointing when we step into
the box. Then consciously moving it to where it is needed most. Instead
of studying the bird above much more closely first, then moving my
attention (flashlight) to my shooting, I didn’t. I had my flashlight
squarely on swing thoughts and never saw the strategy error until too
late.
Concentration is a good thing, provided we keep our flashlight pointed
in the right direction.
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