Flusters!

I write because it is fresh in my mind and maybe there is a nugget or two rambling around in there.  At Pioneer I shot fairly well. I was the 6th quickest shooter there out of 48 shooters. The draw was favorable, but I did shoot against 3 of the quicker shooters.  For 7 of my 9 matches, I stayed focused and shot the Alleluia Competition and Training system. For those seven matches it was mostly three up and three down, averaging just a little over three shots a match.  

But in two matches, I lost my focus and got flustered.  Why?  With all of my training and competition, it should not happen. Why?

In the Bracket A shoot off, Dirty Dan was mowing them down.  I think he won 5 matches in a row.  Then, for some reason he lost his focus. I do not know for sure, but as he was moving up the bracket in his sixth match, he lost a shot on quickness. I would guess that caused him to  worry about speed.  That is my guess, that worry disrupted his focus.  He was no longer the toughest gunfighter on the line.

In the 5th seeding round I drew Shady.  We shoot together so much and I wanted to out quick him so much, I strayed from the system.  Loss of focus, loss of match.  But it was a fun match, all four of the winning hits were decided on quickness. (Shady Mtn shooters don't practice missing.) 

In the Bracket A shoot-offs the only shooters that worried me were Dirty Dan and Rodeo Romeo. Dirty Dan did not reach me.  Under normal circumstances, I should have no chance against Rodeo. He is 70 mls quicker than me and normally better than 60%. But in this event I had the opportunity to shoot the 4th seeded shooter and the 2nd seeded shooter (The Rustler, another Shady Mtn Shooter) before shooting against Rodeo.  Those shooters were dispatched in 6 shots, all within 3 inches of the center of the light.  My guess is that caused Rodeo to worry about hitting.  If I would have stayed focus it should have been resolved in 4 but was resolved in 8 shots. I credit my hand judge, Doc, for walking me back onto the target,  A good hand judge is priceless in a tough gunfight.

The point of this post is that worry about anything will cause you to lose your focus.  Worrying about your opponent will do you in, worrying about quickness will do you in, worrying about  hitting will do you in!  Trying to hit will not help you hit.  Trying to go quick will not help you be quick.  You need to stay focused.  For Alleluia shooters, shoot the system.  It is designed to keep you focused.  Now, if only I could heed my own advice.