When clay shooting, how do you cope with the pressure?

Clay shooting
John Bidwell
Pressure can ruin a shooter?s score but, equally, it can be the making of a winning performance too!

Shooters actually need to feel an element of pressure if they?re to shoot to their best ability because it really helps focus the mind.

The important thing though is to use pressure positively and not allow negatives to creep in.

For example don?t create unnecessary pressure by studying the scoreboard or getting into a discussion with other shooters about how easy or hard the targets are on different stands.

Similarly, don?t let yourself fall into the trap of thinking beyond the next target by telling yourself you can still win a prize even if you drop a couple of birds on the final stand.

As I?ve said before, ?wanting to win? and ?learning how to win? are two different things ? the first is a negative while the other is the sign of a positive approach.

If you want to win then a good positive is to tell yourself as you walk to the first stand that you are going to shoot as well as you can and enjoy your day out, come what may.