Clay Shooting Success with Phil Coley
Visualisation Module
Visualisation or Mental Imagery Imagery is the use of your mind to imagine being in a situation. For clay shooting this is a key area for preparation, training and success. So why is imagery so important? The simple explanation is that imagining a situation can reinforce, and improve, the same real-life situation. A simple question “I want you to think of eating a slice of orange” – I guess your mouth is pretty moist now. You visualised eating a slice of orange and look at the reaction. Let’s look at this in more detail for clay shooting. There are two ways to imagine yourself in a clay shooting perspective – the first is internal imagery and the second, external imagery. To explain this further – Imagine you are shooting. Think of yourself now doing it – what do you see? Are you seeing yourself as if watching yourself on TV, or are you seeing targets on a range as if you were holding your gun? If you see yourself as if watching on a TV, then that is external; if you see targets as if you are holding your gun then this is internal. Both are effective, but internal imagery is widely regarded as the most successful. Lets really start to look at Visualisation in action and break it down for you to see how powerful it can be in your clay shooting. There are a number of additional exercises within this booklet for you to follow, but also use the podcast that goes with this to make the real difference. The key area of visualisation is being able to create mental pathways and responses to situations that you imagine. When we are actually shooting we feel the responses either as Clay Shooting Success Online Mental Skills Programme © 2015
a conscious or a sub-conscious thought, but when we are visualising we are working on a conscious set of messages to enhance the sub-conscious thoughts already there. The other area we are looking at is to take a memory from a short term to a long term memory, the long term memory is where our sub-conscious thoughts become real. In the podcast we really look at tapping into the sub-conscious as this Is the area that we will address more in the other parts of this course and it is important that you can utilise the skills within the course to make this happen more readily and more easily to improve your clay shooting. It is important to stress that when you are visualising that you make sure you concentrate on the better parts of your shooting and the improving parts of your shooting when we look at visualising target learning. Visualisation is like a conscious dream, you are able to experience feelings, sounds, smells, movements and details without actually being there or making the physical reactions to it. In the podcast I take you through an exercise to really show you how the responses create muscle triggers within the body from the electrical impulses sent through your nerves to areas of your body. The more we can create the correct image in visualisation then the more you can improve your shooting through being able to rehearse the key parts of each action. Visualisation is the key to your improving, both away from the range and on the range, it is this that makes visualisation the solid foundation for my mental training techniques and routines.
Clay Shooting Success Online Mental Skills Programme Š 2015
Sporting Visualisation (Part A) Let’s look at some images to now use for a Visualisation Exercise.
Look at this image. This is a typical Sporting Pair. A driven High Tower target and then a low crosser from a bank crossing sharply and dropping. To do this exercise look at the image, imagine you are going to shoot them. What would you be doing? The pair are on rapport with the driven target being your first target. What are you thinking of the targets? How would you shoot them? Where would you pick the target up? Now sit or stand (as you choose), close your eyes and imagine shooting those two targets. You can move your arms if that helps, although the image and exercise is stronger if you don`t.
Clay Shooting Success Online Mental Skills Programme Š 2015
Sporting Visualisation (Part B) This time the same exercise but with much more detail.
For the Driven – first target of the pair How will you stand? Where is your hold point? Where will you look to set your eyes on the target? What will your movement on the target be? Where will you shoot the target?
For the Dropping Crosser – On Rapport Where will you look for the target? What will your movement on the target be? Where will you shoot the target?
Clay Shooting Success Online Mental Skills Programme © 2015
The key with visualisation is to understand how it feels and what you are thinking. Below are a number of pictures taken at ranges or competitions; they have no target visible, but you can use them for visualising certain targets. Imagine how you would shoot a certain target or pairs.
Clay Shooting Success Online Mental Skills Programme Š 2015