So you’ve practiced hard and have arrived at the tournament. There are a few approaches you can take. My preference is to be social and enjoy the experience. You’ve trained hard and the tournament is the icing on the cake. Relax and be convivial with your fellow archers. When you get to the line, focus and make the shot you’ve practiced thousands of times. Tournament time is not the place to ‘try something’. If it isn’t working, it is because you’re doing something differently than you’ve done in practice. It could be that you’re a bit off physically. Or more likely, you’re a bit nervous, keyed up and want to shoot well. On the line your entire focus is on the middle. Every possible distraction does not exist. It is you, your shot and you’ve made the shot you are going to now execute so many times, it is going to just happen.

Does this mean every tournament will be just as you practiced? Of course not. But, the more you compete, the more you’ll develop a way to make your tournament similar to practice. There will always be nerves to deal with and things that do not go as planned. That is the nature of tournament shooting. Keep a positive attitude. Learn from and then forget the last shot; good or bad. Keep shooting the shot you’ve developed over all those thousands of arrows. Add em up at the end and get jazzed up for the next time you get to bring your skills to a tournament!