And sometimes you get outplayed. If you watched the Super Bowl on Sunday, you saw a perfect example of a team getting outplayed by another team. As much as I wanted the Colts to win, and as well as they played, the Saints came out and played with a chip on their shoulder and flat out played Indianapolis.
What does that have to do with the shooting sports? Well, sometimes you get outplayed in our games as well. You can go to a match, and have the best match of your life, shoot rocketfast, nail all your reloads, and generally kick ass…and still lose. That’s the game. But in those moments, when you’ve shot your heart out and left it all on the range and still didn’t come away with the trophy you can find your greatest opportunities for improvement. The measure of the shooter isn’t what you do when you win, but how you examine your performance when you lose. Honest performance assessments are the key to improving your scores on the range (well, that and practice); and while it may at times be unpleasant to look at your scores and say “I messed up” it’s better to have that moment of unpleasantness and become a better shooter than live in denial.
One difference I point out is that ‘trying’ in shooting sports doesn’t generally go well. There’s a fine line between doing your best and trying too hard.
If you mean “try too hard” in the sense that some shooters might get out of control when they’re trying to shoot at a higher level, sure. But at the same time, if you don’t push yourself, what’s the point?