<div>Ed,</div> <div>That's awesome advice. Now that I think about it, the thing that helps me the most is my wife's voice. She gets me calm and focused during a round and helps me relax. The times I havae struggled have been when we have not had a chance to practice together and are not on the same page. When we are clicking, she knows which parts of the schedule are a challenge and gets me mentally prepared for them.</div> <div> </div> <div>All of these ideas will be used in conjunction with lots and lots and lots of practice. My goal this summer is to fly at least five days a week, which just so happens to be 3 1/2 days a week more than in the past.<BR><BR><B><I>Ed Deaver <divesplat@yahoo.com></I></B> wrote:</div> <BLOCKQUOTE class=replbq style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid"> <DIV>Hey Anthony, several things that worked for me over the years include;</DIV> <DIV>1) Listening to my walkman, with
music I liked and going to the bathroom 2 pilots ahead and just "CALMLY" visuallizing the flight. All of it for that matter (humor:):)</DIV> <DIV>2) Treating practice that same as a contest the first flight! I used to go through a different routine while practicing and if I blew a maneuver, falling out of the sequence to redo it. I found that this wasn't effective for contests so started to adopt a theory, the first flight of the day is a hands-down bonifide competition flight. Start up, run up, procedure turn, etc straight into the pattern, calling the box out loud etc etc to simulate the stress of a competition flight.</DIV> <DIV>3) This may be the most helpful. Pick spots in your sequence to take a deep breath!!! When I call for anyone (except FAI guys) I find a straight and level spot and tell the pilot take a deep breath. The results are amazing, suddenly the pilot feels more relaxed
then. Sometimes we need to get our mind on something else just for a split second so we can excell at the rest.</DIV> <DIV>4) Contests, contests, contests. One year I actually flew in 16 Pattern and IMAC contests(wasn't married then but saw lots of country.) The more you fly in front of judges the easier it gets.</DIV> <DIV>Hope this helps.</DIV> <DIV>Ed<BR><BR><B><I>Ed Miller <edbon85@charter.net></I></B> wrote:</DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE class=replbq style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid">Anthony;<BR>In 2003 I moved from Advanced to Masters and flew 2 contests in Masters. <BR>Then in '04 and '05 due to a move from NY to TN I flew only 40 flights total <BR>in 2 years. So of course in '06 I decided to fly at the Nats in Masters <BR>since I was so well prepared. Although I had always had a bit of the <BR>"shakes", especially the first flight of a contest, it was really bad in '06 <BR>both while
practicing and at the Nats. While practicing Sunday at site 1 in <BR>Muncie Danny Landis was calling for me and asked if I was OK, I was shaking <BR>so hard. What has worked for me is eliminating caffeine altogether, a side <BR>benefit is I seem to sleep better. Also getting into the mindset that "it's <BR>just another day at the field" has helped a lot. By the Gay Ga. contest in <BR>October '06 my shakes had subsided and my scores moved up a bit. The <BR>pressure of competition is felt by all, the trick is to do things to <BR>minimize it. Dean Pappas also recommended and I agree is to eat normally at <BR>a contest, don't try and fly hungry or on a stomach full of Little Debbie <BR>goodies or doughnuts.<BR>Ed M.<BR>----- Original Message ----- <BR>From: "Anthony Abdullah" <AABDU@SBCGLOBAL.NET><BR>To: "NSRCA Mailing List" <NSRCA-DISCUSSION@LISTS.NSRCA.ORG><BR>Sent: Wednesday, February 21, 2007 2:16 PM<BR>Subject: [NSRCA-discussion] Competition Nerves<BR><BR><BR>>I am
trying to get myself ready for the upcoming pattern season and have <BR>>been evaluating my past performances. I made a list of the reasons I don't <BR>>do as well as I would like and learned some interesting things about <BR>>myself.<BR>><BR>> Other than practice which was one through five on the list, I found that <BR>> my performance is sometimes hindered by nervousness. Sometimes I get so <BR>> wound up and the adrenaline gets pumping so much that my thumbs are a blur <BR>> and I go into brain fail safe. For example; one year at a the district <BR>> championship contest I was in a dogfight for the contest victory. I was <BR>> flying well and had won three out of five rounds. On flight six everything <BR>> was going great and I had made it through the toughest part of the <BR>> pattern. It should have been smooth sailing to a victory. Unfortunately I <BR>> finished a set of three maneuvers then dropped the gear and called <BR>>
landing. My caller asked me if everything was alright and I assured her <BR>> (my wife) that all was well and it was time to come on home. On base to <BR>> final she calmly reminded me that I had three more maneuvers to do before <BR>> I could call it a day DOH!!! Can you say 0, 0, 0? I was so nervous that I <BR>> managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of<BR>> victory. Fortunately it did not cost me the district championship.<BR>><BR>> The point is, I have noticed that I am calm and focused during practice, <BR>> and extremely focused during a competition, but not calm. Other than <BR>> practice is there something that I can do to help calm my nerves? I am <BR>> practicing Yoga with the wife and am open to meditation, etc to help keep <BR>> the mind calm but focused. Is it just me or do some of you more <BR>> experienced pilots experience ventricular hyperactivity as well? I would <BR>> be interested in hearing if that is
normal.<BR>><BR>> Signed<BR>> Spongebob Blurry Hands AKA The Galloping Ghost<BR>><BR>><BR>><BR>><BR>><BR><BR><BR>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<BR><BR><BR>> _______________________________________________<BR>> NSRCA-discussion mailing list<BR>> NSRCA-discussion@lists.nsrca.org<BR>> http://lists.nsrca.org/mailman/listinfo/nsrca-discussion <BR><BR>_______________________________________________<BR>NSRCA-discussion mailing list<BR>NSRCA-discussion@lists.nsrca.org<BR>http://lists.nsrca.org/mailman/listinfo/nsrca-discussion<BR></BLOCKQUOTE><BR>_______________________________________________<BR>NSRCA-discussion mailing list<BR>NSRCA-discussion@lists.nsrca.org<BR>http://lists.nsrca.org/mailman/listinfo/nsrca-discussion</BLOCKQUOTE><BR>