Hi My Name is Scott and I Have Target Panic

Admitting it is the first step and in my case, it took a major flop to come to terms with my target panic.

Leading up to the 2019 Lancaster Archery Classic I had solid form, my scores were great, and I was shooting a new personal best almost every week. I shot many of those personal bests at local tournaments and leagues, which provided some pressure and a tournament environment.

Despite my apparent success, the demon was waiting just underneath the surface. In practice I knew I couldn’t let down, I knew that I had some trouble freezing above the center, but my scores were good so why stress?

Those two issues were getting worse leading into the week of Lancaster. Yet again I shot a new personal best while drive by shooting and holding at full draw for about half the time I’d like to.

Again, I just hoped that I could replicate this wizardy at the Classic.

The day of the tournament I left my home in Richmond, VA at around 7 a.m. to arrive at Lancaster, PA just before 12 p.m. My shoot time was 4 p.m., but I needed to film a video for work before I shot. I shot the video and grabbed lunch with a friend before I knew it was 3:30 p.m. and time to shoot. I ran to the practice range shot two ends that scored 31 and 29. Then I went to my target for official practice. I had two very rough practice ends, and the wheels slowly came off. After 20 arrows, I thought about going home, but I wanted to see if I could fight through my issues. By the second half of the tournament, my target panic symptoms were horrific. I couldn’t aim anywhere near the target, and I couldn’t get to full draw or hold at full draw. My shot felt like a crash landing with no control, no grace and nothing like the shot I had practiced.

But in reality, I had practiced that shot. In my practice sessions, I had many shots that went off the second the tip of my arrow crossed the gold. I had a lot of shots where I was stuck aiming above the gold and forced the tip into the gold and shot in one motion. I had many shots where I knew I should let down but didn’t. I trained myself to have target panic. I could have saved myself much heartache by recognizing the early symptoms and devoting my time to regaining control.

I still haven’t touched my barebow since the Classic, and I’ve hardly shot any of my bows. A month later the sting from that tournament is finally wearing off, and I’m ready to get back to practice.

It’s going to be a long summer with a lot of work on my mental game.

Here’s my plan:

Do the boring stuff like aiming drills, ten yard games, and blank bale.

Develop a mental process. I’ve been a subconscious shooter my whole life, but I think it’s time I finally develop a conscious mental process for shooting. It will definitely help under tournament pressure and when hunting.

Seek help from experts and other target panic survivors. I’ll go through Joel Turner’s course again and fly to see GRIV for a weekend of archery lessons.

Target panic has a way of sucking the fun out of archery. It’s an unsettling feeling to not have control over your mind or actions. But, there’s light at the end of the tunnel, I just have to dig the tunnel.