Shooting Australia is developing a "Mental Performance in Competition" curriculum, targeted at Pathway and Emerging athletes. Lead by Aurelie Gibson (Shooting Australia's Performance Pathway Manager) and Richard Fryer (Senior Performance Psychologist with the Australian Sports Commission), the objective of this work is to provide necessary and important resources to assist athletes in developing skills to support their performance on and off the range.
The curriculum will focus on some critical performance areas including different aspects of preparation, focus, consistency and learning. Of the progress that has already been made, Aurelie says, "We're excited to be starting the process for building Mental Performance in Competition resources that will support our national teams in enhancing their performance capabilities and repeatedly deliver their best performance at events that mean the most. Psychological preparedness in training and competition is an area that impacts performance."
"We appreciate the support that the Australian Institute of Sport and Australian Sports Commission are providing to Shooting Australia which opens opportunities to help our athletes perform well on the world stage."
"In addition to the athlete curriculum, there will be a Coach curriculum to help develop their knowledge about optimising athletes' abilities to perform with pressure in competition."
"We have been fortunate to be able to facilitate a number of discipline specific camps for the Pathway athletes over the last two months. The three camps were amazing opportunities to start to introduce Mental Performance in Competition, while incorporating drills and tasks that challenge the athletes by putting them under pressure in different ways."
"On behalf of Shooting Australia, I say thank you to SASI, the VIS and the AIS for their continued support of the Pathway athletes. Some fun and great learning opportunities have been had during the last couple of months. I also extend thanks and appreciation to the ranges that have hosted the three camps, as well as the athletes, coaches and Shooting Australia staff for their attendance and contributions. I look forward to further developing the Mental Performance in Competition space."
RIFLE – Held at the Wingfield Rifle Range in Adelaide in April and attended by 8 athletes and 4 coaches. Athletes were also provided with the opportunity to visit the South Australian Sport Institute (SASI) where Strength and Conditioning Coach James Pearce put the athletes through an initial program of physical testing to begin developing knowledge on how physical fitness positively impacts performance outcomes.
PISTOL – Held in May at the Brisbane International Shooting Centre and attended by 13 athletes and 5 coaches. Dina Aspandiyarova assisted Shooting Australia National Pistol Coach, Vladimir Galiabovitch, on introducing various skills and drills to develop athletes' aiming skills, as well as introducing coaches to various ideas for pre-training activation. Richard Fryer ran a Sport Psychology session with the athletes and their personal coaches.
SHOTGUN – The Shotgun camp was held on the first weekend in June at Melbourne Gun Club. 13 athletes and 4 personal coaches were in attendance. Over the 3 days, the camp was led by Shooting Australia Olympic Team Coach Deserie Baynes, with support from VIS and AIS staff. The athletes were introduced to skills, drills and tasks for training.
A full album of images is available on the Shooting Australia Facebook page.
