A tribute to Gary Mack

28 March 2007

I'm taking the opportunity of working nights to bring my blog up to date.
One of the topics I wanted to shoehorn in was regarding the influences on my life and my shooting

I thought I would touch a little on something that changed my life and if not improving my skill as an archer, certainly put back the fun and the desire to shoot. I know that few people will read this but in a way this is a thankyou to a man who really changed my life, someone whom I never met. His words and wisdom helped so much that I wanted to put pen to paper to thank him, only to discover he had died a few years ago from cancer. You can't believe how that cut me up when I found out.

I always knew, even if I wouldn't actually accept it, that mental preparation was always my weak point. It had manifested itself in many ways, from petulantly throwing my bow after a bad shot to actually not being able to hit an easy kill because I felt I was overdue for a miss. I would look around and if I saw someone of a higher standard at a competition it would ruin my form, not through fear, more often because I wanted to try too hard to beat them and started doing things differently to how I practised.
A good friend imformed UnaVita that I took a bad shot to the next three targets, he wasn't wrong. The turning point was at Avalon. we shot with a guy called Robin Shelley. He was a great bloke, very unassuming, brilliant company and shot by shot he got on with the business of racking up a phenominal score. He was probably 25 -30 shots into a very challenging Chris Lovelock course and still on a max. The effect on my score was diametrically opposed, I couldn't hit a thing. Maybe I was a bit too big for my boots, I knew who I was, I knew what I was capable of and there was me getting the soundest thrashing ever off a guy I had never even heard of. What made it worse was that archery was apparently Robin's second sport, more used for keeping the rust off his hunting technique, with snowboarding or something equally extreme his main hobby. I was tackled up with the best Bowtech, the best sight, the best rest and it counted for nowt as I went to second arrow after second arrow.
At, or around, target 31 I went first, a nicely placed Javelina at 30yds, a Lovelock gift, an easy 20. Robin stepped up next, and shot straight over the top. He very calmly checked his sight, gave the slightest of shrugs and stepped up to the next peg and put the arrow where the first should have gone.
I know what that would have done to me if I had been on one, in the same way Robin was that day. I knew from that point that I was physcologically wired up wrong for the sport. It was a black day. Chris Lovelock had beaten me, with a cracking course, Robin Shelley had beaten me both mentally and score-wise and Dusty Miller had recognised my problem but told Ruthy rather than me, in case I took it badly!!!
The journey home was an education. one moment fuming at ridiculous course laying, the next fuming about the numerous schoolboy errors of judgement and technique. The sport wasn't fun, there was more to life than archery, It was a very long journey and as the miles passed, the fuming gave way to a different theme. What made the good guys tick? Why did I carry bad shots with me, when they should have been left at the previous peg? The course was a challenge but others had met the challenge, easily. The story could have gone two ways at that point. After a lot of discussion, well probably more of a monologue at poor Ruthy, I decided that in one year's time I would come back to Avalon, a better and different person, and if that made me a better archer, better still.
I poured over the internet, searching for clues to a new me. A number of reviews came up with the same result. To be honest, I didn't even realise sports psychology existed, I compiled a book list. Got pointers off the guys, who did what i wanted to do; well. I developed an action plan but at the forefront was the realisation that improvement would only come with and enlightened attitiude.
A break was required and a few quid was cobbled together to get us to Spain for a week. That week was spent relaxing, reading and leaving behind all the bad stuff. A number of the books I chose to read went over my head, they didn't really help, they didn't spell out the missing mojo or where to find it, all except one. It took me apart, dissected every aspect of my fears and failures, gave them reason, then reconstructed these negatives into a positive form. Bit by bit, the book put me back together. At the end of the most fantastic week spent in the October sunshine of the Costa Del Sol, reading, lounging in beach bars listening to Native American indian pipe bands, accompanied by my wonderful, ever patient and fantastic partner Ruthy, I was not only ready to face the new me, I was raring to see if what I had read and believed would work. I could hardly wait to pick up a bow but perhaps rather peversely was looking forward to actually making a mess of things to see how I would react.
Obviously it would be easy to say, it worked. I think it did. It wasn't an overnight thing. I liken it to how I learned to shoot. Sometimes it would go pefectly, then for no apparent reason, the arrow wouldn't stay on the rest. I think I became too laid back, yes it was fun, yes everyone misses something, I hit the 60yd deer in the pro ring, so that'll make up for stuffing the rock rascal at 15yds, etc. Gradually I was able to put sufficient drive and desire into my archery without the negative aspects of the additional pressure I was heaping on to myself.
I thought back to Robin Shelley at Black Sheep on Sunday. To be honest I was on one, it was all flowing, the 20's were rolling in. Then came that bushy tailed squirelly thing, the face was so shot out it was difficult to work out where to aim. I chose the arrow hole I was going to aim for, offered up the scope, chose the wrong arrow hole. With a slight shrug, I checked my sight and put the second arrow where the first should have gone.

Thank you Gary Mack. You made the difference!!
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MERLIN ARCHERY CLUB

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Steve B:

Ratfighter, thanks for sharing that story of what most of us go through at some stage in our archery life. I admire that you can face what you were and tell people what you now are, brave words and actions mate....well done. If you words help one person then you have accomplished more than most

Keep up the good words.......
Wednesday 28 March 2007 - 04:20:23

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The Ratfighter:

Thanks for your kind words on my blog, its' good to know that others take notice of your efforts.

I really felt that I needed to thank Gary Mack, it's such a shame he is no longer with us to share his take on the human mind
Wednesday 28 March 2007 - 05:10:22

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segolden:

There's an old saying in the East, that the teacher will come when the student is ready. A certain elder gentleman came along in my old uncompetitive days and solved a big problem I was struggling with. After a simple comment that I heard only half-consciously at the time, I went back to square-one, rebuilt my form and ideals, and things began to click. Ironically, that's when I finally saw that most athletes have the wrong motivation for competition: they're trying to beat the other guy instead of trying to beat themselves. From then on, I didn't care what the rest did, and I stopped being mad at myself for technical failures. That's when the scores started coming, but it was now the friendships that counted because I was being respected as an equal instead of a rival. That reputation was the only trophy I wanted to keep when I dropped out. I doubt that I'll ever shoot near as well as you and Ruthie, but I do know how it feels to be on the line among equals. Good luck!

And thanks, Grandpa.

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Unpaid skivy

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