Written by Shaweta Sharma
Edited by Himanshi Shivani
“You can’t say any sport is purely physical or purely mental. They are all some sort of combination. But if you’re looking at difficulty on the mental side, there’s nothing tougher than shooting,” says Sean McCann, Senior Sports Psychologist for the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee.
Shooting in Olympic
Shooting is one of the leading international sport which has its own importance in the Olympic games held every four years as an international sports event.
The founder of the modern Olympic movement, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, was himself an avid pistol shooter. Shooting has been included as an Olympic sport since the inception of the modern Olympiad in 1896. The first Olympic Games were held in Athens, Greece in 1896. The Olympic Programme of Shooting Sport includes 15 total events of three disciplines: Rifle, Pistol, and Shotgun.
Olympians compete in six men events, six women events, and three mixed team events. Each event consists of a qualification phase, followed by a final phase.
Why shooting is important in Olympic?
Shooting has been an important part of Olympic sports because it not only tests the physical strength of the Olympias but also greatly focuses on the mental ability and motor control skills of the shooter.
Sean McCann defines Shooting as a sport in his words - "It’s a fine motor control sport. In general, fine motor control sports are more disrupted by pressure, anxiety, or nerves than gross motorsports like running or swimming. Being a little bit off can make things really off. Because you’re doing such a small movement, any slight variation, just being a little bit off makes them so volatile. In some sports, if a top athlete has a bad day mentally or physically, that just means that they don’t set a world record or that they get a silver medal instead of a gold medal. In shooting, if you’re having a rough day mentally, then you can go from the top three into the 60s.”
Hence shooting is a game of discipline, focus, and strong mental abilities apart from its ability of just shooting and aiming from the Pistol, Rifle, or Gun.
Do keep a lookout on our next upcoming post, Gymnastics (Part 2 of Contribution of Olympic Games toward Sports).
Excerpt:
You might not be aware of this fact but the word 'gymnastics' is derived from the Greek word 'gymnos' that means to train naked because in ancient times the gymnasts used to train and compete by being nude. One needs to be clear that this sport not only requires bodily strength of arms, legs, shoulders, abdominal muscles, etc., but mental strength too in terms of precision, alertness, discipline, and confidence. Only the ones who are keen on pursuing it tends to continue in this field of sport.
Also, follow the first sub-series on Sports Psychology. This episode features the "Championship Mindset": https://samagrafoundation.blogspot.com/2020/09/the-championship-mindset.html
0 Comments