July2026 (1) - Flipbook - Page 22
One Round,
One Breath,
One Squeeze
By Bev Sleaford
A wise shooter once told me,
“The mental aspect of shooting
is just as, if not more important
than having talent in the sport”.
I thought he was absolutely, full
of it.
How does that make any sense?
What does “mental aspect” have
to do with anything? Shooting
isn’t that hard, you acquire your
target, look down the barrel and
pull the trigger. Evaluate. Make
adjustments for wind and elevation, then shoot again. Easy.
Mental focus has nothing to do
with it, math and talent, does.
Right?
I thought so. At least, until I
didn’t. I have always been a
perfectionist by nature. Part of
my genetic predisposition I sup-
22
pose. Actually,
I prefer to look
at my creation
as though the
good Lord was
using baking
measurements.
However, when
my recipe called
for a “sprinkle”
of things like
perfectionism
and analytical
tendencies I’m
pretty sure that
the lid fell o昀昀 right into the bowl
mid shake. He may have tried to
scoop out the extra, but e昀昀orts
were futile, so he just mixed
everything together and hoped
for the best. Much like when
that happens with the saltshaker while you’re making potato
salad (ask me how I know).
Quigley Bu昀昀alo Ri昀氀e Match was
held on Father’s Day Weekend
in June, 2026. The preparation was a year in the making.
We had everything set up on
the range the Saturday prior
and registration for the shoot
started early the following
Monday morning. We’d made
some changes, thrown in a few
surprises, and were very eager
to put on such an event. And I
must say, it went, fantastically.
We had two dinners during the
week, hosted by the FFA Alumni and the Knights of Columbus. The Roxy Theatre hosted
a showing of Quigley Down
Under on Thursday night that
packed the entire building. The
ladies from the Catholic Church
showed out for their annual pie
sale on the 昀氀at, we hosted three
successful New Shooters Clinics
and overall we had 563 registered shooters to compete for
score starting Saturday morning.
This direct “over seasoning” if
you will can sometimes lead to
crippling feelings of failure that
build on themselves until they
incapacitate me. In moments
where this occurs, I 昀椀nd myself
in a tumultuous mental swirling
down the drain that takes e昀昀ort,
intention and time to recover
from. And Quigley 2026 was a
perfect example of that swirl.
We started o昀昀 the weekend
with a very successful shooters meeting on Saturday and
then participants headed out to
their designated targets eager
to throw some lead at the hill. I
was one of them.
The 34th Annual Matthew
I have been a score keeper for
July, 2026 - Issue #3
