Our mental game should always consider ways to stay focused. Professional athletes are often seen with earbuds in while doing their pre-performance routine.
Why? Well, there are literally tons of studies that indicate that there are significant positive effects of listening to music. Here is just one example:
<https://minds.wisconsin.edu/handle/1793/82414>
If you want to read more, just google “music and athletic performance” for page after page of scholarly articles on the topic.
How about among shooters? A couple of top shooters have addressed the use of music in the pages on this blog in the past.
Grace Callahan mentioned how she would pick a song for each shoot from multiple genre’s and sing it to herself between stations to keep her mind occupied. You can refresh your memory of her comments at this link:
Meet Grace Callahan – Pro Sporting Clays Shooter
Brian DeMott mentioned this same technique was used by many of the top shooters. You can find his comments in this post as well as follow up to both Grace and Brian’s comments in the “Lollipop” post listed below!
Two Hours with Brian DeMott – Self-Image Building and Mental Management
But what is a shooter to do if they want to listen to music between stations? I have seen some shooters shoot with earbuds in place so they can listen to music, but this is suboptimal as earbuds do not provide much protection to the ears during shooting. There are some electronic hearing protection that offer the ability to stream music while still providing significant protection. SoundGear is one of the manufactures of this type of device. You can find their information at their website:
Some shooters may find this option a little pricey – or may simply prefer to have “dumb” plugs that block out excessive sounds (like the sound of a UTV idling in the background, or another squad chatting) in addition to the impulse of the shotgun blast. What can those shooters do if they want to be able to listen to their tunes?
Well, Santa Ann (my lovely wife) came through this Christmas with a solution! I found the following box wrapped under the tree this year with my name on it:
Inside were headphones made by a company called “SHOKZ” that work by conducting the sound waves through the cheekbones instead of directly through the ears. There is nothing that goes into the ear canal as in traditional earbuds, or over the ear like traditional headphones.
Here is what they look like when wearing them:
These are designed for athletes that want to be able to enjoy music, podcasts, etc while performing their sport (running, cycling, etc.) while still being in tune with sounds in the environment. She got these for me so I could listen to tunes from my phone safely while cycling. I took them out on a 26 mile shake-down cruise on the bike and was blown away by the sound quality – while still being able to hear sounds from around me. Two-thumbs-up for sure from me!
That night, I was putting them on charge and started thinking about what would happen if I put them on while having my custom earplugs in place in my ears. I immediately gave it a try. There was some loss of fidelity, but still pretty acceptable in my estimation. A couple of days later, I gave them a try at the range. They did not interfere in any way with my shooting glasses, gun mount or movement. The controls are very simple to manipulate so that with a single push of a button on the left cheek, the music can be stopped and restarted to allow silence while in the stand or when talking to others.
This might provide another solution to shooters that want their jam with them! For those in the local area, I would be happy to let you give them a try. Just email me at mrouleau@nc.rr.com if you want to arrange a test or to talk about them!
For those that are interested, here is the website for SHOKZ: