Allauch (France) (AFP)

European and world junior champion, multiple champion of France, Mathilde Lamolle is at 24 one of the greatest talents in French sport shooting and already has experience of the Olympic Games after having participated in Rio in 2016.

Until the Olympics-2024 in Paris, passing - except rebound - by those of Tokyo this summer, the young Aubagnaise shooter tells her story to AFP.

In this second episode, the importance of mental preparation and the management of emotions in a sport of great precision.

"The mental work, the management of thoughts and emotions, are essential to reach a very high level in shooting. I have to stay focused no matter how stressful the competition is. It is a precision sport. A few mistake. millimeters on the weapon results in a significant error on the target. "

"At the start of the competition, there is a conscious phase where we focus on technical points, we repeat things to do. It allows to set a framework, to know that if we put all these elements, we will do 10 or close to 10. But as soon as you can, you have to move on and let go a little. Not thinking about anything, but relying on automatisms. We have repeated the gesture so much that it is anchored, recorded. shoot, I visualize a perfect shot, I do all the technical elements, then I let go. What I just mentally repeated will happen, the brain knows what to do. But the difficulty is to remain lucid to perceive the small alerts: + There you move too much, there it is a bit long, there you did not press enough. + You have to let your body do its work but by remaining very active mentally."

- "Idea to the con" -

“We have the right to think of something else. The trials are long and to remain 100% attentive, we sometimes have to relax. Between shots, between sets, we can therefore think of anything and everything. gets back into his bubble, we come back to shooting. That's in an ideal world. But sometimes, a stupid idea happens when we don't have to, when we are aiming. We have to deal with it. There is no time, this parasitic thought must clear. It can be worked on during training. We are aiming and the coach says words to us, at random. Quickly I take the info, I evacuate it and I come back on my shot. "

"When we make a mistake, we try to get back control, to rebuild something perfect. But without doing too much either, by remaining lucid. At my level, it must be as short as possible because two 9 d 'in a row, it's already too much. Conversely, when we chain the 10, we can distract ourselves, project ourselves too quickly at the end of the match. And that's where we make a mistake. this positive emotion is telling me that doing the 10s is normal, I train for that.If I do for example seven 10s in a row, I will take a moment, close my eyes, concentrate on my breathing and going back, like it's the start of the game. "

- Mental imagery -

"Mental fatigue is a reality. Managing your thoughts, your emotions, requires a lot of energy. In matches, the attention can go down and it pays off immediately, that's where the mistakes come from. That too, it goes through. training. A match lasts so long, so in training you have to hold the double. In training, you can shoot from 8 am to 7 pm Physically it's complicated, but mentally even more so. thoughts come out of nowhere. But you have to go back, prevent these thoughts from degrading performance. "

"I work twice a month with a mental trainer, since 2016. After Rio, I understood that my technical background and my trainer would not be enough to go higher. However, I was looking for the exceptional. We are working on concentration. , attention, with visualization, mental imagery, a lot of breathing exercises. To be regular at a very high level, I think it is essential. "

Interview by Stanislas TOUCHOT

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