RADIO CONTROL AEROBATICS
Rick Allison, 15618 NE 56th Way, Redmond WA 98052
Introduction: Mental toughness and aeromodelling
If you've been following along for the last several months, you're aware that quite a bit of column space has been devoted to "how-tos" for straightening up and squaring away almost every aspect of your aerobatic game. The discussion has dealt mainly with techniques for building the automatic eye-to-hand connection that is the physical core of the sport — a "see the model, fly the model" approach.
However, there is much more to performing well under pressure than just learned skills or physical ability. New York Yankee catcher Yogi Berra once remarked that "90% of everything is 100% mental." Regardless of the scrambled syntax, Yogi was 100% right.
"Mental toughness" is a popular term in modern sports. It is used to describe athletes who compete as well mentally as they do physically; who never beat themselves with mental mistakes, who don't become unnerved when the heat is on, and who refuse to fold in the clutch.
This "ice in the veins" ideal is much admired by competitors. I think it's safe to say that all of us aspire to the sort of poised, casual coolness under fire that has made Michael Jordan the most popular athlete on the planet.
Not all of us can be Michael Jordan (you probably already knew that), but most of us can learn to do a better job under pressure. Which is all to the good, because judging from some of the questions I get, this is an area where a great many of us realize that we could stand improvement.
The underlying question is always the same, even if the form varies: "How do you handle nerves?" "How do you get ready for an important flight?" and even "How do you remember to breathe?"
My stock reply is that they are probably asking the wrong guy, because I get just as nervous as anybody else!
Performance anxiety: the biology and the problem
Competition is exciting — if there wasn't a bit of a rush involved, I suspect few of us would bother with it. The old joke about remembering to call your takeoff loud enough so that the judges can hear over the sound of your knees knocking is funny to all of us, simply because the experience is universal.
However, it is very important to remember that a contest is just a contest. Win or lose, it won't bring world peace, cure disease, or solve the situation in the Middle East. Winning doesn't confer sainthood, and losing doesn't make you a bad person. The idea is to enjoy the rush, but don't take it too seriously.
Performance anxiety is the label that psychologists hang on the jitters.
Anxiety is a funny thing. A little bit is beneficial. It tunes you up, sharpens your reflexes, focuses your attention — all the things necessary to prepare your body and mind for a maximum effort. Your mouth dries out, your heart rate increases, and blood gets diverted from the internal organs to the skeletal muscles. Your eyes dilate to admit more light and enable you to see better, and you are ready to either face or run from whatever steps out of the jungle.
This basic fight-or-flight mechanism is as old as life on the planet. You are able to read this today because your distant ancestors took their job of not being processed into cave bear or saber-toothed tiger manure very seriously.
The problem starts when your body doesn't know when to quit. The chemical cascade of anxiety-mediating neurotransmitters and adrenal hormones pouring through your veins is hard-wired for "instant on" (a good thing, because charging cave bears and onrushing semi-trucks are fast!), but can easily get out of hand.
If that scenario sounds familiar, it's because at one time or another most of us have had to deal with being a little too nervous for our own good on the flightline. The ideal is obviously to be able to consistently achieve in front of the judges 100% of what we are capable of doing in practice.
Nice theory, you say, but walking out front to fly with the contest on the line has a tendency to shrink your Jockey™ shorts. So what do you do about it?
I can't really tell you, because the answers come in individual sizes and flavors. All I can offer is what works for me, and what I've seen work for others.
Understand that very few people are totally impervious to pressure. Where the heat is on, athletic performance routinely degrades. NBA stars who can shoot 20- to 30-straight free throws without missing in practice will shoot just 70% in games, and often can't hit two in a row in overtime. NFL quarterbacks who can pitch a football through a tire 50 yards away in practice can't hit 60% of their passes to open receivers on Sunday—and that figure often goes down in the playoffs.
Adrenaline may provide a boost in strength/speed events like running or weightlifting, but for sports that require quick decision-making, precise movements, and a high degree of hand-eye coordination, the whole idea of "taking it to the next level" under pressure is, by and large, a myth.
Most honest coaches of skill sports will tell you that being able to deliver 80% of optimum performance on game day is good, and 90% is excellent. Athletes who can consistently bring it somewhere in that last 10% are called superstars. That "100%" performance doesn't exist, except in pregame speeches.
Experience counts, and can push those percentages up. Veteran performers in all sports can often compensate for declining skills with an increased ability to focus in pressure situations. "Been there, done that" is more than a slogan.
In Pattern, people who can reach the 80% level in front of the judges are usually very successful, and the 90% guys win championships. As in other sports, experience does help quiet the "shakes" and raise the performance level. Along the way to gathering that experience, there are some strategies that can help.
Strategies to manage nerves
Making very sure that your equipment is in proper order is number one on the list. Nothing can disrupt the calm focus that you have worked so hard to develop more quickly than a mechanical failure, incorrect trim, weak battery, sticky control surface, or any other equipment gremlin. If anything about the airplane gives you the least bit of concern, fix it before you walk to the line.
You don't need more than a last-minute glow plug change or other repair in the ready box. I don't remember ever seeing a good flight put in after a ready box fiasco. The last few minutes before an official attempt should be yours, to use as you will — for anything but routine maintenance!
Visualization
Visualization is very big right now in pro sports. For RC aerobatics, this approach consists of mentally flying through maneuvers and seeing yourself putting in a great flight. On the way, any negative images (thoughts of failure, etc.) that creep in are exorcised like the little demons they are. This is good stuff; it surely can't hurt to just spend a little quiet time before a big flight thinking excellent thoughts about the pretty maneuvers you have flown in the past.
Rituals and superstition
Some guys find calmness in rituals. White pants, lucky hats, lucky pins, lucky shirts, and wearing the socks you wore the last time you won fall into this category. So does not talking right before a flight, constantly talking right before a flight, arranging the starting equipment and airplane in a particular pattern in the ready box, and about a hundred other odd little things. Chuck Yeager used to "borrow" a stick of gum right before an important test flight.
It might seem silly, but this sort of thing can really help your frame of mind. The calming effect probably comes from the repetition of familiar actions. You've been here before; you know what to do, and you're acting like it.
Zen, meditation, and breathing techniques
A few people take the Zen approach. They meditate, recite little aerobatic mantras to themselves, listen to soft music on the Walkman, practice self-hypnosis, do yoga breath-regulating exercises, commune with their fuel-soaked navels, and otherwise attempt spiritual union with the gods of RC flight.
This works too, especially for those who believe in it. I lean a little in this direction myself.
The idea is to balance your anxiety with relaxation, and not let your emotions take control. This is very effective if you have the skills and self-discipline to make it work for you.
Experience and preparation
The only real fix for knocking knees is contest experience, coupled with the confidence that comes from adequate preparation.
All those repetitions in practice have the effect of drilling the task deep into your innards. Come contest day, your mind may be a little confused and scattered, but your eyeballs, fingers, and thumbs will know what to do. After they pull you through a couple of times, you'll learn to trust them a little. Your confidence level will go up, and your anxiety level will go down. The process is circular: confidence brings success, and success builds confidence.
The more times you walk out to fly in front of the judges, the more comfortable and focused you will be. The more big contests you fly, the easier it will be to fly at any contest, which is why I encourage people to attend the Nationals early and often in their competitive careers. After a trip to the Nats, the local contests can seem like a walk in the park.
I often hear: "I'm not ready to fly at the Nats. I'm just not good enough yet." That kind of thinking couldn't be more misguided, or more detrimental to progress up the competition ladder.
The common myth that "everyone who competes at the Nats is a hotshot" is simply ludicrous—or it would've been, if it didn't stop so many from making the trip.
As for not being ready for the Nats, few first-timers are. The best way to get ready is to go and wallow in the experience. You will learn more about your event and grow more as a competitor and a sportsman in that week than you will in years of knocking around the local circuit — and your "contest jitters" will undergo a giant improvement as a result. In addition to all the fun you'll have, you'll find that the Nats experience is concentrated aerobic exercise for your nervous system.
Closing thoughts
Two last things to remember: if you can't do it in front of the judges consistently, you don't really know how to do it yet. And if none of this stuff works for you, you can always buy larger Jockey shorts!
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
