Michelle Smith

Yet another Easter and I find myself attending the Isle of Man Easter Shooting Festival.  This must be my 8^th year attending this shoot and the atmosphere only gets better and better!

With the reduction of events at the commonwealth games including the removal of the Women’s Prone Event and the Olympic games only holding the air and 3p events for women I had made the decision to not shoot women’s prone here which was somewhat amusing for me with people commenting “they didn’t think I was coming” with a shocked voice, but how could I even consider missing this meeting with the banter, resident mums in hand but most of all knowing that a lot of my nearest and dearest friends would be in attendance.

After staying at my parents on Wednesday evening, we headed towards Heysham for our ferry on Thursday morning…  we eventually got there after I totally forgot about the turning, despite passing it and saying to myself,  that’s the turning we used to take when my mum, dad and me headed to Morecambe for a Saturday out when I was younger!  Doh!

Upon arriving at the ferry terminal we started to see familiar faces and it wasn’t long before we were holding a conversation with people from out of the car window into theirs!

Once through check in we drove to a waiting area to wait embarking the ferry and actually got out of the car to chat with the others we had just come across.  It’s always nice at the start of the season to catch up with those who you haven’t seen for a good 6 months or more.

The ferry crossing was really nice this year, the sea was like a mill pond the only down side really is the 4 hours it takes to cross.

Air was first on the agenda for me; starting on Friday morning…  yes I’m struggling with my knee quiet a bit resulting in this being my first air match since May 10!  To put it simply, it was pants!  Training has been great, I’d jumped straight into 395-397′s but this just wasn’t going to plan, the rifle wasn’t resting right, I’m not too sure what was wrong.  After a disastrous 20 shots, I put the rifle down and took some time to myself.  Normally I’d go off and chat with Mike but this just wasn’t right.  I came back onto the point with a less than good attitude, more of the “bugger it” mentality.  So I just got on with it.  395 finish!  That’ll do

Air match two

The next match wasn’t much better but I defo need a tad more training time!

Friday night left me preparing for the 3×20 match and also left time for me to read a book I had been longing to finish: With Winning in Mind.  It puts the mental aspects of many things into terms which is simple to understand and easy to implement.  It gave me a different view on the match and something to aim for… ensuring my mental process was executed effectively

I was really looking forward to the 3p.  It was great to start with a real focus and goal for the match, one that I am satisfied that I completed very successfully.  My focus was so on form that I didn’t have a clue what I had shot score wise, I only knew that I was happy with my performance

I’d managed a 578 (199, 186, 193) which I was pleased with, I know I could have had a few more points in there but I was really pleased with my process

Onto the final, this was my first, in competition, with the new ISSF format.  From an athletes point of view its really funky to be properly presented to the audience, it really does add that sense of occasion but its hard work getting back and into position standing….  I like to take my time and get it all right!  I think I had time for 1 shot in the 2min return time… still I have my application thanks to Moonstone apps so I’ll be utilising that!

My final wasn’t brilliant but that will come with more training, at least my process was on form!

End result:

Air :                                        584 + 584 = 1168 – 1st Place

Three Positions:               578 + 93.9 = 671.9 – 1st Place