My (educational) Memories

Recently I shared my husband's stories, but today I'd like to share mine, mainly for educational purposes. Whenever I tell my students how I began shooting, they're always surprised because it's so different from modern practices. I started shooting sport in 1987 at the age of 11, training first with a 22 cal. Margolin, not the AP that's common today. We were given a blank target half the size of a precision target, told by a coach to aim in the middle of the lower half, and spent most of an hour dry- firing. At the end, we were given 10 rounds to shoot live. As our groups tightened and steadiness improved, we progressed to 25 rounds and real targets. Working with the small-bore pistol taught us to pull a 1 kg weight and manage the recoil. Rapid fire was introduced only when she saw we were physically ready, and only after we were comfortable with the Sport pistol techniques did we “earn” the right to handle an air pistol.

I don't remember exactly, but I think I trained once a week at first, later twice. School started at 2 p. m. (8 a. m. to 1 p. m. was primary school time, and 2 to 7 p. m. for secondary and high school), so I had to get there on my own by walking, taking a tram, and walking again, about 40 minutes in total. Later, when we moved to another club, it took me 1.5 hours. In Almaty, the city ranges were indoors, so we could practise year- round. In summer, I went to the large outdoor shooting range owned by the army, where athletes were also allowed to hold camps and competitions. I don't remember shooting there at that time; I was only helping with patching and changing targets. In the Soviet Union (and I guess all its Republics), shooters never patched their targets themselves; they had to arrange a patcher, though. This way we didn't need to change and retake positions.

I went to my first competitions in another town in Kazakhstan on 22nd March 1988, and in July to a town in Russia. But I didn't shoot there because my coaches had not prepared the medical certificate required for under-12s. And I turned 12 there, in Yekaterinburg, which was then called Sverdlovsk. I wasn't too upset, however, and just had fun. The range there was in the forest, and we could pick wild blueberries there. Also, we went to the symbolic border between Europe and Asia.

I kept travelling to various competitions across the Soviet Union: Omsk in Russia (where I experienced -40 degrees Celsius; I don’t remember my score there, but I’ll never forget the temperature), Tashkent in Uzbekistan, Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan, Minsk in Belarus, Lviv in Ukraine, and Voronezh in Russia. In 1993, in Voronezh, I shot my first 383 in Air Pistol, which was equal to the Master of Sport of International Class grade. All this competition experience helped me grow both technically and mentally. We knew nothing about psychologists or mental training back then – our skills developed naturally through experience.

After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Kazakhstan and other republics had the chance to form their own national teams. From then on, shooting became my profession, and I trained full-time with two sessions a day, five days a week. Although I kept studying, in college first, then at university.

In 1994, I went to my first international competitions – three World Cups in a row: Fort Benning, USA; Havana, Cuba; and Beijing, China. From that point, we tried to attend every international competition possible. Thanks to the strong reputation and influence of my future husband, then Head of the National Shooting Team, he managed to “beat out” funding from the Ministry of Sport despite the difficult times of total deficit. Sometimes we had to find money and pay for trips ourselves, but the government always reimbursed us. That’s why, when I see NSOs now not sending shooters to international events, I’m convinced it’s not about lacking funds, but about lacking care.

Later in 1994, I won my first international competition medal – a bronze in the Sport Pistol teams event at the Asian Games in Hiroshima. In 1995, I won silver in the teams event at the Asian Championships in Jakarta... In 1996, after a successful performance at the Olympic Games in Atlanta, where Kazakhstan’s team took 2 silver and 1 bronze medal, a journalist visited us to interview each member of the shooting team. It was a period in my life when I was not performing to the expected level. When he approached me, one of his questions was: “When shall we see the results from YOU?” And I answered: “The results will come. I work hard towards achieving them, and everyone helps me on my way.” So, I had absolute faith in what I was doing, and patience and the knowledge that I just needed time to grow as a strong athlete.

And in 1998 I won my first individual international competition – the Asian Games in Bangkok. It took over a decade of consistent training and competing at all levels before I managed to secure one of the major victories. Such timelines are quite normal in shooting. Of course, some athletes achieve high results early, but it can sometimes lead to burnout due to overtraining and the pressure of expectations. But if you take Rybakina, for example—she just won the US Open in tennis, but a decade ago she was ranked somewhere in the 900s. So, what I want to emphasise here is that if organisations are aiming to develop shooters capable of excelling at the highest levels, it’s essential to provide continuous training and regular exposure to top-tier competitions—at least 12 events per year, including a minimum of 4 international ones.

PS. This time I didn’t ask AI to edit my text, so mistakes are all mine 😉

PPS. It's a cute Margolin in the photo.