You Have Mastered Harder Things...

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I’ve mentioned several times that my husband is my coach (many of you know him personally), and that he used to coach the very powerful Soviet Union National Team. Over those years, countless tests and experiments were conducted, so he knows exactly what worked and what didn’t. Shooting is a conservative sport, so the technical execution of a shot hasn’t changed much since those days. Along with his deep knowledge of the sport, he often shares stories about how everything worked back then.

Athletes from all 15 republics (now independent countries) could be selected for the USSR National Team, and each republic also had its own team. This meant regional competitions were held across the entire country, giving athletes the chance to travel and experience very different cultural environments — from Tajikistan to Latvia.

Once, the team travelled to Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, where vast cotton fields were developed. Members of the National Team were invited to visit a cotton field and help with harvesting, which at the time was done entirely by hand. They quickly realised how brutally hard that work was under the full sun, even though the locals treated them with wonderful hospitality and delicious meals.

Another time, some team members were taken to the metallurgical (ironworks) plant in Temirtau — a sister town of Karaganda in Kazakhstan, a major iron ore region. After seeing how demanding and exhausting the work at the plant was, Alexandre Melentyev simply said: “I’d rather be an athlete…”

So, what is my point?

Almost all of my shooters are professionals in their own fields — surgeons, engineers, doctors, teachers, tradies, and many others. In my opinion, their jobs are far harder than shooting. Many of them have also lived through situations that are much more difficult than any competition. And yet, all of them still succumb to match pressure in one way or another.

Try to see shooting as easier than your occupation, and treat it the same way you treated your studies and training for your profession. Your skills and knowledge didn’t appear overnight. You devoted a substantial amount of time to studying, exams, and practical training before reaching your professional level. And you didn’t stress that much about the outcome, because you understood that you needed to accumulate experience.

But when professionals start shooting, they somehow expect immediate results. And the more they want those results, the further away they move — because their focus is not where it should be.

At the end of the day, remember this: you’ve already proven you can master difficult things. You’ve built careers, solved problems, carried responsibilities, and faced challenges far tougher than a 60‑shot match. Shooting is simply another craft — one that rewards patience, curiosity, and steady work. Treat every training session as an investment, not a test. Let the result come as a by‑product of your effort, not the measure of your worth. When you shift your focus from “I must perform” to “I’m here to learn,” pressure loses its grip — and performance finally has room to grow.Write your text here...