The team's tour brochure. - National Rifle Association

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like they always used to feel.I spent the rest of '82 trying to get used to the idea that the problem was one of nerves.Acceptance was not easy merely because it did not sound logical that such a problem shouldarise after so many years, and yet I was immensely relieved that it had been identified. As I putmy rifle away in October for its winter rest, I was able to regard the coming year with muchmore confidence.Easter 1983 saw me at Bisley again with an enthusiasm which I had not felt for the previous twoyears. I had thought about my problem often during the winter, and I had gradually come toaccept it. Now that I was back on the ranges again and knew what the problem was, I was nolonger afraid of it and that was the beginning of the end for 'the problem'. I had also reasonedout what had triggered the problem - the feeling that my winning the Queen's Prize in 1979meant that people were watching me even closer in 1980, either trying hard to beat me or justwaiting for me to crash, although why it had worried me in 1980 and not after previoussuccesses is still a mystery to me.AutomaticDuring the first half of 1983 the problem was still there but it was not always there, and neitherwas it so intense. The muzzle would still tend to bounce when the pressure was on but I wasenjoying my shooting more and more - the dread of even appearing on the ranges had vanishedand I felt I was in that period of transition between classT and class O! Furthermore, I had founda way to combat the thing - by a shift in concentration. We concentrate so hard in rifle shootingthat the concentration eventually becomes automatic, so that the way in which we work so hardin the early days on sight picture, trigger control, breathing, weather conditions and a hundredand one other things all merge into one automatic application. When something goes wrongin this automatic process it is usually possible to identify what that something is and correct itby increasing concentration on it. When that something is nerves, however, to concentrateharder on them makes things worse, thus the necessity to shift the emphasis.Thus I needed something new on which to concentrate - something to take my mind off "theproblem" but something which would not affect the things that I had always done whichbenefited my shooting. And so I went back to basics - I concentrated on the thumb on my righthand. In the same way as a baby sucks its thumb as a comforter, so I directed my concentrationon the position that it was in and the pressure which it exerted. By doing this the moment Ibegan to worry about the slight - and now less frequent - bounce in the foresight, I substitutedconcentration for worry until gradually the shift in my concentration became automatic towardsthe end of 1983, and it was only then that I knew that I had it beaten.The process was further helped in Canada when the new barrel which I had fitted before goingthere proved incapable of holding a group. Another team member let me use his long rangeSwing, and I found that this considerable change from my old but trusted Grunig gave myconfidence a further boost and, confidence being the perfect panacea to nervousness, I changedmy allegiance to Swing at the end of the year.Looking BackIt all seems so easy in hindsight, but it was far from easy at the time. It was like falling off amountain and having to climb up again, bruised and bleeding, to try to reach the top again. I waslucky - I had friends to help me and the cussedness to want to do it. But what of those whofall and never climb out of the vally again, for I am sure I am not the only one who hasexperienced "the problem" in our sport. One hears of it among professional sportsmen quiteoften. Golfers find they cannot putt with their usual smooth stroke (they call it "the yips") andsnooker players develop the kind of tremor in their cue that I had in my rifle. Successful andrespected shooters suddenly fall out of the prize lists and never feature in them again. It is forthose who have experienced "the problem", and for those who will experience it, that I havewritten this article. I hope that my experience may help them even if it is merely by theknowledge that their suffering is not unique. Others have trodden that path before - and thereis a solution.AVIATION | BUSINESS & FINANCE | COMMERCIAL DISPUTES | ENERGYINSURANCE & REINSURANCE | SHIPPING & TRADEWe wish all the members of The National Rifle Associationa very successful tourWWW.INCELAW.COMDUBAI | HAMBURG | HONG KONG | LE HAVRE | LONDON | PARIS | PIRAEUS | SHANGHAI | SINGAPORE
Team profilesGary Alexander(Captain)Jon Underwood(GM, SM, GC) (Vice Captain)Gary,46,Optometrist, Co-director and fatherof three Army Cadets/Shooters, has seen hisprize list placings improve since dating Sharon(NRA'S Chief Stats Officer).He loves tours and include Canada x5, SouthAfrica x2, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Namibia, TheWest Indies, Germany, Cyprus and Guernseyx2 and Jersey.Born and bred in "Norn Iron" Gary startedshooting with Royal School Dungannon andmade his first trip to Bisley where hecelebrated his 13th Birthday in 1973.This yearwill be his 35th consecutive pilgrimage and heis still shooting for Dungannon and Tyrone aswell as Ireland and Great Britain in TR andMR.Gary is looking forward to visiting the islandsagain having done so before with Herefordand Worcester RC and Bob Aitkins NRAteam (when they won all their matches).Having met with occasional individual success(The Admiral Hutton, Cottesloe and FridayAGG) Gary's greatest satisfaction has alwaysbeen in teams, winning the National and Elchowith Ireland is where a lot of the fun inshooting is for him and is a source of greatanticipation for this tour.Gary also enjoys Game Shooting of allvarieties working with his Springer Spanielsand running and detachment of ACF inWiltshire along with good food and fine winewhich makes the Channel Islands the perfectchoice of tour.Jon made history last year by winning all threestages of the Queen’s Prize in the same year.He also won the Grand Aggregate theprevious year (2005) and with a number ofother trophies inscribed with his name, hethinks he is just beginning to get the hang ofthis sport!Jon has toured on 7 previous GB tours, theUnder 25 tour to New Zealand and theAthelings in 1988, but could only makereserve for last year’s team to Canada! He hasalso shot quite a few Nationals Mackinnonsand Kolapores. Jon started shooting at Aldroschool aged 11, and bitten by the bugcontinued to pursue his shooting career atGuildford Grammar School and LondonUniversity.He continues to encourage the youth of thefuture and now helps coach at GuildfordGrammar School. He somehow manages tofit this in between running the family businessof Tool and Plant Hire and property letting.This will be Jon’s first shooting tour to theChannel Islands and he is very much lookingforward to the legendary hospitality! His onlyconcern is how far the duties ofVice-Captainstretch to looking after the Captain.
Page 1 and 2: HPS the Developers and Manufacturer
Page 4 and 5: Captain’s forewordThe NRA has hon
Page 6 and 7: Historyby Paul CharltonThe story of
Page 8 and 9: The JRA and GRC were always concern
Page 10: http://www.scatt.com/downloads/scat
Page 14 and 15: 5) New RPA, and RPA made Swing or M
Page 18 and 19: Colin Brook(GM, SM, SF) (Coach)Tim
Page 20 and 21: Reg CurtisIan DavisonCharlotte Evan
Page 22 and 23: StuartYoung18 year old Stuart is cu
Page 24 and 25: Plot your way to better scoresby Da
Page 26 and 27: Her Majesty The Queen’s prize - s
Page 28 and 29: Comparing target sights (L toR): An
Page 30 and 31: The Irish open is shot over two day
Page 32: AcknowledgementsGary Alexander and

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