Today was one of those days.. but wait.. (the Commonwealth match)

While today was one of those days - it didn't end badly at all.

Let's say you have "Coach 1" and "Coach 2". Let's further stipulate that while you have an occasional very good shoot with Coach 1, on a whole you perform significantly below par for that coach. Let's say Coach 2 gets you consistently decent results, with the last few shoots getting better and better (verging on world-class).

So that was my day. Mediocre shoots at 300, and 500 in the Commonwealth match with Coach 1. Then because I'm the anchor man (meaning that I shoot last of all shooters) and we're running out of time, I get put on a new target. It's a GB target that they have just finished shooting and they kindly allow us to use it to finish the match.

The light is almost gone (it's about 8:45 in the evening) and my iris is WAY open (a 6.5!). But I can see - quite decently though I don't have a lot of white around the bull. Coach 2 sits in the chair and I'm in the V with the 2nd sighter. Four more Vs in a row - I'm on a blinder - and lose one high (I don't know this actually because I'm just concentrating on the sight picture). And then the Range Officer says "3 minutes left". I think I have 5 shots to go. Target comes up - I fire my shot. Lose it high.

Oops. Finish with a 33-5 (very good), which could have been a possible if I was just a little bit more patient).

Lesson here - some coaches one works well with and others not well at all. I was just lucky I could change in the last detail to someone with whom I work very well.

One doesn't have to like one's coach - just trust them to deliver a solid result. And they need to learn what you're capable of, what your tendencies are, and what your weaknesses are.