What Is It Like To Be An Average Shooter

By Yogendra choukiker

With three years done and dusted in professional shooting sports, one thing I’ve realised is that I have
been average in every sense. Scores being just to qualify the nationals and International selection
trails, not a part of any of the other sports, past performance is average when benchmarked against
peers!

Now let’s consider each of the above parameters one at a time and understand why being average is
perhaps not such a bad thing!

Firstly, while average scores do hurt a little, they give me a sense of purpose to push that bit harder
not just to improve the scores but also to see how much I can improve.

Since there was not much pressure to maintain a particular score, I was able to prepare for CAT exam
with more freedom without thinking much as to where it is going to take me in terms of college & job.

Secondly, when you do not have medals, you tend to be open to more experimentation (sometimes
by choice and at others with no option left) you try new things and also open yourself to newer
avenues.

Lastly, I think I gave it my best during my shooting days and CAT preparation as I didn’t have that
pressure of converting top 30 colleges as I neither had brilliant past grades nor a high paying job and
guess what, I am pretty glad with the college IRMA that finally offered me MBA. Having said that, I
know I can do better and am inspired to push myself harder for the upcoming years to better my
performance.
Above all, each day in three years in the shooting has increased my concentration and taught me to
follow the process, struggle hard, build resilience and never lose hope. I understand that
acknowledging and accepting the fact that I am average, doesn’t make me one for life. In fact, I believe
it is a step in the right direction as knowing is moving beyond and I do think I will surprise myself at
the end of the two years. Whether pleasant or otherwise, either way, learning will be immense.