11. Georgina Roberts
I was going to start by saying that this article showcases a sport that I’ve tried, but at which I was considerably less than proficient … then I realised I could have started pretty much all the articles with the same sentence…
Instead, I will simply let you know that the latest in my series of my ‘Women in Sport’ interviews concentrates on shooting, and features Georgina Roberts of Wales and Great Britain, a young woman who has already achieved a great deal in the sport, but who also has the brightest of futures.
I’ve opened the last two conversations by asking about a pink hat and a fondue set. Unfortunately, I haven’t managed to maintain those standards this time and genuinely feel like I’ve let my readers down … how did Georgina first get involved in shooting?
“My Dad has a background in farming, so I’ve always known about shooting, but never really got involved with it. I went to a charity event with him – it meant that I could have a day off school! – and there was a lady there called Katie Cowell, who shot for Great Britain at the time. She was there with her Dad and I went and had a go at the beginner’s stand.
“They saw me and thought I was quite good for someone who has never done it before; they invited me to one of Katie’s training days, introduced me to the competition side of the sport and explained how I could get involved.
“Her Dad went on to become my first coach, he really took me under his wing, and believed I had what it took to really be someone in shooting … and I’ve stuck with it ever since.”
Although competitive shotgun competitions all involve a moving object (perhaps I should have included the word ‘inanimate’…), presumably her introduction to the sport had involved firing at a static target?
“No I’ve always shot moving targets. There are different types of shotgun shooting; what I first had a go at was ‘Sporting’, then I moved on to ‘English Skeet’, and finally on to ‘Olympic Trap’, which is what I’m shooting now. That’s the sport that I want to compete in when the Olympics go to Paris in 2024.”
The Sporting discipline involves (apparently because I had to look it up), a variety of targets launched in pretty much any direction or elevation. English Skeet uses intersecting clays thrown from opposite ends of a semi-circular arc at set trajectories and speeds, and in Olympic Trap the shooter has two attempts to hit a clay target fired forward from a concealed trap.
There is obviously a fundamental technical aspect to firing a shotgun, the equipment itself, the posture and shooting process; but the sport must also demand significant powers of concentration over long periods. How did Georgina separate those components?
“You have to be very resilient and cope with repetition, because there’s a lot of it! It’s a case of doing it over and over again for years and years; there’s no magic secret, just training and hard work.
“The one thing that I have realised over the last couple of years is that when you’re learning to shoot, it’s 90% technical and 10% mental, and then when you understand the basics and foundation, when you have all the elements and you’re just tying them together then it becomes 90% mental and 10% technical.
“Shooting is a mental sport,” she continued. “If you break it down you have a target that’s going away from you and you have two shots at it. That’s ‘easy’ [relatively speaking … confirmed by the fact that Georgina signed the inverted commas with her hands], but to do the same thing 125 times, then 50 more in the final is very much a test of mental strength.”
Fatigue will be both physical and mental, but how does Georgina recognise the signs, and does she have a set routine or method to maintain focus?
“Both of those things”, Georgina admitted. “Like most shooters, I have a pre-shot routine, a mental routine; the tools that you carry with you in case you miss one or you need a kick up the bum. Sometimes you can just have a genuine miss. Say you’re shooting at a target and there’s a big gust of wind; you did everything in your power to hit that target, but Mother Nature caught you off-guard and there’s nothing you can do about it.
“In my mental routine I’ll talk myself through what I’m going to do. If I’m stood waiting for my turn to shoot, I’ll talk myself through where I’m going to pick up the target and when I’m going to pull the trigger, making sure I’m really focussed on my process as well as the outcome.
“Sometimes if you miss a small part of that process, even a positive phrase that you say to yourself like ‘you’re going to smash this target’ … if you miss that out of your routine and realise once you have called for the target, you then can’t put the gun back down and start again, you have to accept it and deal with the consequences. That can cause you to panic, or rush, so sometimes it’s a mental thing that triggered you to miss; but sometimes it’s a miss purely because of external factors that you can’t control.
“It could also be a technical fault, you haven’t moved on time, or put the gun in the right place in your shoulder. So there’s a whole heap of reasons why you could miss, but the important thing to understand is sometimes it’s not your fault, and you just have to go onto the next step of that process you’ve worked on in training because you know you’ve put the work in and you’re ready for competition…
“We’ve got a fantastic sports science team at British Shooting, who have really helped to transform my shooting over the past six months in particular, because I’ve just worked my way onto the World Class Programme and the support team is phenomenal; they do work really hard for us.
“There are loads of tips and tricks that they go over with you, that you can enforce and train with them so that you’re ready and familiar with them should a certain situation arise in competition; and I think that’s one of the most important things I could have learned over the last six months.”
I had read that there was a dental reason for Georgina’s move from English Skeet to Olympic Trap; was that actually the case?
“Partially! When I was shooting Skeet and I was changing to the Olympic disciplines, I had braces; and so when you shoot Olympic Skeet, you have to mount the gun into your face, but where the cheek was rubbing against the stock as I mounted, it would push up against the brace and cut the inside of my mouth. With Olympic Trap you start pre-mounted; you don’t have to get the gun into your face in half a second.
“So that was one of the reasons. The other was that I didn’t really have access to a skeet coach at the time. I wasn’t pushed into Olympic Trap at all, it was the path that I chose; I just felt like there was a better network and support system for Olympic Trap … more competitions, more coaches, and a bigger community. I’m quite bubbly, I’m a people person, and I like that group around me.”
Just how difficult was the move to Olympic Trap?
“It was a difficult transition; it’s always really hard going from being a big fish in a little pond and then jumping into Olympic Trap and being a small fish in a very big pond.
“When I was shooting English Skeet, I was quite good at it, and I’d gone from being a nobody to a somebody in a really short space of time. Everyone knew me around the sport, I was putting in some amazing scores and winning some titles … and then you have to start again right at the bottom.
“Nobody knows you, and it’s tough. You shoot and you don’t get the scores you normally would; you go home and you’re disheartened and confused; and you’re not really sure if you like this or not. But then you realise if you want to go to the Olympics, this is what you’ve got to do; you’ve got to give yourself that encouragement and work your way up the ladder again. It’s a much harder process to work your way up that ladder in Olympic Trap than it was in English Skeet, but it’s definitely worth it.
“Now, I’d say I’m maybe three-quarters of the way up that ladder; I’m working towards my goals and I’m finally on the World Class Programme, putting some good scores in, and I feel good and more confident in my shooting now – but it does take a long time to rebuild after starting again.”
Georgina made the move when she was 18, having started shooting just one year earlier. Did the transition between disciplines also involve graduating from junior to senior competition? It sounded a good question…
“No; juniors in shooting goes up to the age of 21, so fortunately I was still a junior when I moved across.”
It wasn’t…
“Within GB I managed to go to European and World Championships, and World Cups as a junior, built my experience and confidence in those intense environments; so that was probably the best time to swap over and still be able to get all that before I had to transition into becoming a senior. You would definitely not want to go from nowhere at all to being on that stage; it’s such a big jump. There’s still a big jump between a junior and a senior within shooting, but being on that stage as a junior with the TV cameras, the music, the finals, the pressure, is one of the best stepping-stones you could have.”
As if it there wasn’t enough pressure focussing in on hitting target after target, what effect does a crowd have?
“I’m quite fortunate, I’m not all that bothered by crowds and people watching; if anything that does me a favour, because as soon as I see people watching, I know that I’ve got to pull it out of the bag and not look like a muppet … especially when you’ve got GB or Wales plastered across the back of you! You can’t escape from it then!
“So yes, I like that, I like the cameras being there; all the pressure comes from me, but that’s something that we learn to deal with. Instead of using that ‘desperation’ for a good performance, you use it to spur you on.”
So the ultimate goal (apart from not looking like a muppet) remains Paris 2024.
“Absolutely. That’s what I’m working towards. In shooting we don’t have an ‘age limit’ so to speak; you can be in your fifties and still be competing in the Olympics, which is fantastic because it means I’ve got so many Games in front of me, and hopefully I’ll be lucky enough to have a few more than just Paris.”
I’m in my fifties … but don’t think I’ll quite be ready for the Paris Games. My one and only attempt at clay pigeon shooting ended with a series of targets flying through the air and landing completely unscathed in a large muddy field. That said once I explained I was left-handed I was given a left-handed gun and promptly smashed four successive clays into little fragments (who needs two shots!). Overall though, I really wasn’t very good at all, and it’s quite ironic that the word I would use to describe my ability with gun in hand actually rhymes with Olympic Trap…
Digression over – what is the qualification process from an Olympic Games?
“In an Olympic cycle, they start dishing out quota places around two years before the Games. To win a quota place, you have to go to a World Cup or an ISSF [International Shooting Sport Federation]-registered event, there’ll be a certain amount of quota places handed out at those specific events and you have to medal, basically, to win a quota.
“Say it’s the first shoot of the quota period, gold and silver will get the quota place, but if you go to the next event and the same people finish first and second, then the next two quota places would go to bronze and fourth. With shooting, the pool is so talented, you never really get the same people medalling all the time; so the quota places don’t get passed down all that often, which makes it that little bit more difficult. It’s a challenge, but so worth it and you really want to win that medal and not just a quota place…
“In order to get to the World Cup, you have to shoot minimum consideration scores for Great Britain to get selected for the team, and again, it is such a talented group of people, and you only get three spots per team per event. So yes, it’s a difficult process, but so worth it; and hats off to anyone and everyone who does win a quota place for their country, because it’s a hell of an achievement.”
You would think that holding down a day job as well as devoting the time and energy required to perform as an elite athlete would leave little time for anything else, but Georgina is (amongst other things) also an ambassador for the Mintridge Foundation, a mentor and a qualified coach.
It is remarkable to think that someone would be both willing and able to give back so much, when her own goals and ambitions are yet to be fulfilled … but it quickly becomes evident that Georgina Roberts is a remarkable young woman.
How does the coaching and mentoring fit with the challenges and demands of elite sport?
“I kind of use one to feed the other. I’m so passionate about coaching and mentoring that it fuels me to go on and achieve my own goals. I want to help others and I don’t want to be a hypocrite, so when I’m coaching, if I’m helping them understand certain things within shooting and how to better themselves, I can’t then go and stand on that peg and do the opposite.
“I have to do exactly as I’m describing or explaining to them, and that really holds me accountable for the things I’m learning, developing and working on myself – and talking about what I’m working on helps me internalise it a little bit more.
“I know within sport people can be really closed off as to what they’re working on and almost see it as a weakness that someone might be able to hold against them; but actually if I tell you I’m working on my gun mount because at the moment it’s not that consistent, and others see that as my ‘weakness’, then equally I have to do something about it, and make it one of my greater strengths.
“I want the people I’m coaching with to understand that mentality so they can use it as well. I want shooting to be a really open and approachable sport, and I think we can achieve that and be a more welcoming sport by having a growth mindset, rather than athletes only feeling comfortable in having those conversations after having won that gold medal or retiring from the sport.”
I found this fascinating; not just Georgina’s desire to help others, but the level of self-awareness and self-belief that she possesses. Does she have a preference for technical coaching, or for mentoring someone more as a person than a shooter?
“That is a very good question!”
Why thank you…
“I love both, but for very different reasons. With my tactical and technical work, I want to make my athlete the best they can possibly be and be able to explain different things in different ways, because not everyone has the same issues or learns the same way; and being able to help them understand makes me feel amazing.
“That’s purely selfish, but I feed my own athlete career off that. If I’m explaining a theory to someone, and they don’t understand it, I have to explain it in a different way. That’s when I’m properly internalising what I’m telling them and properly understanding that theory for myself, because you’re really having to think about how you’re wording it and understand the words for yourself as you’re going through it with them; and I think that’s amazing…
“It was my mentor that got me into coaching for that exact reason, because he knew by me coaching other people, I would then become a better athlete.
“My mentor and I have a very close relationship. He used to be my coach, but we didn’t get on as athlete and coach … we fought like cats and dogs!” Georgina grinned. “I hope he doesn’t mind me saying that he is one of my best friends, I talk to him every day and I can go to him about anything, whether it’s shooting- or life-related we just bounce off each other; and I can take things from that relationship and use knowledge and life experiences to help other people.
“Even though I’m only 23, I know I’ve got a lot of experience in sport and being a junior lady coming up through sport can be a little bit daunting and there’s not much really, in the grand scheme of things, that I haven’t experienced because my short period in sport has been quite a rollercoaster.
“What I’ve learned along the way I can then feed into other athletes, especially junior ladies coming up through the sport, and actually really be there to support them as someone who has recently been in exactly that same situation.
“I think being a mentor is probably my ‘favourite’ over coaching because there are things I can give that others can’t necessarily give. That mentor/mentee relationship is so special, but I’m still so so passionate about coaching.”
I was totally engrossed and so invested in what Georgina was saying that I didn’t register that she’d used one of my ‘banned’ words – I’d definitely have noticed if ‘rollercoaster’ had been preceded by ‘emotional’ though…
I wanted to delve a little deeper into Georgina’s thoughts on mentoring. Can the skills she already has and that she’s clearly continuing to develop be used to mentor someone from a completely different sport?
“Yes, absolutely. And I don’t think that you necessarily have to be in a sport to have that mentor/mentee relationship because I think that everything from sport is transferable into other industries or walks of life. I work 9 to 5 for a comparison website [no, not the meerkat one…the other one..!] as a publisher, so I run their website for them; and there are so many things from sport that I transfer to my working life, that you might never have thought would cross over.
“Again with Mintridge, we’ve done a lot of work with an organisation called Switch the Play, who are supporting people transitioning from their career as an athlete into life outside of sport, something that can be really difficult. They teach you a lot about how you can transfer skills into other areas of life, and they’re one of the reasons why I grabbed the bull by the horns so to speak and really went full force at all the things that I want to tackle; whether that be as a coach, or with my work, or the writing I do for shooting magazines … I don’t want to find myself retiring for sport wondering ‘what do I do now?’
“If you had told me at 17 I’d be sat here now, achieving the things I’m achieved, I wouldn’t have believed it; but I still have a long way to go, especially within my career. I’ve achieved a lot in terms of supporting my sport, and at the moment, I suppose that’s where my ‘value’ lies – the things that I’m doing and have been recognised for doing – and I’ve got medals and titles, but they’re just not necessarily at the level I want them to be. I’ve not achieved them at the Olympics, World Cups or the World Championships … that’s what I want, and I’ll continue to work towards those goals.”
It comes as no surprise that Georgina’s contribution to her sport has already been recognised at a much wider level. Back in 2019, she won the Sport category at the prestigious Women of the Future Awards. What does Georgina remember about the award and event?
“It was a total surprise. It was … I don’t want to say life-changing; that’s a little bit corny isn’t it?! … it was just one of those really special moments.
“Theresa May was the host, you had all these amazing women around you, and the people who’d been shortlisted for my category included the female skipper who’d just sailed Greta Thunberg around the world, the number one polo player in the world, the Liverpool football club manager. I was just a young girl from a tiny little village in North Wales, who liked shooting … I had no chance!
“I remember sitting at the table in this huge banquet hall in the Hilton on Park Lane in London surrounded by these very glamorous women who’ve achieved many things, and I was so out of my comfort zone. They e-mailed us all beforehand saying please write out a thank you speech, just in case you win, because some of it was televised. As they were going through the awards, the winners did their speeches and they were all known off-by-heart and word perfect; I just thought they’d already been told that they’d won before the night, and they’d memorised their speeches.
“I felt so disheartened, but then I told myself not to read anything into it, just read your thank you speech, just in case. I’d look at it for about a minute then just think don’t be stupid; you’re getting your hopes up and you’re going to look like a muppet. They’re going to call the name and it’s not going to be you.
“I probably went through that seven or eight times before sport came up; and then they called ‘Georgina Roberts’! I didn’t even process that they’d just said my name. My parents were there with me, they didn’t move, and it was the other women on the table who went: ‘That’s you! Go!!’
“They had to call my name a second time: ‘Is Georgina Roberts here?!’
“I walked up, and I just cried on stage. I thanked the people I needed to thank, but I said I was sorry that my speech wasn’t perfect … I’d looked at the list of all the amazing women and thought there was absolutely no chance I’d ever be stood here. I think because I was crying and everyone realised it was quite authentic; the whole room stood up and gave me a round of applause – which set me off even more..!
“Shooting doesn’t really get televised; it’s not a prolific sport. We’ve got Olympic medallists, but they’re not on the same media platform as the like of Jessica Ennis, Mo Farah and people like that. It’s a different league to track and field especially, and swimming and cycling; and to have shooting as a sport go up against football, and sports like that and get recognised; it was quite hard to take it all in, but it’s given me a lot of reassurance and confidence to believe in myself more … and go on and encourage other women to do the same.”
That’s such a wonderful story, although it’s slightly disappointing that I could find no footage of Georgina’s speech!
Obviously everybody’s lives have been massively impacted by Covid-19 for almost a year now. As we all try and safely negotiate this third lockdown; what effect have these past few months had on Georgina?
“They’ve made me more grateful. The only thing that really changed for me during lockdown was that I’ve worked from home; I’ve still be able to coach and train, even though the competitions have obviously dried up. I’ve still been able to write articles for shooting magazines and do interviews by Zoom.
“I’ve still be able to take part in things with Mintridge; so while life has changed, everything’s been able to continue in one form or another. I’m so grateful for that because there are so many people who have really suffered and struggled during lockdown; and I’ve just tried to make use of it, make the most of it, hold myself accountable and stick to things…
“One of the ways I was holding myself accountable was by posting on social media when I was doing something. If I set myself a challenge, I would post every day to say I’d been on my lunchtime run, or done this or done that; but it was never enough. I approached British Shooting to see if I could do a weekly workout, so on a Monday I would post my workout with a step-by-step guide and that lasted the whole of the first lockdown and I was really thankful for that, not just because I was holding myself accountable, but also it gave other people the chance to join in and take part.
“I just need to make every day count. It all comes back to my ultimate goal is Paris; it’s a huge ladder, and it’s just those tiny steps that you have to take, and then you look back and suddenly realise you’re halfway up. Waking up every morning wondering what I can plan or do that’s going to help has also enabled me to make the most of every day.”
Whilst it’s fairly easy to appreciate not only how talented Georgina is at her chosen sport, and how much of a difference she is already making and will undoubtedly continue to make to her sport and to everyone with whom she comes into contact; it’s actually quite hard to put into words just how engaging and vibrant she is.
I’ve already been fortunate enough to have chatted to Olympic and Paralympic medallists from Beijing, London and Rio … and it honestly would come as no surprise if Georgina Roberts adds Paris 2024 to that list.
© Richard Kirby and Georgina Roberts
Instead, I will simply let you know that the latest in my series of my ‘Women in Sport’ interviews concentrates on shooting, and features Georgina Roberts of Wales and Great Britain, a young woman who has already achieved a great deal in the sport, but who also has the brightest of futures.
I’ve opened the last two conversations by asking about a pink hat and a fondue set. Unfortunately, I haven’t managed to maintain those standards this time and genuinely feel like I’ve let my readers down … how did Georgina first get involved in shooting?
“My Dad has a background in farming, so I’ve always known about shooting, but never really got involved with it. I went to a charity event with him – it meant that I could have a day off school! – and there was a lady there called Katie Cowell, who shot for Great Britain at the time. She was there with her Dad and I went and had a go at the beginner’s stand.
“They saw me and thought I was quite good for someone who has never done it before; they invited me to one of Katie’s training days, introduced me to the competition side of the sport and explained how I could get involved.
“Her Dad went on to become my first coach, he really took me under his wing, and believed I had what it took to really be someone in shooting … and I’ve stuck with it ever since.”
Although competitive shotgun competitions all involve a moving object (perhaps I should have included the word ‘inanimate’…), presumably her introduction to the sport had involved firing at a static target?
“No I’ve always shot moving targets. There are different types of shotgun shooting; what I first had a go at was ‘Sporting’, then I moved on to ‘English Skeet’, and finally on to ‘Olympic Trap’, which is what I’m shooting now. That’s the sport that I want to compete in when the Olympics go to Paris in 2024.”
The Sporting discipline involves (apparently because I had to look it up), a variety of targets launched in pretty much any direction or elevation. English Skeet uses intersecting clays thrown from opposite ends of a semi-circular arc at set trajectories and speeds, and in Olympic Trap the shooter has two attempts to hit a clay target fired forward from a concealed trap.
There is obviously a fundamental technical aspect to firing a shotgun, the equipment itself, the posture and shooting process; but the sport must also demand significant powers of concentration over long periods. How did Georgina separate those components?
“You have to be very resilient and cope with repetition, because there’s a lot of it! It’s a case of doing it over and over again for years and years; there’s no magic secret, just training and hard work.
“The one thing that I have realised over the last couple of years is that when you’re learning to shoot, it’s 90% technical and 10% mental, and then when you understand the basics and foundation, when you have all the elements and you’re just tying them together then it becomes 90% mental and 10% technical.
“Shooting is a mental sport,” she continued. “If you break it down you have a target that’s going away from you and you have two shots at it. That’s ‘easy’ [relatively speaking … confirmed by the fact that Georgina signed the inverted commas with her hands], but to do the same thing 125 times, then 50 more in the final is very much a test of mental strength.”
Fatigue will be both physical and mental, but how does Georgina recognise the signs, and does she have a set routine or method to maintain focus?
“Both of those things”, Georgina admitted. “Like most shooters, I have a pre-shot routine, a mental routine; the tools that you carry with you in case you miss one or you need a kick up the bum. Sometimes you can just have a genuine miss. Say you’re shooting at a target and there’s a big gust of wind; you did everything in your power to hit that target, but Mother Nature caught you off-guard and there’s nothing you can do about it.
“In my mental routine I’ll talk myself through what I’m going to do. If I’m stood waiting for my turn to shoot, I’ll talk myself through where I’m going to pick up the target and when I’m going to pull the trigger, making sure I’m really focussed on my process as well as the outcome.
“Sometimes if you miss a small part of that process, even a positive phrase that you say to yourself like ‘you’re going to smash this target’ … if you miss that out of your routine and realise once you have called for the target, you then can’t put the gun back down and start again, you have to accept it and deal with the consequences. That can cause you to panic, or rush, so sometimes it’s a mental thing that triggered you to miss; but sometimes it’s a miss purely because of external factors that you can’t control.
“It could also be a technical fault, you haven’t moved on time, or put the gun in the right place in your shoulder. So there’s a whole heap of reasons why you could miss, but the important thing to understand is sometimes it’s not your fault, and you just have to go onto the next step of that process you’ve worked on in training because you know you’ve put the work in and you’re ready for competition…
“We’ve got a fantastic sports science team at British Shooting, who have really helped to transform my shooting over the past six months in particular, because I’ve just worked my way onto the World Class Programme and the support team is phenomenal; they do work really hard for us.
“There are loads of tips and tricks that they go over with you, that you can enforce and train with them so that you’re ready and familiar with them should a certain situation arise in competition; and I think that’s one of the most important things I could have learned over the last six months.”
I had read that there was a dental reason for Georgina’s move from English Skeet to Olympic Trap; was that actually the case?
“Partially! When I was shooting Skeet and I was changing to the Olympic disciplines, I had braces; and so when you shoot Olympic Skeet, you have to mount the gun into your face, but where the cheek was rubbing against the stock as I mounted, it would push up against the brace and cut the inside of my mouth. With Olympic Trap you start pre-mounted; you don’t have to get the gun into your face in half a second.
“So that was one of the reasons. The other was that I didn’t really have access to a skeet coach at the time. I wasn’t pushed into Olympic Trap at all, it was the path that I chose; I just felt like there was a better network and support system for Olympic Trap … more competitions, more coaches, and a bigger community. I’m quite bubbly, I’m a people person, and I like that group around me.”
Just how difficult was the move to Olympic Trap?
“It was a difficult transition; it’s always really hard going from being a big fish in a little pond and then jumping into Olympic Trap and being a small fish in a very big pond.
“When I was shooting English Skeet, I was quite good at it, and I’d gone from being a nobody to a somebody in a really short space of time. Everyone knew me around the sport, I was putting in some amazing scores and winning some titles … and then you have to start again right at the bottom.
“Nobody knows you, and it’s tough. You shoot and you don’t get the scores you normally would; you go home and you’re disheartened and confused; and you’re not really sure if you like this or not. But then you realise if you want to go to the Olympics, this is what you’ve got to do; you’ve got to give yourself that encouragement and work your way up the ladder again. It’s a much harder process to work your way up that ladder in Olympic Trap than it was in English Skeet, but it’s definitely worth it.
“Now, I’d say I’m maybe three-quarters of the way up that ladder; I’m working towards my goals and I’m finally on the World Class Programme, putting some good scores in, and I feel good and more confident in my shooting now – but it does take a long time to rebuild after starting again.”
Georgina made the move when she was 18, having started shooting just one year earlier. Did the transition between disciplines also involve graduating from junior to senior competition? It sounded a good question…
“No; juniors in shooting goes up to the age of 21, so fortunately I was still a junior when I moved across.”
It wasn’t…
“Within GB I managed to go to European and World Championships, and World Cups as a junior, built my experience and confidence in those intense environments; so that was probably the best time to swap over and still be able to get all that before I had to transition into becoming a senior. You would definitely not want to go from nowhere at all to being on that stage; it’s such a big jump. There’s still a big jump between a junior and a senior within shooting, but being on that stage as a junior with the TV cameras, the music, the finals, the pressure, is one of the best stepping-stones you could have.”
As if it there wasn’t enough pressure focussing in on hitting target after target, what effect does a crowd have?
“I’m quite fortunate, I’m not all that bothered by crowds and people watching; if anything that does me a favour, because as soon as I see people watching, I know that I’ve got to pull it out of the bag and not look like a muppet … especially when you’ve got GB or Wales plastered across the back of you! You can’t escape from it then!
“So yes, I like that, I like the cameras being there; all the pressure comes from me, but that’s something that we learn to deal with. Instead of using that ‘desperation’ for a good performance, you use it to spur you on.”
So the ultimate goal (apart from not looking like a muppet) remains Paris 2024.
“Absolutely. That’s what I’m working towards. In shooting we don’t have an ‘age limit’ so to speak; you can be in your fifties and still be competing in the Olympics, which is fantastic because it means I’ve got so many Games in front of me, and hopefully I’ll be lucky enough to have a few more than just Paris.”
I’m in my fifties … but don’t think I’ll quite be ready for the Paris Games. My one and only attempt at clay pigeon shooting ended with a series of targets flying through the air and landing completely unscathed in a large muddy field. That said once I explained I was left-handed I was given a left-handed gun and promptly smashed four successive clays into little fragments (who needs two shots!). Overall though, I really wasn’t very good at all, and it’s quite ironic that the word I would use to describe my ability with gun in hand actually rhymes with Olympic Trap…
Digression over – what is the qualification process from an Olympic Games?
“In an Olympic cycle, they start dishing out quota places around two years before the Games. To win a quota place, you have to go to a World Cup or an ISSF [International Shooting Sport Federation]-registered event, there’ll be a certain amount of quota places handed out at those specific events and you have to medal, basically, to win a quota.
“Say it’s the first shoot of the quota period, gold and silver will get the quota place, but if you go to the next event and the same people finish first and second, then the next two quota places would go to bronze and fourth. With shooting, the pool is so talented, you never really get the same people medalling all the time; so the quota places don’t get passed down all that often, which makes it that little bit more difficult. It’s a challenge, but so worth it and you really want to win that medal and not just a quota place…
“In order to get to the World Cup, you have to shoot minimum consideration scores for Great Britain to get selected for the team, and again, it is such a talented group of people, and you only get three spots per team per event. So yes, it’s a difficult process, but so worth it; and hats off to anyone and everyone who does win a quota place for their country, because it’s a hell of an achievement.”
You would think that holding down a day job as well as devoting the time and energy required to perform as an elite athlete would leave little time for anything else, but Georgina is (amongst other things) also an ambassador for the Mintridge Foundation, a mentor and a qualified coach.
It is remarkable to think that someone would be both willing and able to give back so much, when her own goals and ambitions are yet to be fulfilled … but it quickly becomes evident that Georgina Roberts is a remarkable young woman.
How does the coaching and mentoring fit with the challenges and demands of elite sport?
“I kind of use one to feed the other. I’m so passionate about coaching and mentoring that it fuels me to go on and achieve my own goals. I want to help others and I don’t want to be a hypocrite, so when I’m coaching, if I’m helping them understand certain things within shooting and how to better themselves, I can’t then go and stand on that peg and do the opposite.
“I have to do exactly as I’m describing or explaining to them, and that really holds me accountable for the things I’m learning, developing and working on myself – and talking about what I’m working on helps me internalise it a little bit more.
“I know within sport people can be really closed off as to what they’re working on and almost see it as a weakness that someone might be able to hold against them; but actually if I tell you I’m working on my gun mount because at the moment it’s not that consistent, and others see that as my ‘weakness’, then equally I have to do something about it, and make it one of my greater strengths.
“I want the people I’m coaching with to understand that mentality so they can use it as well. I want shooting to be a really open and approachable sport, and I think we can achieve that and be a more welcoming sport by having a growth mindset, rather than athletes only feeling comfortable in having those conversations after having won that gold medal or retiring from the sport.”
I found this fascinating; not just Georgina’s desire to help others, but the level of self-awareness and self-belief that she possesses. Does she have a preference for technical coaching, or for mentoring someone more as a person than a shooter?
“That is a very good question!”
Why thank you…
“I love both, but for very different reasons. With my tactical and technical work, I want to make my athlete the best they can possibly be and be able to explain different things in different ways, because not everyone has the same issues or learns the same way; and being able to help them understand makes me feel amazing.
“That’s purely selfish, but I feed my own athlete career off that. If I’m explaining a theory to someone, and they don’t understand it, I have to explain it in a different way. That’s when I’m properly internalising what I’m telling them and properly understanding that theory for myself, because you’re really having to think about how you’re wording it and understand the words for yourself as you’re going through it with them; and I think that’s amazing…
“It was my mentor that got me into coaching for that exact reason, because he knew by me coaching other people, I would then become a better athlete.
“My mentor and I have a very close relationship. He used to be my coach, but we didn’t get on as athlete and coach … we fought like cats and dogs!” Georgina grinned. “I hope he doesn’t mind me saying that he is one of my best friends, I talk to him every day and I can go to him about anything, whether it’s shooting- or life-related we just bounce off each other; and I can take things from that relationship and use knowledge and life experiences to help other people.
“Even though I’m only 23, I know I’ve got a lot of experience in sport and being a junior lady coming up through sport can be a little bit daunting and there’s not much really, in the grand scheme of things, that I haven’t experienced because my short period in sport has been quite a rollercoaster.
“What I’ve learned along the way I can then feed into other athletes, especially junior ladies coming up through the sport, and actually really be there to support them as someone who has recently been in exactly that same situation.
“I think being a mentor is probably my ‘favourite’ over coaching because there are things I can give that others can’t necessarily give. That mentor/mentee relationship is so special, but I’m still so so passionate about coaching.”
I was totally engrossed and so invested in what Georgina was saying that I didn’t register that she’d used one of my ‘banned’ words – I’d definitely have noticed if ‘rollercoaster’ had been preceded by ‘emotional’ though…
I wanted to delve a little deeper into Georgina’s thoughts on mentoring. Can the skills she already has and that she’s clearly continuing to develop be used to mentor someone from a completely different sport?
“Yes, absolutely. And I don’t think that you necessarily have to be in a sport to have that mentor/mentee relationship because I think that everything from sport is transferable into other industries or walks of life. I work 9 to 5 for a comparison website [no, not the meerkat one…the other one..!] as a publisher, so I run their website for them; and there are so many things from sport that I transfer to my working life, that you might never have thought would cross over.
“Again with Mintridge, we’ve done a lot of work with an organisation called Switch the Play, who are supporting people transitioning from their career as an athlete into life outside of sport, something that can be really difficult. They teach you a lot about how you can transfer skills into other areas of life, and they’re one of the reasons why I grabbed the bull by the horns so to speak and really went full force at all the things that I want to tackle; whether that be as a coach, or with my work, or the writing I do for shooting magazines … I don’t want to find myself retiring for sport wondering ‘what do I do now?’
“If you had told me at 17 I’d be sat here now, achieving the things I’m achieved, I wouldn’t have believed it; but I still have a long way to go, especially within my career. I’ve achieved a lot in terms of supporting my sport, and at the moment, I suppose that’s where my ‘value’ lies – the things that I’m doing and have been recognised for doing – and I’ve got medals and titles, but they’re just not necessarily at the level I want them to be. I’ve not achieved them at the Olympics, World Cups or the World Championships … that’s what I want, and I’ll continue to work towards those goals.”
It comes as no surprise that Georgina’s contribution to her sport has already been recognised at a much wider level. Back in 2019, she won the Sport category at the prestigious Women of the Future Awards. What does Georgina remember about the award and event?
“It was a total surprise. It was … I don’t want to say life-changing; that’s a little bit corny isn’t it?! … it was just one of those really special moments.
“Theresa May was the host, you had all these amazing women around you, and the people who’d been shortlisted for my category included the female skipper who’d just sailed Greta Thunberg around the world, the number one polo player in the world, the Liverpool football club manager. I was just a young girl from a tiny little village in North Wales, who liked shooting … I had no chance!
“I remember sitting at the table in this huge banquet hall in the Hilton on Park Lane in London surrounded by these very glamorous women who’ve achieved many things, and I was so out of my comfort zone. They e-mailed us all beforehand saying please write out a thank you speech, just in case you win, because some of it was televised. As they were going through the awards, the winners did their speeches and they were all known off-by-heart and word perfect; I just thought they’d already been told that they’d won before the night, and they’d memorised their speeches.
“I felt so disheartened, but then I told myself not to read anything into it, just read your thank you speech, just in case. I’d look at it for about a minute then just think don’t be stupid; you’re getting your hopes up and you’re going to look like a muppet. They’re going to call the name and it’s not going to be you.
“I probably went through that seven or eight times before sport came up; and then they called ‘Georgina Roberts’! I didn’t even process that they’d just said my name. My parents were there with me, they didn’t move, and it was the other women on the table who went: ‘That’s you! Go!!’
“They had to call my name a second time: ‘Is Georgina Roberts here?!’
“I walked up, and I just cried on stage. I thanked the people I needed to thank, but I said I was sorry that my speech wasn’t perfect … I’d looked at the list of all the amazing women and thought there was absolutely no chance I’d ever be stood here. I think because I was crying and everyone realised it was quite authentic; the whole room stood up and gave me a round of applause – which set me off even more..!
“Shooting doesn’t really get televised; it’s not a prolific sport. We’ve got Olympic medallists, but they’re not on the same media platform as the like of Jessica Ennis, Mo Farah and people like that. It’s a different league to track and field especially, and swimming and cycling; and to have shooting as a sport go up against football, and sports like that and get recognised; it was quite hard to take it all in, but it’s given me a lot of reassurance and confidence to believe in myself more … and go on and encourage other women to do the same.”
That’s such a wonderful story, although it’s slightly disappointing that I could find no footage of Georgina’s speech!
Obviously everybody’s lives have been massively impacted by Covid-19 for almost a year now. As we all try and safely negotiate this third lockdown; what effect have these past few months had on Georgina?
“They’ve made me more grateful. The only thing that really changed for me during lockdown was that I’ve worked from home; I’ve still be able to coach and train, even though the competitions have obviously dried up. I’ve still been able to write articles for shooting magazines and do interviews by Zoom.
“I’ve still be able to take part in things with Mintridge; so while life has changed, everything’s been able to continue in one form or another. I’m so grateful for that because there are so many people who have really suffered and struggled during lockdown; and I’ve just tried to make use of it, make the most of it, hold myself accountable and stick to things…
“One of the ways I was holding myself accountable was by posting on social media when I was doing something. If I set myself a challenge, I would post every day to say I’d been on my lunchtime run, or done this or done that; but it was never enough. I approached British Shooting to see if I could do a weekly workout, so on a Monday I would post my workout with a step-by-step guide and that lasted the whole of the first lockdown and I was really thankful for that, not just because I was holding myself accountable, but also it gave other people the chance to join in and take part.
“I just need to make every day count. It all comes back to my ultimate goal is Paris; it’s a huge ladder, and it’s just those tiny steps that you have to take, and then you look back and suddenly realise you’re halfway up. Waking up every morning wondering what I can plan or do that’s going to help has also enabled me to make the most of every day.”
Whilst it’s fairly easy to appreciate not only how talented Georgina is at her chosen sport, and how much of a difference she is already making and will undoubtedly continue to make to her sport and to everyone with whom she comes into contact; it’s actually quite hard to put into words just how engaging and vibrant she is.
I’ve already been fortunate enough to have chatted to Olympic and Paralympic medallists from Beijing, London and Rio … and it honestly would come as no surprise if Georgina Roberts adds Paris 2024 to that list.
© Richard Kirby and Georgina Roberts