Aberdeen school girl Catriona McGregor found herself so stretched by the five sports of modern pentathlete that she chose to specialise in shooting last year.
Now, at just 16, she is on the verge of her first Scottish cap, an achievement which coincides with the sport of shooting being incorporated into the Scottish Area Institute of Sport for the first time.
I always enjoyed shooting from the first moment I learnt to do it, she said. I had to give up a lot of time for the modern pentathlon and was about to start fifth year at school. I felt my Highers were more important.
McGregor's chosen discipline is the 10 metre Air Pistol and 25 metre Sport Pistol, the latter comprising 30 shots at a static target then the same for a turning target. It might not share the same physical demands as the running, swimming, fencing or horse riding of the pentathlon but it tests her equally in other departments.
Shooting is really psychological, she says. You can be standing for an hour and 45mins to shoot 60 shots and you're aiming to get as near to perfection as possible. So if you get a bad shot you have to put it out of your mind and focus.
Campbell Bowes was her first coach who helped her into the Scottish shooting squad. Scottish national coach, Paul Taylor, is the man guiding her towards her long term targets of the Commonwealth Games and Olympics. Further support and encouragement comes from her club, Bon Accord Small Bore Rifle Club, whose membership includes the 'very encouraging' Commonwealth Games shooters Shena Sharp and Neil Stirton.
McGregor, a diabetic who wants to show people that it shouldn't hinder you at all doing sport has four hour-long sessions at the range in addition to her fitness training and further 'dry firing' at home. Judging from her results from this summer all the work is paying off.
During the summer I went to the GB Junior Internationals, an under 21 event, in Bisley and I got gold for 10m air pistol. I'd never done sport pistol before and I came fourth, said McGregor, who has since finished second in the 10 metre Air Pistol C class at the British Open Short Range Pistol Championships in September and won her class at this month's at the Welsh Open.
Success at these tournaments has contributed to her being fast tracked into the Scottish Senior Team. In January she will compete with her first Scottish senior cap in the Czech Republic, then head to Holland for a second international meet in February.
Despite moving into the senior ranks, October's Youth Commonwealth Games in India is at the forefront of her mind. She has already reached the pre selection standard but must at least maintain her form in 2008 to be sure of her place.
As McGregor raises her game, it's an important coincidence that the Area Institutes of Sport network, which supports Scottish governing body-identified athletes by providing high performance expertise, has recently embraced shooting as one of its sports.
This month McGregor and four of the region's other talented shooters (Fyvie's Emma Cole-Hamilton, Banff pair Kay Copland and Sophie Reford, and Aberdeen University student Nicola Sammells from Edinburgh) became the sport's first to be selected for the Grampian Institute. The benefits are the network's expert teams that work together to deliver essential support services locally in sports medicine, sports science, strength and conditioning, and career and lifestyle guidance.
The pistol weighs a kilogramme, which is a lot when you are holding it at the end of your arm, says McGregor. As s a shooter it's important to have good core stability so you don't sway and good arm strength to hold the gun still.
The main benefit of being in the Grampian Institute will be the Strength & Conditioning training, so I can really work on those two things. All the facilities will help me keep general fitness; the fitter you are the more it will help.