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New Scottish record for Emma
On Sunday at the Scottish Championships in Tulliallan she raised the Scottish record, which she set 12 months ago, by a point to 392.
When you get up to the 390s you have to scrape for every point, said 22 year old Emma, a member of the 2006 Scottish Commonwealth Games team, who has held the Scottish title for three of the last five years.
In Emma's chosen event, she stands 10 metres from her target, aiming to hit the bull's-eye 40 times.
If you get a bull's eye it's 10 points, if you just miss it it's nine points, she said. To get 392 means I hit the bull 32 times out of 40 shots.
Through the rifle's sights the bull's eye is invisible. Even close up it appears as a small dot, making concentration, poise and muscle control essential attributes of the successful shooter. At Emma's level, where minute fractions make enormous differences, the Area Institutes of Sport network's recent acceptance of shooting provides an important service.
The network supports Scottish governing body-identified athletes by providing high performance expertise. 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.
Emma, a painting student at Robert Gordon's University in Aberdeen is one of five of the region's other talented shooters to become the sport's first to be selected for the Grampian Institute.
It's all about standing still which uses more muscles, you don't want to be tense or you'll shake, she said. I'm using Strength & Conditioning twice a week to build up core stability which holds you stiller. I use the physio too and I've got a nutritionist appointment this week.
Emma, who will next compete at the British Championships in February, is already planning the continuation of her family's tradition of competing in the Commonwealth Games (her father, Jim, was a 50m Rifle Prone shooter in the 2002 Scottish team).
Unfortunately, at Glasgow the Pairs and Women's Prone have both been dropped (leaving the Individual event as her only option) but I hope to go to Delhi in two years time, she added.