DOUBLE possibles are a rarity in the Jersey Smallbore League, but a second has been achieved in the same month as the first.

And it was recorded by Mary Norman, coach and team-mate of Jonathan Billot who posted two perfect cards at the beginning of November.

Coach Norman said: ‘Funnily enough, Jonathan wasn’t able to shoot on the night and we had to field a couple of reserves against St John.

I knew it would be a tough match and so was keeping my fingers crossed that it would go well and it did.

I was really surprised and very happy when I heard the score.’ Mary, who started shooting 30 years ago but had a 12-year break from the sport when her children were young, has scored a double possible once before, but in a club shoot not a league match.

And she was able to identify one contributory factor in her success.

‘Because we were away to St John and there was none of the organising that you have to do when you are at home, I was able to take the time to do some of the psychological preparation that I usually use before an outdoor fullbore shoot.

‘I sat down quietly and visualised what I would be doing when I was shooting.’ Having shot the first card and checked it through her scope she thought she may have had a couple of ‘squeakers’ – shots that are close but would probably gauge in.

But the first card is marked while the second one is being shot, so she couldn’t be sure she had scored 100.

‘I used the visualisation technique again in the gap between the two shoots because I could tell that my heart rate had definitely gone up,’ she explained.

And in smallbore shooting, with the target area half the size of a five pence piece, the movement of the body caused by the heartbeat, and more noticeably the breathing, is enough to alter the aim sufficiently to take the shot out of the bull over the 15 yards from muzzle to target.

‘Sometimes when you lie back down you may be in a slightly different position but there was no such problem and the second card just flowed like the first – just how I had visualised it,’ she said.

With St Lawrence winning by just three points, Mrs Norman couldn’t have timed her double possible any better.

She commented: ‘If I had shot my average of 195 or 196 we would have lost the match.

It was a good time to pull it out of the bag!’ Supported by a steady performance from the rest of her team, St Lawrence managed the narrow win over St John, who were led by Craig Marett on 198.

St Helier had an easy win over Léoville with the lower order of the losing team not able to sparkle.

Vinchelez are rising as the phoenix with veteran Brian de Gruchy leading his troops on 195 but still just missing out on a win, with Western too strong as Malcolm Pallot returned to form on 197.

St Helier B could not quite follow last week’s giant-killing form and lost to Grouville A, but only by three points.

In Division II Grouville B managed a four point win over St Lawrence C with Tony Bougeard top score in the match on 194 for St Lawrence.

Hayden Lister’s return to form on 193 did not filter down to his team mates and St John B had to watch St Lawrence B win by 16 points.

Western B easily beat their C team and St John C were swamped by St Brelade A although Jim Hardy resisted the avalanche with a good 190.

In the only completed match in the Junior league, St Helier, led by Robert Jelley on 193, were too strong for Léoville and took the match by 51 points.