There is something distinctly unnerving about sitting across the room from an individual you know is one of the best rifle shooters in the world. You don’t mess with people like that.

It is even more unsettling when your job is to interview and scrutinise them, as In The Winning Zone found out when we met with Jennifer McIntosh, one of Scotland’s top medal hopes for the Commonwealth Youth Games to be held this month in Pune, India. She will be competing the in 10m Air Rifle, an event in which she is Scottish Junior and Senior record holder.

Thankfully, even though she can fire a pellet at a target from 10m with the same ease that most of us can drop an aspirin into a glass of water from 10cm, Jennifer isn’t as dangerous as you would expect. In fact, she is just like any other fresh-faced school-girl who is worried about passing her exams and likes listening to her iPod.

The difference, however, between Jennifer and most other teenagers is the fact that she is an elite rifle shooter. She is as comfortable with a gun in her hands as her class-mates are with a pen or a hairbrush. But shooting wasn’t something she stumbled into. In fact, you could say she was born for it, as two of Scotland’s greatest trigger fingers belong to her mum and dad.

“I always wanted to shoot, since I was about three-years-old,” explains Jennifer. “That’s when my mum [Shirley] got her Commonwealth gold medal. I always wanted to shoot when I was younger and was told I could do it when I was older.”

Most people remember their first bike or their first games console. Jennifer remembers her first gun.

“My first fire rifle was when I was 10 years old and I went to the range a few times. I didn’t really do anything serious until I started shooting properly at high-school. Then I took up Air Rifle at 14, which was when then I started to get far more serious.”

Her mother Shirley won gold for Scotland at the Commonwealth Games at the 1994 Games in Canada. Dad Donald also competed at international level, and is now Performance Manager for the Scottish team. You can imagine what the conversation at tea-time revolves around.

“We do generally talk about shooting when we are having our dinner,” reveals Jennifer. “But I don’t normally go and speak to my parents if I have problems with my shooting. If I am having problems with my kneeling position then I would go and speak to my dad because he is one of the best in Britain. Other than that, I don’t really speak about any problems.”

Jennifer also has a love of acting. Just recently she had to make a difficult choice between going to the RSAMD to study drama or to continue with her shooting. Chalk and cheese, you might say. The differences between taking centre-stage and hitting the centre of a target are obvious. But in many ways, that is one of the best things about her ‘other love’, explains Jennifer.

“People have asked me why I study the arts, because it isn’t logical. A lot of shooters that I know are software engineers or accountants, but I find that so dull. I find my school work as kind of an escape from shooting because it is stuff that I like to do, art and drama. It is good to have something that is completely different as opposed to doing the same thing all the time.”

But is there really that much of a difference? A career in either sport or acting requires discipline, concentration and an ability to step into the arena and perform under pressure.

“Shooting is a very mental sport. People laugh at you and say that shooting isn’t a sport but after a week-long competition I feel so drained because it is so mentally demanding to concentrate for that length of time. I find it very tough sometimes and lose concentration, and then I have to force myself to come back. It is difficult, but it is worth it.”

Shooting being deemed ‘not a sport’ by its doubters casts the discipline under a similar shadow to other activities such as golf and snooker, where the merits of the sport are often undermined by the lack of physicality required. Jennifer, however, is under no doubt that her sport is a sport, and she judges its virtues on her definition of the word.

“Sport is something that is in the Olympics. It is something that you can do to a high level where you compete internationally. It is something that is challenging. Shooting is all of those things.”

So where does physical fitness and ability come into play? There is an argument to suggest that you can still perform to a high level in certain sports without a high (or even reasonable) level of fitness. Think about John Daly in golf, or Phil Taylor in darts. But the flip-side of that coin is Tiger Woods. It is more than coincidence that the greatest golfer the world has ever seen is also the fittest.

“Up until recently I haven’t really started to look at my fitness. But now I am in the Central Scotland Institute of Sport, one of the conditions of being a supported athlete with them is I have to go to strength and conditioning training. I have been going to that once /or twice a week for the past two months.

“It is really helpful and I find it has really helped my shooting. I have a bad back and part of the reason for that was because I wasn’t strong enough to be able to support my shooting position, so I ended up injuring myself. But I have since been to the physio and have done lots of exercises and that has really helped.

“I think by making my back better it has made my shooting better because I am now actually able to concentrate more on my shooting instead of thinking how sore my back is. I can also hold my position for longer and not get as tired as quickly.

Jennifer’s ultimate goal is to compete and win at the London Olympics in 2012. So if that means she has to run six marathons back-to-back and lift twice her own body-weight just to be fit enough, then that’s fine with her.

“When I got asked by my strength and conditioning coach, ‘Do you actually want to be here, do you actually want to do this?’ I said, ‘As long as it helps my shooting then I am willing to do just about anything. I will do whatever it takes.’ I think that is the right attitude to have. I was actually surprised that this was my answer because I didn’t even think about it.”

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Jennifer finished fifth in the 10m Air Rifle final on Sunday 12th October at the Commonwealth Youth Games. 

She will now concentrate on the 50 metres Rifle 3 Position event.