As the UK Government extends the lock down, more events are being cancelled. STS can now confirm that the Full Bore Scottish Open has now been cancelled, as have further events in the Summer Rifle programme with both the Prone GP3 (held in Caithness) and 3P GP3. While this action is regrettable and not taken lightly, the health and safety of all those involved is paramount and trust the shooting community will understand.

Following a formal communication sent to the First Minister on the morning of 30th July 2020 from 32 individual Scottish Governing Bodies of Sport (SGB), the SGB CEO Forum welcomes the recognition by the First Minister of the requirement to move forward the re-opening of sports facilities. STS has also now updated its guidance for Phase 3 in view of the announcement on 30 July.

On 30 July the First Minister for Scotland provided an update, 3 weeks after announcing the move into Phase 3. The update confirmed that Scotland is progressing well but is not yet ready to move into Phase 4. STS has been working to clarify highlight the key points from the latest announcement.

Our next session is TODAY and will be Strength and Conditioning Training for Shooters. This workshop will provide hints and tips of exercises and routines to help you both in and out of lockdown so your body is well conditioned to the rigours, stresses and strains of shooting to both help you prepare for competition but also help your longevity in the sport. The session will be delivered by an expert with numerous year’s experience in strength and conditioning but particularly working with shooters. It is also still possible to access the recording of our last session: Communications Workshop: How to Positively Promote Your Club so you can watch this back if you missed it.

This week we are back with our webinar series with the session Communications Workshop: How to Positively Promote Your Club to help club volunteers who may not have a lot of time and/or experience to explain what makes a good story and what is the best way to get it out there so we can support shooting clubs in improving their profile, as well as the profile of the sport as a whole. It is also still possible to access the recording of our last session: Getting the Best Out of Your Scatt - Deeper Drive so you can watch this back if you missed it.

This week we are taking a break from our webinar series but we will be back next week with our session Communications Workshop: How to Positively Promote Your Club to help club volunteers who may not have a lot of time and/or experience to explain what makes a good story and what is the best way to get it out there so we can support shooting clubs in improving their profile, as well as the profile of the sport as a whole. We have also made available a recording of the session delivered last week: Getting the Best Out of Your Scatt - Deeper Drive so you can watch this back if you missed it.

One of the recommendations HMICS made following their inspection of NFEL in 2018 was that: 'Police Scotland should routinely assess user satisfaction with its firearms licensing service and use the feedback provided to develop and improve its licensing arrangements'. As a result, a survey consisting of 12 questions was developed with the assistance of the Analysis and Performance Unit and made available to the public via the Police Scotland website in April 2019 for a 12 month period. This survey has now been reopened to understand the experience of people who use our firearms and explosives licensing service. This is an important exercise which will help Police Scotland identify areas for improvement so STS would encourage members to spend a few minutes to provide your feedback and also for clubs to spread the word.

This weeks update about our lock down webinar series sees two sessions taking place this week. Disability Inclusion Training (DIT) for Clubs and Coaches has been developed between Scottish Disability Sport and Scottish Target Shooting aimed at clubs and coaches interested in becoming involved in sport for people with a disability. Getting the Best Out of Your Scatt - Deeper Drive follows on from the successful course on Scatt held at the end of May, this course will follow on from that to help show pistol and rifle how to get the best out of your Scatt, whether you are an athlete wanting to train more effectively or a coach wanting to know how best to use the Scatt at the club to get the most out of your athletes. We haven’t added any new sessions to the programme as we look to reflect over the next 2 weeks about the programme. However, we do still have sessions scheduled for early July so can still sign up for these.

Today, Thursday 18 June 2020, the First Minister confirmed that due to the positive action and response to date by the Scottish public, Scotland will be entering Phase 2 of the Scottish Government’s Route Map to recovery. As the First Minister stated today, Phase 2 will see a staged introduction of measures over the coming weeks. This is a clear, positive and welcome step forward in Scotland’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

In response to this statement and the details contained in it, STS will be working on Phase 2 guidance that we hope to be able to provide soon, however we will need to make sure we carefully review the details of what has been published to make sure we can provide the correct advice to clubs. However, in summary from what was announced today, Phase 2 will not mark a significant change to the guidelines issued under Phase 1 with respect to target shooting.

To help members during this time of lock down, STS announced its programme of online webinars on areas of interest expressed by members through our education survey. This week we are hosting a session called Shotgun - Maximising Your Training Sessions focusing on how to get the most out of your training by looking at elements of session planning and season planning and delivered by world class coach Marco Micheli. STS has also now confirmed 2 more exciting session - Strength and Conditioning Training for Shooters looking at getting your body physically ready for the rigours of shooting, to be held on 14 July, and back by popular demand Getting the Best Out of Your Scatt - Deeper Dive, to be delivered again by STS Performance Rifle Coach Andrew Ross on 24 June.

To help members during this time of lock down, STS announced its programme of online webinars on areas of interest expressed by members through our education survey. This week we are hosting a session called A Shooting Mindset - Shooting Psychology for Athletes and Coaches. This online session is aimed at all discipline and will be suitable for both athletes wanting to learn how to improve their mental strength, as well as coaches wanting to know more about using psychology as part of their coaching toolbox. STS has also now confirmed 2 more sessions - Disability Inclusion Training (DIT) for Clubs and Coaches in partnership with Scottish Disability Sport, and a communications workshop on How Best to Positively Promote Your Club, to be delivered by the new STS Marketing & Communications Director. We are also planning for another Scatt session following the success of our previous event. To keep sessions accessible they are completely free, are normally only an hour long and run in the early evening so members still working can access them.

To help members during this time of lock down, STS announced its programme of online webinars on areas of interest expressed by members through our education survey. This week, STS will be facilitating the Child Wellbeing & Protection in Sport course, developed by Children 1st and sportscotland. The course is FULLY BOOKED. STS is close to confirming 2 new sessions for the last two weeks in June - Disability Inclusion Training for Shooting in partnership with Scottish Disability Sport, and Positively Promoting Your Club, to be delivered by the new STS Marketing & Communications Director. We are also looking to deliver another Scatt session following the success of last week’s event. To keep sessions accessible they are completely free, are normally only an hour long and run in the early evening so members still working can access them.

Today, Thursday 28th May 2020, the Scottish First Minister confirmed that Phase 1 of the recovery plan would now be enacted as a result of the improved situation in Scotland regarding the spread of COVID-19. Phase 1 will come into force from tomorrow, Friday 29 May, and enables a relaxation of lockdown around some outdoor exercise, meaning that some sporting activities can now be undertaken outdoors, providing all activity is consistent with current Scottish Government guidance on health, physical distancing and hygiene – information on Scottish Governments approach to managing covid-19 is available at www.gov.scot/coronavirus-covid-19/.

For some shooting clubs this will mean that a return to OUTDOOR shooting can now begin to be considered, on the condition that it is safe to do so and does not contravene any of the Scottish Government guidance.

To help members during this time of lock down, 2 weeks ago STS announced its programme of online webinars on areas of interest expressed by members through our education survey. This week, STS will be holding its second session in the programme - a Getting the Best Out of Your Scatt, tomorrow at 6pm. STS is also close to confirm 2 new sessions for the last two weeks in June - Disability Inclusion Training for Shooting in partnership with Scottish Disability Sport, and Positively Promoting Your Club, to be delivered by the new STS Marketing & Communications Director. We’ll let you know more once the dates are confirmed later this week. To keep sessions accessible they are completely free, are normally only an hour long and run in the early evening so members still working can access them.

On Thursday 21 May the NPCC (National Police Chief’s Council) issued a letter titled ‘Shooting grounds and COVID-19 Recover Phase’. STS would like to advise members that although this is not specifically stated, this letter refers to the recovery plan issued for England. As our members will be aware, Scotland has devolved authority to manage its own response to COVID-19 and is operating on a slightly different timescale and recovery plan, being prepared by the Scottish Government. Read on to see more about the Scottish context and what we are doing to support members.

Police Scotland have recently issued an update on their website with regards COVID-19 the processing if grants and renewals. We have included a copy of the update, as well as a link to the source of the material. STS will continue to keep members updated as and when we changes are made.