Having a blast

EXPLORES THE WILDER SIDE OF THE ISLE OF WIGHT WITH TWO TEENAGERS

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I'M FEELING rather smug as the instructor congratulates me on having great hand-eye coordination.

My first attempt at air pistol shooting has been a rousing success, with me hitting the bullseye repeatedly.

It's left the teenage kids and my partner Tim - all sports-mad - gobsmacked. To be fair, it's surprised me too.

Inevitably however it doesn't take the others long to catch up and we're soon in pairs, locked in competition to see off a shelf of objects the fastest. Tim and I lose, the kids scoop the glory.

Inspired by Yusuf Dikec - the Turkish air pistol competitor who went viral during the Olympics with his cool, casual demeanour - we were at Top Targets, have-a-go shooting experience specialists based at Tapnell Farm on the Isle of Wight.

It's run by Katie Bishop and husband Dan, who've scooped a host of medals between them. Dan was recently selected to shoot clays for England.

We practised aiming at targets like paper bullseyes, old cartridges and even rocks that were placed 7.5 metres and 10 metres away.

Alongside my son Freddie and his friend Archie, both 15, Tim and I found the pistols lightweight enough to control one-handed, Dikec-like.

After mastering those we all moved on to air rifles - longer and heavier but surprisingly quick at getting results thanks to great sights.

As a novel way of keeping the family engaged and challenged, it was top notch (toptargets.co.uk).