The course took place over 2 full days at Hanebjerg shooting center near Hillerød. The first challenge was to find the place and I had therefore agreed to follow Jens Hanshi-dai up there. It went VERY quickly, so we arrived in better time than expected 😉

Before the day, we had received an information email with a lot of practical information about the process: who would be present (all the chief instructors and Kimu Sensei) and their function (Shooting leader, range commander, ammunition manager), what to do when you arrived at the center (read Police course instructions, check team distribution, drink coffee/tea), surroundings (toilet, sink, living room, windows into shooting area, no heat), things to remember (wet wipes, wash hands, practical hot thawing), safety (concentration, fatigue, DQ , safety equipment, take care of the ammunition, safety peg in the gun), what would happen (instruction, tour, rotation between ammunition delivery/pause, magazine loading/in the hole and shooting, errors, calling the instructor, team change) and how (put ammunition on paper at stand, two magazines are loaded with own ammunition, commands, loading) and much more. Very detailed, which made you feel completely at ease with the situation beforehand, and cool when you can't bear to come unprepared.

Even though it was the month of August and a sunny day, it was actually quite cold on the pitch and in the living room, and I therefore froze from the start because I didn't think it was necessary to wear warm clothes - despite information about this. So I shakily set out to shoot the first 20 shots. It went very well anyway. Adults shot with cal. 22 on a 25 meter range and the young people first with air pistols on a 15 meter range, and later also with cal. 22.

There were a total of 5 shooting rounds with 3×20 shots and 2×30 shots. After each round there was evaluation of the performance down at the shooting discs, which were then patched and used again for the next round. Everyone was just so good and for me the whole day went beyond expectations. I felt comfortable with the situation because of all the dry training we had done at home and the preparation for the course via the info email. I got a lot of praise from Kimu Sensei, which I am of course happy and proud of, and which I can also use to work on one of my weak sides, which came to light: that I am not good at receiving praise . I think it's embarrassing. And that immediately made Jens Hanshi-dai shout something a la "shouldn't we all throw Pia up in the air and shout hurrah". It only made the situation worse for me, which of course was the intention, and he seems to have intended to keep the style going during normal training. Of course, being confronted with what you're bad at also gives you the opportunity to get better, and I think I'll have plenty of opportunity for that.

I got points counted in the two shooting rounds with 30 shots, and were at 238 and 256 out of a possible 300, so I was quite satisfied with that. We finished with teams taking apart, cleaning and assembling a gun, in order to get to know the guns better. Next time it will be the 9 mm pistols we have to shoot with, so it will be more difficult there. There are also 3 weeks to improve the technique with dry training in between, so it should go well.

The next shooting day we started shooting until lunch with cal. 22. It went well. I didn't get as many points as last time, but it's also just about being able to collect your shots, and then the aim can be adjusted. After lunch it was finally time to shoot with the 9mm pistols. And it was fun. Then you feel like you are shooting. It both sounds and feels better than cal. 22 pistol, but is more difficult due to the recoil. I was prepared that it was a matter of keeping a good hold on the gun, and it was clearly the most difficult, just keeping it stable after a shot. Every shooter had an instructor to help constantly and it was a pleasure to receive feedback, support, praise and suggestions for improvement all the time. Every time I myself thought, for example, 'why did I shake the gun?', there was feedback from the instructor who said 'remember press and squeeze when you pull off – otherwise you will shake'. So it went well - I shot 4 rounds where all the shots were in the same quadrant, and it couldn't be better. 

It was fun to see some of the former POMW participants who came to shoot with the last part of the course. Even though it's been 2 years since they were on the course, they were still super sharp shooters, so that bodes well. Because of course I hope that it is a skill that I can maintain just as well as them. At least it could be fun. Then I have to go out with my brother-in-law and shoot in between and get my confidence up a bit by hopefully being able to shoot better than him 😊.

It was a long and fun day. And I'm looking forward to POMW III next week.