Call Sign October 2002 - Page 26 - DaC's Donna: Is it Burnout?

The Dial-a-Cab Call Centre's skeet shooting champion, Donna Merry, could be suffering from burnout. It follows an amazing 12 months from last September when she had the honour of captaining her country at Telpin in Wales, where England defeated Ireland, Scotland, Isle of Man, Jersey and the home country, Wales. This was followed soon after when Donna flew to Texas, winning silver and bronze medals at the World Championships. Then just two months ago, Donna flew to Scotland and successfully captured the Scottish Championship at Dundee's Auchterhouse shooting range. She was shooting well... However, in addition to shooting and the ensuing travel needed to get to the shooting grounds, Donna works in the DaC Call Centre and is also taking an IT degree at the University of East London at Docklands. "I was starting to feel very tired," Donna told Call Sign. "I noticed it in the Scottish Championships, but managed to keep going. Then the following week at the British Championships at Doveridge in Derbyshire, I was just truly awful. Gill Billington deserved to win, but I provided virtually no opposition. I was dropping	DAC'S DONNA: IS IT BURNOUT...?
	*Happier days: Donna returns from the World Championships in Texas with 2 medals and a plaque* shots for no reason and my concentration started to waver." Two weeks later Donna was in Oxton, Nottingham for the British Doubles Championship, where strong concentration is needed more than ever because where one target is normally fired out to be shot down, in doubles two come out and you need to shoot them both simultaneously. Current British Champion Gill Billington took this title to add to her British singles. "I was awful again," Donna admitted with an honestly that has become her trademark, "I just couldn't do anything right. I just	felt so tired throughout..." Fortunately for Donna, she had decided earlier in the year that she wouldn't be flying out to Texas for another crack at the World Championships because she didn't want to miss any study at University. However, there is one more major shoot left before the season ends. Donna is flying to Ireland to compete in the Irish Championships at Colerain near Londonderry. So how does she feel now? "I was working 6 and 7 days a week sometimes until 2am," said Donna, "and although I wasn't doing a great deal of socialising during that period, I fitted the shooting schedules in and I have never, ever felt as tired as I was feeling then. I'm getting much more sleep now and feeling much better. I'm certainly going over to Ireland to try to win the title and then I'm going to take it easy for a while before I start practising for the next season." Still just 22 years old, we know that Donna will be back as a champion very soon...

DAC'S DONNA: IS IT BURNOUT...?