A NOVICE'S first visit to a shooting range ought to be enjoyable and useful, but it can become a complete turn-off.

If a good coach is available, the newcomer usually goes home feeling satisfied and keen to learn more. But without such a coach, novices may cop a barrage of confusing and sometimes conflicting advice from well-meaning members - and that's as bad as leaving beginners to flounder on their own.

Fortunately, some clubs make the care of beginners an ongoing, overt part of their activities. For example, they roster skilled coaches in the same way as range officers, and, where such coaches are unavailable, they add willing, experienced members to the roster.

A few go further. Wanting all their old hands to know the basics of teaching novices, they put guidelines on notice boards and run training programs aimed at improving members' instructing skills.

What coaching style is best for beginners? The following 10 points sum up its essentials.

First things first: learners are shown the basic safety procedures, range safety commands and signals before they touch any firearms. Ear and eye protection are available.

The most effective coaching is always one-to-one.

All learners need two things: confidence in the instructor and a single style of explanation. Therefore other shooters must not butt in when a colleague is instructing. Nor should they grab the learner later and add extra bits of advice.

Instruction with empty firearms precedes actual shooting. The instructor demonstrates the whole skill, then breaks it down into manageable parts. In the case of clay target shooting, these might be stance, mounting and swing. The trainee practises each component separately before putting them together and practising the whole skill.

The coach ensures the learner has early success, by way of short-range targets for rifles or easy clay targets shot from a single station.

Firearms remain unloaded until the trainee's feet are firmly fixed in the shooting position. (For prone rifle shooting, the trainee should be lying down with body correctly positioned before cartridges are issued).

The coach stands close behind the learner, ready to intervene. Novice shotgunners, for example, are apt to swing the gun around if they score a hit and the coach has to be ready to block this instinctive movement. The coach stays next to the learner until the firearm has been opened and unloaded.

Feedback is specific and skill-related - not "You shot behind" but "Keep swinging when you fire and after you fire." In short, help novices to fix their mistakes by telling them what to do, then encourage them to do it. Avoid "Don't do that" advice.

Because compliments must exceed negatives by a large margin, the coach constantly looks for things to praise.

At the end of the session, sum up the trainee's strengths and send her or him away with something to practise at home.