Take a moment for this quick test. Simply answer yes or no.

Do you enjoy sports that require individual practice? Do you or did you enjoy shooting hoops by yourself, imagining making foul shots to win the national championship? Do you still enjoy practicing golf shots and standing over putts “to win the Masters”?

What these have in common are the ingredients of personal solitude locked with total focus. The personal enjoyment comes from this combination’s ability to remove, even if only temporarily, the most pressing issues of our day.

If you answered yes to the above questions, there is another sport that may interest you and that fits all of the above criteria: target indoor shooting.

At this time of year, with the early darkness, the cutting chill and the overall grayness of the season, it is easy to come up with reasons for not jumping on our bicycles or not going to the driving range.  But introduce an activity like target shooting that is indoors (with heat) and requires the same type of focus, and suddenly some of the excuses disappear.

Sportsman’s Supply & Services on Hixson Pike has a well-maintained indoor shooting range, but the proprietor, Carl Poston, is readily available for friendly advice and is a veritable walking encyclopedia of valuable information and insight.

For anyone new to indoor marksmanship, lessons can be arranged complete with rental firearms, eye and ear protection, targets and ammunition. The range is heated and well lighted with individual booths that allow the participants to control the distance to the targets.

Excellent gun safety courses are available and are conducted by Officer Mark Haskins of Chattanooga’s SWAT team. From the moment you enter the building, there is a refreshingly strong undercurrent of personal responsibility and overriding safety.

Just like foul shooting or putting, target shooting provides instant feedback. It also allows Zoomer Boomers who still relish competition but have diminished physical skills to compete, practice, get better and compete again. For many it is also a direct, even nostalgic way to connect with the heritage of their youth.

This is not some right-wing conspiracy to arm a segment of the population that is notorious for bad eyesight and shaky hands. It is just an attempt to bring to mind the possibility of pursuing something new, something different, at an age when those words don’t commonly describe pastimes.

And if you question the “sport” description being attached to this activity, keep this in mind: Neither foul shooting nor golf is an Olympic sport, but marksmanship is.