Junior Shooters: Championing the Future of our Sport
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There’s no doubt about it, the world of shooting is changing. What was once a boy’s club is now being joined by more women and families than ever before. Not only does this make for a great community on the range, but it may also play a vital role in the future of the sport in our country. Many clubs are recognising the need to diversify as a key factor in their preservation, and in particular the necessity to recruit more juniors. Young people are the future of shooting, and if we want our sport to survive, we need plenty of fresh blood on the range and ready to take on leadership roles down the track. With this is mind, clubs right across the country now offer a variety of incentives for juniors such as discounted membership, free match entry, family concessions, access to coaching, and training camps for beginners right through to elite competition level. |
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New South Wales Amateur Pistol Association Junior Director, Allison Doyle has been facilitating one such training camp for the past six years and says it’s a great first step for getting the basics down. The APA Annual Juniors Camp is open to juniors of all levels and attracts young shooters from all over the state. Attended by shooters aged twelve to twenty-one, campers are grouped by skill and capability. The more experienced will work on their accuracy and technique, but for many newbies, the camp serves to light a spark. New shooters are given a taste of the sport in a fun, relaxed environment, leaving them wanting more, and in many cases creating lifelong members of the shooting community. Allison describes the camp as a mixture of fun activities and careful training, and there’s plenty to keep them interested! Some highlights from this year’s camp included a visit from Action Pistol World Champion Cherie Blake, and entry for everyone to the NSW State ISSF championships. “We always run them through a competition at the end of the camp,” says Allison, “and this year we announced that they had all been entered in the state comp! It’s never been done to have 30 juniors line up and compete in state championships, and for some of them it was their first ever competition - they had only just started shooting but they handled it so well and it was a great experience!” As well as providing opportunities for beginners to get started, a number of passionate shooters are working hard behind the scenes to set up channels for ambitious youngsters to move through the ranks toward state and national levels of competition. Joe Kapitano is the national development coach for Pistol Australia, and a large part of his job involves training juniors and travelling to competitions all over Australia to scout young talent. Joe says initiatives like the APA Juniors camp are great for identifying gifted young shooters and offering them the chance to progress by feeding them into the next level of training such as his junior development program. He also believes young competitors have a far better chance of success if they learn the proper procedures from the very beginning. “It’s very hard to unlearn an incorrect or out of date technique,” he says, “if a kid walks into a club that has no accredited club coach, someone may take them under their wing but may not be passing on correct, current information according to international standards”. Joe has just completed the process of revamping our NSW coaching manuals to reflect current international best practice and is working along with others towards standardised accreditation of state coaches. “It’s a big process but it’s so important,” he says, “if we can get all our coaches on the same page, disseminating consistent information to new shooters, then by the time they get to my level I can focus on developing their skills as an athlete”. But not all young shooters aspire to be world champions. The great thing about recreational shooting is you can take it as far as you choose to, and many continue to show up to the range simply for the fun and the mateship. The good news is, there’s a place for everyone and plenty of ways to get involved and contribute to the future of the sport. “A great athlete may not necessarily transcend into a great coach, you need people who are good with people,” says Joe, “we need to look to those people coming through who enjoy the sport and are great communicators to take on roles at our clubs”. Looking to the future, many clubs are now realising the importance of preparing the next generation to take over leadership positions. Allison says it would be good to see more juniors taking on club responsibility. “I’d love to see some young ones taking on side roles at our club committee,” she says, “it’s hard to get volunteers involved in running the club, and that way they’re there ready if we need someone to take over”. But the first step is to get more juniors involved. Con Gatzias, President & Founder of Sporting Target Pistol Club says, “It’s important for juniors to come and have fun, but at the end of the day, they are the future of the club, and it’s time we focussed on getting in more new blood”. Con’s club offers a junior’s program that focusses on developing the skills to move to the next stage. He says that how far a young shooter goes is up to the individual’s own drive and ambition, but a little encouragement can go a long way, and that corporate sponsorship can play a big part in that. “We had a junior recently win third place after only six months of shooting, and our club really encourages her, we gave her a range bag after the competition and everything changed, she was so excited – I love seeing kids with big smiles on their faces when they receive a bag of goodies from a sponsor”. Con says that sponsorship and business-minded individuals are crucial when it comes to the preservation of recreational and competitive shooting. Having secured significant deals with corporate sponsors, Sporting Target Pistol Club is able to offer considerable incentive to its young competitors, something Con believes has been a great factor in its success. “Our by-laws state that any junior that represents the club at a state or national competition is entitled to a five hundred to two thousand dollar grant,” he says, “no other club does that”. With a little bit of good management, and forward thinking, we can cultivate a bright future for our sport - and the more youngsters involved, the better. “We’ve got a lot of potential if shooters work together,” says Con, “I’m a firm believer that we will go a long way, it just takes hard work, a strong committed team, and passionate people who know what they’re doing”. “One thing that distinguishes us from every other sport is that there is no pre-determined genetic disposition necessary, anyone can do it - disabled, elderly, women, juniors – you just need to practice,” says Joe. “More diversity means more people feel at home within the club community, and it’s great that clubs are recognising that and making changes”. |
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