Winter Newsletter

Hello and welcome to the Shooting Australia 2020 Winter Newsletter.

Wow, what a three months it has been! We sincerely hope all of the shooting community are staying safe and healthy and that for some of you, depending where you live, the new-normal is taking shape and for those still experiencing restrictions we hope you can hang in there and work together to stop the spread of COVID-19.

In this edition of the 2020 Winter Newsletter, we will be looking back on what’s happened over the last three months and bringing you our usual segments from the Shooting Australia Team and news from our Member Organisations.

Shooting Australia would like to recognise the huge amount of work that volunteers from across the country have put into their club, state or national association. It has been incredibly trying circumstances and it is a great credit to the people in our sport who have been able to get shooting re-booted.

We hope that you’re staying connected and where possible, getting back to the range to train and reconnect with people from your community.

Enjoy the Newsletter!

With Best wishes from the Team at Shooting Australia.

Tokyo 2020 Olympic Shooting Team

On the 16th of April the Australian Olympic Committee announced the Olympic Shooting Team that will represent Australia at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in 2021.

Paul Adams - Men's Skeet
Dina Aspandiyarova - Women's 10m Air Pistol
Laura Coles - Women's Skeet
Elise Collier - Women's 10m Air Rifle
Sergei Evglevski - Men's 25m Rapid Fire Pistol
Elena Galiabovitch - Women's 25m Sports Pistol and Women's 10m Air Pistol
Thomas Grice - Men's Trap
Alex Hoberg - Men's 10m Air Rifle
Katarina Kowplos - Women's 50m Rifle 3 Positions
Daniel Repacholi - Men's 10m Air Pistol
Jack Rossiter - Men's 50m Rifle 3 Positions
Dane Sampson - Men's 10m Air Rifle and Men's 50m Rifle 3 Positions
Laetisha Scanlan - Women's Trap
Penny Smith - Women's Trap
James Willett - Men's Trap

Congratulations again to the Athletes selected. These is a great mix of youth and experience and you can read the full Olympic announcement media release here

Of course, it hasn’t been your usual training and competition period for these athletes over the past three months. Had there been no COVID-19 pandemic and the associated social distancing restrictions and lock-downs, these Athletes would have flown all of the world to compete in international events in preparation for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.  But with the Olympics postponed and the world in isolation, our plans have had to change dramatically. For some athletes, it has been time for a well earned break after an arduous 12 months of qualifying and training. Most have found a way to continue training of some kind while off the range and now we are seeing some training programs resume under the necessary return to sport guidelines and principals.

The team has stayed connected throughout with regular Zoom calls with our staff, with each other, or as a group. Thanks to our athletes who have been so cooperative with the time they have given to media commitments, you are all true ambassadors for the sport.

Paralympic Preparations

The para athletes have taken the opportunity to slow things down and get back to the basics of shooting for enjoyment.  As the ranges have been opening up again there has been opportunity to bring the rekindled enthusiasm back into live fire situations, which everyone is enjoying.

Over this time we have continued our work with the AIS R&D team to develop new equipment for our athletes to continue to compete at a world class standard. 

Our final opportunity to secure quota slots for the Tokyo 2020 Paralymipcs in 2021 has been pushed back to May 2021 so we are putting in place our plans to have the best preparation possible between now and then.

Competitions Update 

With the Olympic Team named our High Performance and Events Team have been working together to plan a program of training and competitions that can prepare our athletes for podiums in July 2021.  

However at this stage, with different States and Territories experiencing different levels of restrictions, from a national perspective it has been extremely difficult to put together a program of competitions. Shooting Australia will continue to work with stakeholders at all levels to determine the events that will be endorsed as Shooting Australia Performance Series across 2020 and 2021. Stay tuned on this and we will update you as soon as we can.

While our staff have been in lockdown and working from home, it has been a great time to undertake an analysis of our event delivery operations. Some key areas were identified for improvement including:

• While we recognise the huge amount of work that our current volunteers contribute to our events, the need to further encourage participation from a broader number of volunteers has been identified to share the load.
• The need to work more collaboratively with Clubs, State/Territory Associations and national Member Organisations on the joint delivery of events that are endorsed by Shooting Australia.
• The need for all events to be inclusive for para and able bodied Athletes

Thanks to everyone who took part in the this review process.

Considerable time has also been spent planning the events calendar out to the 2024 Paris Olympics. Shooting Australia has been working closely with the World Shooting Para Sports Committee (WSPS) and the International Para Committee (IPC) and subsequently concluded the bid process to host the 2023 WSPS World Championships. It is anticipated that in the coming weeks the successful Host Nation will be notified – fingers crossed!

The Oceania Shooting Federation is also working together with Shooting Australia on the planning for a possible revised format of an Oceania Shooting Championships in 2021. With International competition likely to be minimal at least in the first half of 2021, quality domestic ISSF competition across Pistol, Rifle and Shotgun disciplines is going to be essential. This will not only assist the Olympic Teams' preparation for Tokyo, but will play a vital role in the selection of teams for future ISSF World Cups or World Championships.

The ISSF is working through its event program for the next four years. By the next Seasonal Newsletter, we hope to have an update on this event schedule.

In The Media

The Australian Olympic Shooting Team for the Tokyo 2020 (2021) Olympics was announced earlier this year, being one of eight sports teams selected for the Games to date. This has provided incredible media opportunities for sports shooting and our athletes. Our media team has been working hard to maximise this exposure and you can find a select list of video and radio segments here.

The Media Team has also been producing a weekly In Sight feature story series which showcases Olympic team members. These have been reproduced and included in many print and online media outlets across the country.

Back to the Range

As restrictions are easing around the country and we're all itching to get back to the range it's important to consider safety first. We've been working with our Member Organisations to thank community and club members for your patience but also to encourage you to return to the sport when you can and support your local clubs. 

A series of videos and radio vignettes will be released over the next month with the key messages being firstly, thank you, and secondly to contact your local club before attempting to return to the range as each state/territory and therefore club has different restrictions in place, and safety is the number one priority. 

Keep your eyes and ears out for them on Shooting Australia's and your Member Organisation's Facebook page and across Australia on sports and recreation radio stations

Stay in touch and up to date with your sport on social media

Pistol Australia 

Australian Clay Target Association 

Target Rifle Australia

National Rifle Association of Australia

Sporting Clays

Coach Tip of the Season - Richard Sammon

Shooting Australia High Performance Shotgun Coach

With such a long period away from the range for our shooting community, I feel there are 3 key considerations that should be addressed when returning to training.

1.       Find the opportunity in your current situation
Having such a long break, whilst probably not being part of anybody’s plan, has presented us all with different challenges and opportunities.

With major competitions being postponed, maybe it’s opened up an opportunity to make a technical change you have always known you needed to make, or maybe it has allowed time to change or modify your firearm before your next major competition. Whatever the situation, I would encourage all of our community to look for the opportunities in their situation and then make that the focus of their return to training.

2.       Be mindful of your training loads
It’s not uncommon for athletes in all sports to feel as if they have to make up for lost time when returning after a break. This is simply not the case.

Returning to training after significant periods of rest requires self-control and mindfulness. Doing too much on your return can lead  to injury, early burn out, and a lack of focus on what is actually important for your training.  

3.       Train to improve your game
Coming off the back of such a period where there has been little to no access to training facilities for the vast majority of our community, it is important  that you come back to the range with a renewed focus on training for improvement, rather just coming back and doing the same old things we did before.

5 Steps to ensure you are training for improvement

Step 1: Identify what it is you need to improve
Step 2: Plan how your training will help you improve
Step 3: Commit when you will train and be consistent
Step 4: Review your progress regularly
Step 5: Repeat Step 1

I hope these tips help and I look forward to seeing all of you back at the range in the near future.

Exercise for Shooting Athletes - James Pearce

South Australian Sports Institute Strength and Conditioning Coach

Staying at home has been a crucial part of managing the COVID-19 pandemic, which has meant exercising at home, in a park, or perhaps not exercising at all. But, why is exercise important, specifically for shooting? How can you get this exercise in anywhere? Most importantly, what exercises should you keep doing to improve your shooting?

James Pearce, Strength and Conditioning Coach at the South Australian Sports Institute runs us through 6 exercises to not only keep us strong and stable, but also to help with overall physical and mental health.

Check them out, give them a try and set up some healthy, helpful habits this winter.

Season Recommendation

This season recommendation comes from Shooting Australia's High Performance Rifle Coach, Petr Kurka.

Today We Die a Little is about Czechoslovakian long distance runner, Emil Zatopek who won 5 Olympic medals including 4 gold, and set up 18 World Records over both the 5000m and 10,000m events. 

Petr says that books about Emil Zatopek tell us that even though we have many modern and useful tools to improve the sports training of our best athletes, they always depend only on that particular individual. It depends on what an athlete is willing to sacrifice to achieve the goal, what he is willing and able to overcome, and above all - his ability to endure being patient and work hard.

Check it out and let us know what you think!

Instagram Pic of the Season

Adelaide based Rifle Athlete Alex Hoberg captured the Olympic spirit in his post below. Alex mentioned how his determination, persistence and hours of training got him from watching the 2016 Rio Olympics at hoke at 14 years of age, to being selected in the Australian Olympic Shooting Team for Tokyo 2020 (2021).  Well done Alex!

We love seeing and sharing your pics, make sure you tag @shootingaus in your next one!

Shooting Australia TV

SATV as it is becoming known, has quietly launched over the last six months as we have experimented with some different broadcast options. This has included the live-streaming of competition finals throughout the Olympic Nomination Series, as well as fortnightly Tuesday Night Live shows where we interview a variety of different people from Olympic athletes to local club members. 

You can also find the Shooting The Breeze series where ISSF international commentator Jamie Stangroom interviews world class athletes from all around the world, including Istvan Peni, Zorana Arunovic and our very own Sergei Evglevski. New episodes will be released monthly, with the next one coming out with Chloe Tipple next week!

We hope you enjoyed this newsletter. We love hearing from you so please feel free to jump onto Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or simply hit reply, to pass on your ideas or your feedback.

Until next time keep staying safe, staying well and staying connected

From the team at Shooting Australia

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Shooting Australia is the peak body responsible for the growth, sustainability, and success of target shooting sports in Australia.