We're halfway through 2022! Here's an update on what's been happening, and what's to come!
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Mid-Year Newsletter
A MESSAGE FROM THE CEO
2022 has been an incredibly busy year as the world opens up again on the back of the COVID-19 global pandemic. Shooting Australia started its year with a series of important discussions with the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) and other High Performance Program partners about our sport’s performances at and learnings from the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games and how these might be applied to Shooting’s campaign plans for Paris 2024. As the results of these discussions, Shooting Australia’s HP investment from the AIS has now been confirmed until 2024, our organisation has renewed its focus on enabling and supporting the international success of our Australian Shooting Teams, and we have continued to build the teams of athletes and staff that will achieve this.
Since March, we have been re-engaged in overseas travel for the first time since two years ago (outside of last year’s Olympics/Paralympics). Planning for the safety and success of our travelling teams has been intense, and the time and money that has been invested in bringing these plans to life has been significant … And it’s been worth it! Our Australian Teams have delivered strong performances in Grand Prix and World Cup competitions in Egypt, Cyprus, Italy, Germany, Spain, Azerbaijan and France. A full list of our athletes’ and teams’ performances – including podium performances - has been provided in this newsletter for us all to celebrate and be proud of.
Our Australian Teams - Pistol, Rifle, Shotgun and Para – have one more World Cup for the year (in Korea) before they prepare for their World Championships later in the year. These ‘benchmark events’ will also signal the start of the qualification period for Paris 2024, which is now only two years away.
As we line up for Paris, in recent weeks we have seen the Australian Olympic Committee launch its ten-year ‘Green and Gold Runway’ to Brisbane 2032. Ten years feels like a long time but momentum is building quickly across Australian sport to ensure that we can and will capitalise on the tremendous opportunities – on and off the field of play – associated with a ‘home Games’. Shooting Australia and its Member Organisations have started to explore how we can leverage these opportunities for the benefit of our Shooting communities. These conversations have included an important piece of work around Shooting inclusion in the Victoria 2026 Commonwealth Games in the lead up to Brisbane.
So, there is a lot happening and lots more to come and I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your contributions to making our Shooting clubs, competitions and communities safe, engaging and successful.
- Adam Sachs, CEO
DOMESTIC EVENTS UPDATE
The last 6 months has been huge in the domestic event space with 23 out of the scheduled 33 Endorsed Events for 2022 delivered across the rifle, pistol and shotgun disciplines. These events also saw the delivery of the Tier 1 2022 World Championships Selection events for all disciplines.
All events have been well attended and it is great to see a continuing increase in participation at domestic ISSF discipline events throughout Australia.
We thank the National and State Associations, their affiliated Clubs and the officials and volunteers who make a huge domestic ISSF endorsed event program possible.
COMING UP
PISTOL
QLD (PSQ) State Titles - Tier 2
August 05-07 at Brisbane International Shooting Centre
RIFLE
SISC Open - Tier 2
August 19-21 at Sydney International Shooting Centre
SHOTGUN
SA (SACTA) State Titles - Tier 2
August 27-28 at International Clay Target Club
Click here for the full 2022 Endorsed Event Series Summary
Tier 2 events in the 2022 Endorsed Event Series are opportunities for athletes to record performance scores towards their Average Performance Score (APS).
Click here for APS Information
Click here for the World Cup and Grand Prix Selection Criteria
Click here for the Junior World Cup and Grand Prix Selection Criteria
DOMESTIC EVENTS UPDATE
2022 International Events Update
If you follow us on social media you would have seen our close coverage of our National Teams competing at a variety of ISSF (Senior and Junior) and WSPS competitions around the world! Athlete successes bring some main stream media coverage with many great articles being published around the country. You can view a collation of this coverage on our website!
Click here to view the Mainstream Media section on our website.
If you come across any great articles featuring our athletes please send them through to Raphael.
This year the Australian Teams have brought home 17 medals since February with 6 gold, 6 silver, and 5 bronze medals, including a first ever medal in 10m Air Rifle Men (teams), a gold from junior Marco Corbo at his debut ISSF international event, and a total of 7 medals won by Trap athlete Laetisha Scanlan including an individual silver and bronze. This is only a snippet of the huge achievements by all the travelling athletes over the last few months.
You can find a list of all our Australian results on the Shooting Australia website.
Click here for the full list of the Aussie's 2022 International Results
2023 OCEANIA CHAMPIONSHIPS
Shooting Australia is pleased to confirm our appointment as the Local Organising Committee for the 2023 Oceania Championships scheduled to be held at the beginning of November 2023.
Further information pertaining to the location, competition schedule and Australian National Team selection criteria will be provided in due course.
The ISSF has confirmed that 14 Paris 2024 Olympic Games quotas will be assigned to this Championships as per the ISSF Qualification System for these games which can be found HERE
ATHLETE COMMITTEE
Shooting Australia is in the process of implementing an Athlete Committee (AC). The role of the AC is to provide athletes with a representative body that can be the voice of Australia’s elite shooting athletes, have influence, and be the representative voice of this athlete cohort.
The AC seeks to position itself as a complementary communication mechanism between athletes and Shooting Australia and will be responsible for guidance, review and providing formal responses and feedback covering an array of issues on behalf of the athlete group.
Representatives appointed to the AC (for a two-year term) will be elected by the current Shooting Australia High Performance and Performance Squad Members (including para athletes).
Detailed information will soon be available.
SPORT INTEGRITY
Shooting Australia in partnership with Sport Integrity Australia (SIA) has formally adopted the National Integrity Framework (NIF). The NIF is a collection of integrity policies developed by SIA to support organisations and individuals at all levels of sport. Additionally, Shooting Australia has also adopted integrity policies that will complement the NIF policies and ensure there is appropriate coverage for different integrity matters that may arise.
The effective adoption and implementation of these National Integrity Framework policies will assist with providing a uniform set of policies, education resources and training, and an independent complaint handling service.
Shooting Australia is working in support of all five Member Organisations to adopt the NIF before the end of 2022.
For further information visit https://shootingaustralia.org/sport-integrity/
COMMONWEALTH GAMES UPDATE
Earlier this year, Shooting Australia, together with its Member Organisations, welcomed the combined announcement that Victoria will play host to the 2026 Commonwealth Games with a focus on regional event delivery in designated hubs throughout Victoria. This announcement was met with great enthusiasm from the international target shooting sport community.
Although shooting has not been included in the 2026 Commonwealth Games program as part of the Phase One intake, Shooting Australia is leading a Commonwealth Games Working Group (made up of representatives from the Australian Clay Target Association, National Rifle Association of Australia, Pistol Australia and Target Rifle Australia) to explore and progress opportunities for shooting’s inclusion in the games through a second and final intake of sports (ie Phase Two).
A number of meetings have taken place to scope out the specific delivery requirements and key considerations leading to the development of a proposal for shooting’s inclusion in 2026, which has also been endorsed by the International Sport Shooting Federation (ISSF) and World Shooting Para Sport (WSPS).
Shooting Australia will soon launch a ‘Shoot for the Games 2026’ social media campaign to encourage community support for shootings inclusion in the Victorian Games. This will be followed late in July by the submission of a formal proposal to the ISSF who will be responsible for its submission to the Victorian State Government for initial consideration. The final decision on the inclusion of Phase Two sports is likely to be made in September this year.
TRY TARGET SHOOTING
In February 2022 Shooting Australia launched the “Try Target Shooting” platform. This refreshed and rebranded format of the original National Come and Try campaign aims to assist clubs with a year-round opportunity to promote their club.
https://trytargetshooting.org/
Clubs across Australia are encouraged to register their planned come and try activity at any time of year. The platform serves as the first touch point for interested people and will continue to include links and background information to all Member Organisation websites and club search functions.
Shooting Australia will endeavour to promote registered come and try activities through news stories and social media coverage.
For any questions https://trytargetshooting.org/contact-us/.
AOC LAUNCHES "HAVE A GO" MONTH
To celebrate Olympic Day on 23rd June, the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) launched
“Have a Go” Month to encourage all Australians to try an Olympic sport.
Have a Go Month runs until 23 July, which marks the start of the 10 year green and gold runway to the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games. 23 July also marks exactly 10 years until the Olympic Opening Ceremony.
Australians can set their “Have a Go” goals, log their results at haveago.olympics.com.au, and be in the running to win prizes from Olympic Partner ASICS.
HIGH PERFORMANCE PROGRAM WELLBEING HEALTH CHECK
In September 2021 Shooting Australia participated in a High Performance Program Wellbeing Health Check, facilitated by the AIS, which looked at how well athletes and staff are supported by their National Sports Organisation (NSO) when it comes to mental, emotional and physical wellbeing.
Six key themes were targeted in this wellbeing check; mental health, cultural values, injury and illness, conduct and behavioural standards, selection and non-selection, equality and inclusion.
Key learnings from the program wellbeing check enabled Shooting Australia to develop a set of position statements that have recently been approved by the board and can now be actioned.
The 5 position statements that will be the focus for the next 18 months and beyond are:
1. We will develop our skills and confidence in the ability to have formal and informal conversations with one another.
2. We will recognise, respect and celebrate diversity within our program and the broader community, and we will not stand for any inappropriate language or behaviour.
3. Using AIS Best Practice Guidelines, and in consultation with athletes, Shooting Australia commits to exploring how the selection criteria and selection decisions are best communicated and received.
4. We will educate ourselves more about mental health and wellbeing to support ourselves and others.
5. Shooting Australia recognises the importance of and encourage the voice of our athletes. Shooting Australia will help athletes to create a representative body that will represent the high performance athletes.
WELLBEING PROGRAM
The need for a focus on wellbeing is evident and Shooting Australia takes this area very seriously. Through research, survey responses and interaction with athletes, coaches and high performance staff a wellbeing program has been implemented and will provide national squad athletes, coaches and Shooting Australia staff with access to a number of wellbeing sessions with a focus on core subjects such as values, strengths, gratitude, empathy, mindfulness and growth mindset.
This program was launched in April with the objective to help all participants understand what wellbeing is, the importance of being proactive about an individual’s own wellbeing, and how to best support that.
SHOOTING AUSTRALIA WELCOMES NEW APPOINTMENTS
Adam Sachs - Chief Executive Officer
Jenni Thom - Chief Operations Officer
Kathryn Periac - Performance Manager
Catherine Berry - Para Technical Lead
NEED TO CONTACT SOMEONE AT SHOOTING AUSTRALIA?
For the full list of staff members and who to contact for what, head to our website!
