Bookaar export and Olympian Penny Smith keeping watchful eye on next wave of sport shooters

The Bookar export was a watchful and insightful eye as four schools, Brauer College, Emmanuel College, King's College and Cobden Technical School competed in a Sporting Shooters' Association of Australia (SSAA)-supported sport shooting competition at the Warrnambool Range in Laang.

The 27-year-old, who is based in Camperdown, said she was delighted to see a strong contingent of keen shooters take up the sport.

"It's all part of it, I jumped at the opportunity. It's fantastic to see the next generation of shooters coming through, it's what our sport needs," she said.

"Footy, netball, the mainstream sports aren't for everyone, it's good to see shooting more exposed, not just through schools but through communities as well.

"A lot of kids that may not have been in to sport are taking up the sport. It's really great to see.

"More so, seeing a lot more females getting involved is great."

MORE SPORT:

The top-20 ranked international women's trap shooter and World Championship gold medalist said the opportunities for kids to take up the sport are exciting.

"Over the last 10 to 15 years, there has been a change. There was some opportunities when I was coming through school but not to the extent there are now," she said.

"It's good more schools are getting involved and having it as a sport or curriculum."

The former Tokyo Olympian said after a 'tough' but rewarding 2022, she was looking forward to launching at the Paris Olympic Games in 2024.

She won silver in July's women's trap shotgun event at the Changwon ISSF World Cup, with an international personal best 122 out of 125 targets. She also won gold in the trap mixed teams event.

"It has definitely been a tough year," she said.

"I've had some exceptional results personally, had some setbacks, had COVID overseas which knocked me out of one match and recently had the World Championships where I got a pretty severe infection in my eye so I didn't a start there.

"You've got ride to the highs and ride the lows and to finish the year on a high was great."

She added her previous Olympic experience would hold her in good stead.

"It wasn't the ideal lead up to the games with COVID, but I'm a bigger, better and stronger athlete now," she said.

"I was disappointed with my final over in Tokyo but it's in the past and we move forward."

King's College chaplain Marko Wakim said it was pleasing to see the inaugural competition launch, which had been community driven and supported by sponsors, schools and the SSAA.

"This is all about exposure, learning about gun safety and being out in the bush," he said.

"There's so many different factors and it's great to see kids having a go at a new sport. For me, I see this sport and most fields as a great equaliser, you can have girls and boys competing alongside each other.

"You look at what Penny has been able to do, this is exactly what we're giving the kids the opportunity to do. It's great to see these kids having a go. People like Penny started somewhere and you just have to keep dusting yourself off and having a go."

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content:

Have you signed up to The Standard's daily newsletter and breaking news emails? You can register below and make sure you are up to date with everything that's happening in the south-west.