Shooting Medals Galore

This was a first for the Shooting Club. It has been apparent for some time that there was some serious talent coming through the ranks and the club had actively been looking for a chance to test their mettle in a competitive environment. Thanks to support from the LGS Parents’ Association and the Headmaster, the Shooting Club had built up the equipment and resources required to train for and enter the Regional postal competition last autumn, and we were delighted to be told that both the LGS and LHS teams had been called forward to the Nationals.

The competition itself was a superb learning opportunity – providing a chance for our competitors to see shooting styles and rifles that they had never experienced before, it’s fair to say that coach and team alike were blown away by the sheer scale of the event. British Shooting – the overarching governing body for target shooting of all disciplines – run two classes for the Schools Championship in rifle shooting, 6yd air rifle and 10m air rifle. The teams’ chosen discipline was 6yd (though they hope to compete at 10m in future if they can find suitable practice space!).

Alice, Alyssa and Milly were first up, shooting very nicely in the nine-lane line up, then followed by Jack, Pat, Joe, and Ian. It was clear that there were some very talented shooters in the hall, but also that the Loughborough Schools were going to put in a good showing. It came as a very pleasant surprise to find out just how well they had done. Outstanding shooting by Pat and Milly saw them take individual Gold and Silver medals respectively – they actually tied on 164/200 separated only by Pat’s higher number of bullseyes! Meanwhile, the rest of the team performed extremely well:

National Final – 6yd Air Rifle – British Shooting Schools Championship
1st – Pat
2nd – Milly
4th – Alice
5th – Alyssa
6th – Ian
8th – Joe
14th – Jack

These superb scores saw LHS take Silver in the Team competition, and LGS Bronze.

This impressive haul of medals should be an inspiration to the talented new shooters who are regularly attending the club at lunchtimes and after school. Pupils who are not already members can do their basic training and Theory Test on the Shooting Club Firefly pages and then sign up for shooting sessions on Mondays, Wednesdays, or Thursdays via the Teams group.

A big thank you to the LGS PA, Dr Barnett, Dr Waters, Major Ward, and Sergeant Hall for their support to the club, and especially to the team and all the regular shooters for being such good company and dedicated athletes.

Mr D Murphy
Secretary, LGS Shooting Club