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NTSA Monthly Mailshot

February 1, 2007



Hello all.

A lot of people have requested more communications from the committee to the membership of the NTSA. For that reason, we've created this mailshot, to be sent by email on the first of every month. Eventually, we hope to have it as an automated process run from the website, that you could sign up to easily, but it was more important (I felt) to get it out there than to get all the technical possibilities explored. So if you'll bear with me, I'll be sending this by hand via the ntsa-announce email list for the first issue or three while I sort out the technical side of things with the website.

As always, if you have any queries or suggestions, I want to hear them. Please send them by email to:

Secretary@targetshootingireland.org

Yours in Sport,

Mark Dennehy
Secretary, NTSA


Last Month:

Last committee meeting (Jan 11)

Please remember folks, the date of the next committee meeting is always up on the website, and the agenda for that meeting is up three days before it convenes. Membership forms will soon be on their way out to every member of the NTSA. For 2007 members are requested to fill out their own membership forms and have their clubs endorse them. Membership for 2007 is set at €20 (€50 for clubs). Membership is due at the end of January and runs to January of the next year. Renewal of membership after the 31st of March will be subject to a late process fee of €10. New memberships will be accepted throughout the year however membership received within 5 working days of the Annual General Meeting may not be processed in sufficient time to permit attendance. Applications will not be processed with out the appropriate fee. All Cheques should be made payable to the ‘National Target Shooting Association.’ All applications should be returned to the Treasurer.
Four NTSA shooters are being put forward for carding grants this year. Also, we will be looking to review the carding grant criteria in order to draft fairer, more helpful criteria, since the current ones are both unrealistic and self-contradictory. It should be noted that all NTSA Open match scores count towards the carding grant criteria. Kealan Symes of Rathdrum Rifle and Pistol Club has been nominated and appointed as the ViceChairman of the NTSA. Some additional dates were added to the calendar. We realise that it has not stabilised as much as we would have hoped for, but we are committed to keeping it as stable as we can and to push as much notice of any changes to the membership through all available means. It was decided that the NTSA would not send a team to this years ISSF World Cup in Munich, focussing its resources instead on the European Airgun Championships and the European Smallbore Championships which will have lower associated costs and the same degree of competitive class.


10m Air Rifle Training Day w/Geoff Cooney Jan 13/14

The first session in a basic competition air rifle shooting course for beginning and improving target shooters was held in UCD over the weekend of the 13th and 14th of January. The course was well attended, with 14 shooters from DURC, UCD and WTSC in taking part. The course was conducted on both days by Geoff Cooney. The course consisted of a series of theoretical sessions interspersed with practical demonstrations. While the day’s activities were planned, the course was conducted in an informal manner, with plenty of interaction.

The course introduced the participants to basic concepts surrounding the building of a stable standing position. Having established the fundamentals of the position, attention was devoted to the mechanics of shot release, the need for planning and evaluation was stressed, and a number of important training concepts and definitions were introduced and explained.

The course was a fairly comprehensive introduction to the sport of air rifle target shooting and it is planned to have two further days devoted to bringing on this group further with emphasis on shot planning and match planning being looked at in some more detail.

This was the first time such a course was run and as with all things new changes may need to be made to the overall delivery of the course. A number of areas were identified as ones which may need attention. Running such an intensive course over two consecutive days may not be a good idea, as it was felt that the group was tired by the second day. And that in future a single day focusing on a single topic would be more suitable. Also having just one instructor for such an extended time is hard both on the instructor and on the group. On this course there was a lot of theory so a better mix of theory and practical session may be better. In general this was a very good first attempt, and from this start good things will develop. I would hope too, that those who were on this course would contact either Mark or Geoff, with their views, comments and suggestions.


WTSC 10m Airgun Open Jan 20/21

Competition 1 (Championships)
Shooter Club 10-shot series Total
1 Stapleton Richard   Wilkinstown 95 95 93 95 90 93 561
2 Lyons Emma UCDRC 93 93 88 96 93 96 559
3 O'Hagan Elizabeth   Wilkinstown 88 90 96 93 95 94 556
4   McFadden Sean   Wilkinstown 94 91 95 95 85 92 552
5   O'Hagan Jim   Wilkinstown 89 91 90 95 89 94 548
6   Flynn Shane   Wilkinstown 88 90 95 91 90 94 548
7   Smith Kevin   Wilkinstown 95 89 91 84 92 89 540
8   Raval Raj UCDRC 82 88 87 89 86 90 522
9   Cunningham Laura Wilkinstown 76 76 66 76 76 69 439
10   Carstens Marius Wilkinstown 63 56 47 46 60 53 325
Competition 2 (Mens Air Rifle)
Shooter Club 10-shot series Total
1   Stapleton Richard   Wilkinstown 95 95 93 95 90 93 561
2   McFadden Sean   Wilkinstown 94 91 95 95 85 92 552
3   Flynn Shane   Wilkinstown 88 90 95 91 90 94 548
4   O'Hagan Jim   Wilkinstown 89 91 90 95 89 94 548
5   Raval Raj UCDRC 82 88 87 89 86 90 522
6   Smith Kevin   Wilkinstown 95 89 91 84 92 89 540
7   Carstens Marius Wilkinstown 63 56 47 46 60 53 325
Competition 3 (Ladies Air Rifle)
Shooter Club 10-shot series Total
1   Cunningham Susan   Wilkinstown 98 94 96 96 384
2   Cunningham Paula   Wilkinstown 94 93 97 92 376
3   Lyons Emma UCD Rifle Club 93 93 88 96 370
4   Gaffney Ciara   UCD Rifle Club 93 94 91 92 370
5   O'Hagan Elizabeth   Wilkinstown 88 90 96 93 367
6   Cunningham Laura Wilkinstown 76 76 66 76 294
Competition 4 (Junior Air Rifle)
Shooter Club 10-shot series Total
1   Cunningham Susan   Wilkinstown 98 94 96 96 384
2   Cunningham Paula   Wilkinstown 94 93 97 92 376
3   McFadden Sean   Wilkinstown 94 91 95 95 375
4   O'Hagan Elizabeth   Wilkinstown 88 90 96 93 367
5   O'Hagan Jim   Wilkinstown 89 91 90 95 365
6   Flynn Shane   Wilkinstown 88 90 95 91 364
7   Cunningham Laura Wilkinstown 76 76 66 76 294
8   Carstens Marius Wilkinstown 63 56 47 46 212
Competition 5 (Air Pistol)
Shooter Club 10-shot series Total
1   Raval Raj   UCD Rifle Club 84 94 95 89 81 85 528
2   Skelly Thomas   Wilkinstown 83 85 87 81 85 81 502
3   Dennehy Mark   Wilkinstown 78 75 84 82 70 85 474
4   Oughton Ewan Wilkinstown 77 77 71 85 84 76 470
5   Corballis Chris   UCD Rifle Club 66 77 82 79 86 77 467
6   Stapleton Dick   Wilkinstown 68 77 75 82 78 64 444
7   Stapleton  Dick (2) Wilkinstown 80 72 78 71 63 69 433

2007 started with the first airgun match being hosted by Wilkinstown. Numbers taking part were somewhat low and some of the scores were on the predictable side for those that didn’t train over Christmas. Nevertheless, the event was well run, with Jimmy covering the R/O duties and Mark covering the Stats end.

Wilkinstown has been experimenting with a format change to the match, which sees an individual men’s match being introduced along with the individual women’s match. This is the second time that Wilkinstown has tried to run the match this way, but its effectiveness and its popularity with the shooters is hard to measure in part by the fact that numbers taking part in the match are low. As in all things, comment, ideas and suggestions are always welcome and are always sought. So please let us know your views.

The results of the match are posted above, and on the various web sites. I am delighted to welcome Marius Carstens and Laura Cunningham to the ranks of our junior shooters and we wish them well.

The development of Ladies air rifle shooting is continuing to improve with Susan, Paula, Emma, Ciara and Elizabeth now battling for position. Both Susan and Paula recorded Minimum Qualification scores at this match and the other ladies are hot on their heels.

Men’s air rifle has stagnated somewhat of late. Richard Stapleton won the men’s match with a score below his potential. College and School work is taking its toll on some of our other frontline male and female shooters. Still it is fair to say that men’s air rifle shooting, at both senior and junior level, needs an injection of pace to boost up performances. So come on you guys get the proverbial finger out and get your ass in gear and get those scores up.

In Air pistol Raj, Mark, Thomas, Dick and Ewan are all moving to stake their claim on the top rung for this sport in Ireland. At present Raj is in pole position. But everything is still to play for. I am looking forward to seeing some keenly contested matches among this group. It is leaked from reliable sources that Nicola is using deep visualising training methods to improve her performance.

Overall this was an enjoyable match, even with sub standard scores. Come on people, more to do!


WTSC/NTSA Training Seminar Jan 27

A seminar was held on the Saturday of this weekend in the National Aquatic Centre in Abbotstown to bring those interested in International-level competition face to face with what it takes to make it at that level. NTSA Chair Liam Crawford opened the morning's session with some brief words on the state of target shooting in Ireland at present and the behind-the-scenes work on changing the support mechanisms in place for the shooters. he then introduced Paralympic runner Tony Ward, who gave a frank talk with those present on the realities of dedicated training, from the 0530 wake-up calls on cold dark winter mornings to get training time before work or school, to the sacrifices made in social and work lives in order to get the time needed to train for competition properly.

A questions and answers session led into informal chatting with Tony on a one-to-one basis over lunch, and then after a short pause for digestion, a talk was given by NAC physical fitness instructor Kieran Keogh on the physiological demands of target shooting and how best to train to accomodate them. A practical session followed, which gave some a cause for mirth as Geoff and Mark joined in as best they could, and following a demonstration of how to enhance core strength, flexibility, balance and how to approach a fitness plan on an overall level, Kieran gave a walking demonstration of typical modern gym equipment and answered a lot of questions from the shooters.

The overall feel for the course was that it had been very worthwhile, and had addressed several areas in physical training that were not well covered prior to now. This will lead to improvements - especially since a return session with Kieran has been arranged for about six weeks from now to assess progress and make further training plans!


NTSA 10m Airgun Open Jan 28

AR60
Shooter Club Class 10 shot series Total Placing
Lyons Emma UCDRC A 94 93 90 92 89 97 555 1,A1
Baldwin Sean Army B 89 93 93 93 95 90 553 2,B1
Stapelton Richard WTSC A 92 95 91 89 96 89 552 3,A2
O'Donohoe Joe Army B 88 93 88 93 93 93 548 B2
O'Hagan Jim WTSC B 93 88 89 88 91 93 542 B3
Nash Iain DURC B 85 95 91 86 85 92 534
Fleming Daniel WTSC B 88 89 89 89 91 84 530
Dunne Mike DURC C 83 90 87 85 86 89 520 C1
McGrath Paul DURC B 83 88 85 87 90 87 520
Baconin Thomas UCDRC D 78 77 84 79 84 77 479 D1
Kane Ray Army A 96 94 93 93 95 0 471 DNF
Cunningham Laura WTSC D 62 73 69 63 73 64 404 D2
Dunne Laura DURC D 68 73 57 67 64 70 399 D3
AR40
Shooter Club Class 10 shot series Total Placing
Cunningham Susan WTSC A 96 91 97 97 381 1,A1
O'Hagan Elizabeth WTSC A 90 94 91 87 362 2,A2
Cunningham Paula WTSC A 89 91 86 85 351 3,A3
Gaffney Ciara UCDRC A 91 91 92 60 334 DNF
Lawlor Catriona DURC D 63 65 66 65 259 D1
Bourke Jean DURC D 61 49 36 63 209 D2
AP60
Shooter Club 10 shot series Total Placing
Oughton Ewan WTSC 89 93 88 90 84 84 528 1
Raval Rajkumar UCDRC 86 84 84 88 94 87 523 2

The second day of the NTSA / Wilkinstown Training seminar consisted of an air rifle match in UCD. There were two details and while 25 shooters had notified me about attending some of them were unable to attend, but this still resulted in two full details.

In this match I wished to tighten up competition protocols and this was achieved by the following methods; Preparation and Start times were posted (second detail was delayed a bit for practical factors); the Range Officers for each detail were also identified and their presence was highly visible without being intrusive; Protest times were announced and access to the stats office was restricted. A request from shooters that noise levels at the end of details be reduced was also acted on. I am delighted to say that all the above measures were successfully implemented with the full cooperation of the shooters and spectators.

Mike Dunne, who recently participated at our Range officer course, earned his stripes and very successfully R/O’ed his first detail. Well done Mike! Mark and Chris ran the Stats office. Pat O’Hagan issued targets and sorted out fees.

Thanks are extended to UCD for allowing the use of their range and the introduction of new target changing equipment is great. Thanks to Chris and Ciara for checking the equipment the night before.

It is great to see new college shooters taking their places on the firing lines and we wish them all well. The absent college shooters from the lines are a worry and hopefully we can get a greater number of participants in the forthcoming matches. It is good to see also the PDF team back competing.

On a more general note, the National Championships in Air Rifle and Air Pistol are coming up soon. An R/O course has been run; with another one this weekend, the purpose is to train up a team of R/O’s, on which the NTSA can call to officiate at these matches. Background work is also being commenced on training up people for the stats office. And in the near future training in equipment control will also commence. My goal is to have a fully trained and functioning background team in place for the airgun nationals this year, because I want this year’s Nationals to be the best we have ever run. Now if the background people are breaking their backs to get ready for the Nationals, then what about the shooters? Are you busting your bits to win Class D, Class C, Class B, and Class A?


Press coverage

Every year, Women in Sport produces a calendar. This year, they held a competition for those who wanted to be in it:

From the Women in Sport website:

Inspirational Moments, Photo Competition
How would you like your photo and written article featured in next year's 2007 Women in Sport Calendar?
We are inviting you to submit a "Women in Sport" photograph that inspires you and an explanation of your reasons why, in less than 150 words. We will be selecting and featuring the 12 most inspiring photos and article to feature in next year's calendar.
It could be a photo from thewww.womeninsport.ie website or one that you have taken yourself of a particular activity. The closing date for entries is 31st October 2006.
So Wilkinstown Target Shooting Club entered, and were chosen. Congratulations! Here's the winning entry. Not bad at all.



Title: Sisters doing it for themselves...

Description: Paula and Susan Cunningham shooting during the British Air Rifle Championships in 2006. Susan is the current Irish National Champion in Olympic Air Rifle and Paula is chomping at her heels, with Paula holding the Bronze medal from the National Championships.

Why it's inspiring: The Cunninghams are not just good junior shooters or just good lady shooters; they are the best shooters in Ireland, without qualification. Susan is both the Senior and the Junior Irish National Champion in Olympic Air Rifle. The girls are an inspiration to the entire sport, senior and junior alike, and their success has prompted widespread fundamental change in how the sport is organised in this country. Their dedication to training has set new standards for the sport in Ireland. Their prowess in the sport is without precedent, and they have gone further than any Irish shooter before them. In 2006 they represented Ireland in the World Championships, while Susan was studying to take ten honours in her Junior Cert. They are currently our best hopes for the Olympic Games in both Bejing in 2008 and London in 2012, and represent the very best our sport has to offer.
Copies of the calendar can be obtained free of charge from the Women In Sport website, www.womeninsport.ie

This Month:

Upcoming Committee Meeting Agenda

The next committee meeting is actually tomorrow, Febuary 2nd. The agenda has been up on the web since Monday in keeping with the policy to publish the agenda three days before committee meetings. In fact, we've been able to post the agenda on the website as it comes together, giving far more notice of upcoming decisions. We've changed the format for the agenda this month, however, from a simple list to a more focussed format. It's available for download from the website. You'll need to be able to read pdf files to read it, but these days, every computer can. A quick scan of the upcoming topics includes:
More on this next month.


Upcoming Events in detail

A Range Officer's Course (Air gun) is being organised for the weekend of 3rd and 4th of February 07, in conjunction with an NTSA air gun match.

Venue: UCD Rifle Club
Saturday: 11am – 3.00pm. Theory

The program for Saturday revolves around a number of sessions where the candidates are introduced to a number of general areas concerning aspects of safe range management and airgun handling. In the afternoon, the topics covered will include Range commands and Competition formalities.

Sunday: 10.00am – 4.00pm. Practical

There is a NTSA air gun match planned for this day. Candidates from Saturday's course will be allowed, under supervision, to act as range officers for the different details.

It is proposed that successful candidates will be entered onto a register of Range Officers and will be required to officiate at matches.

If you wish to attend please contact me at acooney@iol.ie or through the NTSA links.
National Target Shooting Association of Ireland 
Announcement
10m Airgun Match
in
UCD Rifle Club
on 
Sunday the 4th of Feb. 07

1st Detail:  Start 10.30am 
2nd Detail: Start 12.30pm 
Final 3.00pm

Entry fee: 
Adult 15.00 euro
Junior / Student 10.00euro

Pre booking required 
Limited number of spaces! Don’t be disappointed!  Book early!
As many of you know, Rathdrum Rifle and Pistol Club has been closed while upgrading the range to meet the new Garda range standards. The good news is that last night they were inspected by the Gardai and passed with flying colours, and as a result, the February Open is on. The actual details on squadding and entry fees were not available as we post this, but we're assured they will be out on the RRPC website and the NTSA website by friday, as well as up on boards.ie and posted by email, so keep your eyes peeled! The second UCD Airgun Open of the UCD academic year is scheduled for Feb 18 this year, with three details starting at 10:30, 12:30 and 14:30. There will be a Thursday detail for students. There won't be a 10 shot final competition. Entries fees will be €15 for adult and €10 for student or junior.

Next Month:

Upcoming Competitions in brief

The Colours match is a match between UCD and Trinity College's Rifle Clubs that has been taking place now for the past decade or more. It's a unique competition in the calendar, in that it is a team event - individual scores are never printed - and in that it's run solely by the Colleges. There's obviously a lot of pride in the shooters' alma maters on the line in the match, and the subsequent party lets both bragging rights be utilised, and woes subdued by the unsubtle application of joviality!

This year should see a return to form for the competition for the first time since the Foot&Mouth outbreak a few years ago gave the competitive scene a solid boot to the back of the head, seeing ranges closed across the country for weeks on end. There are 22 novices in training in Trinity, and ten experienced shooters; comparable numbers in UCD have also been spotted. It may require the setting up of the community hall range in Wilkinstown to cope with the numbers in any kind of practical schedule!

And if last year, and the decade before that, are anything to judge by, the current novices training in both clubs are the future backbone of those clubs, ROs and committee members in training. It's good to see so many - does this signal an imminent surge in the collegiate shooting scene?

On the far horizon:

To keep in mind:

So keep those eyes open and draw up those training plans well in advance!



International Scene:


New GB record set in Pilzen

Siân Corish, shooting in the first junior women’s air rifle match of the Grand Prix of Pilsen 2007 on January 12th, set a new British National and International Final Record score. Siân entered the final in seventh place with a score of 393 and shot a superb final of 104.7 to take first place with a total of 497.7. This adds 3.4 to the previous record set in November 1995.

Something for our Junior Ladies to aim for!

New AP40 record set in Hungarian Open

A new World Record for Ladies Air Pistol was set this month in the Hungarian Open by Austrian shooter Dyna Aspandiyarova : 99, 97, 99, 100 for 395, an increase of two points over the previous world record held by Svetlana Smirnova of Russia, which has stood since the 1998 Munich World Cup.

Air Rifle Possibles shot in Munich

Possibles in air rifle are exceptionally rare. Until this month, only one Men's Air Rifle possible had ever been shot in an ISSF match, by Tavarit Majchacheep of Thailand in the 2000 Asian Shooting Championships in Langkawi, and while the ladies were well ahead with twelve having been shot in ISSF matches over the past four years, there have still been more people on the moon than have shot possibles.

So it was a bit exciting when two possibles were shot within a day of each other in the International Competition in Munich last week. Zoltan Balaz of Slovakia and Sonja Pffeilschifter of Germany both put in maximum scores in their rifle matches, and added their names to the ranks of the very, very few who have shot a perfect match.

The competition itself saw very high scores - the finals in the Men's match needed 597 to get in and in the Women's match it was 397, but only one of the four 397s was chosen for the finals. This shows yet again just how high the standard is in international matches, and just how much dedication and training and support is needed to compete on the international stage. But we already know we can do this - the ISSF shotgun shooters not only compete on that stage, they win - the Irish team won the World Championships in shotgun in 2002, and have taken dozens of individual medals - bronze, silver and gold - in World Cups around the world. So we can do it - if we want it badly enough!

Zoltan Balaz of Slovakia, who just shot a possible in Men's Air Rifle in Munich.
Zoltan Balaz of Slovakia, who just shot a possible in Men's Air Rifle in Munich.

Sonja Pfeilschifter, who just shot a possible in Women's Air Rifle in Munich.
Sonja Pfeilschifter, who just shot a possible in Women's Air Rifle in Munich.

Intershoot

Intershoot starts today! We'll have more on this well-known event, which we've often used as a training ground for larger things, next month, but for now keep an eye on it here:

Intershoot Home Page

Intershoot Results Page

British Airgun Championships

The British Airgun Championships every year for the past four or five years has been invaded by a large contingent of Wilkinstown shooters, dressed in uniform and looking to show the GB shooters exactly how good a tiny Irish club in the middle of nowhere can be, and taking away dozens of medals to prove their point. Alas, that is not to be this year. Because of falling scores and a training programme that suffered badly at the hands of state exam timetables, Wilkinstown has pulled its team from the BAC this year, and restarted its training cycle with the GB Junior International in Bisley in August as the target. It's sad to see the WTSC flag not flying and to know that all the GB medals stay in GB this year, but it's an instructive sight to see such a major match pulled in the name of maintaining competitive standards. This is what it takes, folks...

European Airgun Championships

The European Airgun Championships this year has also taken a hit in entries with the Wilkinstown team withdrawing from competition in order to regroup and rebuild. However, several promising lady shooters and one or two men are now getting a chance to come forward and shine and are working towards making the qualifying score with an eye to Deauville. More on this as it progresses, and keep an eye on the NTSA website.

Records:

Current European Rankings

At time of posting, the rankings for February were not available, so here are the rankings for January...
First Second Third
AR60 Alin Moldoveanu (24) ROMania Jozef Gonci (32) SloVaKia Thomas Farnik (40) AUsTria
AR40 Katerina Kurkova (24) CZEch republic Sonja Pfeilschifter (35) GERmany Sylwia Bogacka (26) POLand
AP60 Vladimir Gontcharov (29) RUSsia Vladimir Isakov (36) RUSsia Franck Dumoulin (33) FRAnce
AP40 Natalia Paderina (31) RUSsia Jasna Sekaric (42) SeRBia Viktoria Chaika (27) BeLaRus
PR60 Sergei Martynov(39) BeLaRus Guy Starik (42) ISRael Jury Sukhorukov (39) UKRaine
3x40 Artem Khadjibekov (37) RUSsia Sergei Kovalenko (37) RUSsia Rajmond Debevec (44) SLOvakia
3x20 Lioubov Galkina (33) RUSsia Sonja Pfeilschifter (35) GERmany Sylwia Bogacka (26) POLand

Current World Rankings

50m Rifle 3 Positions Men 1/1 2914 KHADJIBEKOV, Artem 1970 RUS-Russia
  2/2 2241 KOVALENKO, Sergei 1970 RUS-Russia
  3/3 1817 DEBEVEC, Rajmond 1963 SLO-Slovenia
50m Rifle Prone Men 1/1 4045 MARTYNOV, Sergei 1968 BLR-Belarus
  2/3 1772 SUKHORUKOV, Jury 1968 UKR-Ukraine
  3/2 1692 STARIK, Guy 1965 ISR-Israel
10m Air Rifle Men 1/1 2513 ZHU, Qinan 1984 CHN-People's Republic of China
  2/2 2113 BINDRA, Abhinav 1982 IND-India
  3/3 2049 MOLDOVEANU, Alin George 1983 ROM-Romania
50m Rifle 3 Positions Women 1/1 3600 GALKINA, Lioubov 1973 RUS-Russia
  2/2 2205 PFEILSCHIFTER, Sonja 1971 GER-Germany
  3/3 1957 BOGACKA, Sylwia 1981 POL-Poland
10m Air Rifle Women 1/1 4139 DU, Li 1982 CHN-People's Republic of China
  2/2 2509 KURKOVA, Katerina 1983 CZE-Czech Republic
  3/3 2213 ZHAO, Yinghui 1981 CHN-People's Republic of China
10m Air Pistol Women 1/1 3135 PADERINA, Natalia 1975 RUS-Russia
  2/3 2102 HU, Jun 1978 CHN-People's Republic of China
  3/2 2081 SEKARIC, Jasna 1965 SRB-SRB

Document made with Nvu