SSAA NSW

Sporting Shooters Association of Australia (NSW) Inc. 2 From Diana's Desk I've often written about Juniors and expressed the thoughts of many… that they are the future of our sport. Earlier in the year we established a Junior Discipline with the aim of placing specific focus on delivering state-wide programs and activities that provide a variety of opportunities for young shooters to try the different things on offer within our sport. Julie Wilson has been appointed to the position of Junior Discipline Chairman and along with SSAA NSW staff and NSW Discipline Coordinator Dave Billinghurst, has developed an exciting Juniors program. The SSAA NSW 2016 Junior Program will incorporate a variety of activities to enable all Juniors around the State to participate: • Junior Postal Shoots Formal postal shoots that Juniors can participate in at their local Branch range will encourage participation by Juniors who, for many reasons, are not able to travel to participate in 'away' competitions. Juniors will be part of a state wide competition which awards medals for place getters, patches for participation and is widely publicised by SSAA NSW. Rotated throughout the year, these competitions will include rimfire Field Rifle & 3P, scoped & lever action silhouette, hunter class, BR30 and lever action matches. • Junior Target Shooting Camp 15 to 19 January 2016 – Silverdale Target shooting camps allow Juniors access to a variety of disciplines, that they may not have exposure to at their local range. Juniors tend to shoot what their parents, grandparents or mentors shoot and Branch ranges tend to shoot the disciplines that are favoured by the members that manage the ranges. The NSW Discipline Chairmen have indicated their willingness to be involved, so the camp will be a one-stop-shop for trying a number of different disciplines. • Junior Hunting & Bushcraft Camp These will cater for Juniors who are keen to learn more about hunting as well as those wanting to improve their skills. Camps will cover all the elements of a hunter education camp and provide the opportunity for Juniors to complete their H&C Accreditation. • Regional Junior Development Shoots We're planning these at a number of locations around NSW at different times throughout the year to enable Juniors to participate in a dedicated competition within their regional area. These shoots will be an alternative for juniors who are unable to travel to State Titles or National Championships which are held only once per year and maybe in a location too far for them to travel. They will be used as an opportunity to attract Juniors who are not SSAA members. Host Branches will receive financial, administrative and volunteer assistance. • National Junior Challenge 9 & 10 July – Batemans Bay In 2016 NSW will host the National Junior Challenge – an excellent opportunity to 'kick off' the first year of our Junior Program. Each year a NSW team will be formed with assistance from SSAA NSW provided to Juniors who wish to compete and represent NSW. Shortly, we'll be writing to all of our Junior members to tell them all about what's in store for 2016. In the meantime, anyone that is interested in finding out more about either attending or volunteering for the Junior Target Shooting Camp in January should contact Morgan at the SSAA NSW Office on 02 8889 0425 or by email to morganl@nsw.ssaa.org.au. Our 2016 Junior Program…

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