TargetTalk

Hi all,

I am presenting an arguement on disabled shooters. I am presnting this at university next week and just wanted some input.

Question 1. Do disabled shooters get support from your national shooting body, and if so how?

Question 2. Are they able to receive equal amounts of funding and do they get covered by media?

I would really enjoy any input people have regarding disabled shooting as a sport as well as examples of what happens in your home country.

Thank you very much,
Phillip Little

I can comment on disabled shooting in SOUTH AFRICA.

Disabled shooters get no funding from the able-bodied shooting organisations. They can get funding from the disabled sports organisations (and obviously private sources).

Shooting is however considered a fringe sport, so the disabled sports organisations lean more towards basketball, field&track, swimming, etc. Shooting has been dropped from the list of sports held at national / regional competitions. The onus is on the individual shooter to seek international competition and fund their attendance. Only when they win medals will the national body step in and offer some form of financial assistance. The Catch-22 is that in order to be recognised as a "contender" one has to win a medal at national level, but there is no national shooting competition!

There is no national convenor for disabled shooting, and there has never been a coach. The nett result is that, from a population of 44 million, there is now only one disabled pistol shooter, and no disabled rifle shooters.

Over 20 years ago we had more than a dozen disabled pistol and rifle shooters, regional teams, regional, national and postal competitions, and a national convenor. We are at the bottom of the slippery slope!

In the UK our disabled shooters fare moderately well. We are fortunate to have a very succesful lady air pistol shooter who has one at least two para olympic golds - that tends to get a little bit of press coverage.

As for support from our national governing body - I don't know the answer. They do have their own body but I also know they are partially responsible for self funding (sponshorship etc).

So the simple answer is that success helps attract the media and in turn some increased funding. What that represents in real terms I haven't a clue - but I'm pretty sure it will be a lot less than some of the other events.

Rob.

Contact Dave Baskin at the NRA's Disabled Shooting Services Department"

"The programs offered by NRA's Disabled Shooting Services Department have enabled thousands of American with physical disabilities to enjoy a variety of shooting activities, including competitive events and hunting. This department has also worked to ensure that many shooting facilities are wheelchair-accessible.

The department provides advice and guidance to groups and organizations that want to improve their facilities for disabled shooters or that need information on how to conduct shooting sports programs for disabled persons. Such groups include gun clubs, state departments of natural resources, outfitters associations, rehabilitation hospitals, and veterans groups."

I live in the US.

Question 1. Do disabled shooters get support from your national shooting body, and if so how?

Our disabled shooting governing body has established “performance plans” for all disabled shooters. However, they are based on the performances of the top scores in each respective event at the previous Paralympics. For example:

50% funding is given to anyone who fire scores equal to the average of the scores that make the final in that event in the Paralympics.

100% funding is given to anyone who fire scores equal to the average of scores that win a medal in that event in the Paralympics.

These scores are significantly higher than the scores we must shoot just to attend the Paralympics at all. In addition, these scores can only be fired and recognized at certain international matches, none of which are held in my country. Therefore, we are only supported based on how well we perform against the rest of the world, and only on their turf. I have been told that this is an incentive to win medals, but I have found it to be a deterrent to fire the necessary scores just to attend the Paralympics at all.

Question 2. Are they able to receive equal amounts of funding and do they get covered by media?

Part of my previous answer can apply here. If another shooter and I fire scores that would qualify for the Paralympics, but we are only 1 point apart based on the averages I mentioned, one of us gets twice the amount of funding as the other. Then, a third shooter who fires a qualifying score would not get any funding, even if that person’s score is just another point lower. I certainly don’t think that’s equal.

Media coverage has historically been a problem for ANY disabled sport, but it is especially difficult in shooting. However, this isn’t only a disability issue, but a sport-related issue. In my country, shooting is “politically incorrect”, and more elite sports are covered in greater amounts as a result. This is mostly because of how the media shows the use of guns only in violent acts. Whenever a workplace shooting gets attention in the news, the benefit of the shooting sports is lessened in the public’s eye.

We have a similar scenario here in South Africa. There are NO internationally sanctioned disabled shooting events in the entire southern hemisphere! We would therefore have to (at our own expense) travel to Europe or the Far East, compete, and pretty much have to win every event, in order to merely be noticed by our national sporting body.

I've exceeded all our national, international, World Cup and Paralympic requirement standards for three years now, and my national disabled sports body doesn't even acknowledge my existance, nevermind offer to assist in my expenses. There is a limit to how much money one can spend on competition entries to try and compete for one's country before it just gets too much.