Aiming high after Super 8 success

on target: Gisborne Boys' High School students were fourth in the Super 8 secondary schools clay target shooting competition. From left are Lachlan Phillips-Crane, Oliver Keepa-Fitzsimons, Jacob Scholefield and Zach Hall. Picture by Liam Clayton

GISBORNE Clay Target Club and Gisborne Boys' High School are well on their way to building a flourishing programme for up-and-coming shooters in the region.

In just their third year at the Super 8 secondary schools clay target shooting competition, the Gisborne Boys' High team finished fourth, and they aspire to higher honours.

Team captain Zach Hall said he had hunted most of his life and decided to give the sport a go after the call went out for people to compete for the school.

This year, he finished in the top 15 of the Central North Island circuit, beating over 75 other shooters, some of whom had been competing for years.

Teammate Oli Keepa-Fitzsimons won the Aitken Family Trophy for most improved shooter, with a 20 percent improvement.

He started shooting competitively a year ago after going to a club shoot with a friend of his father. He has been interested ever since.

The camaraderie of the sport — competing individually and with a five-member team — and being able to “shoot stuff” were his favourite aspects of the sport.

The club was formed as a fortunate coincidence of having the school's best shooter of the modern era — Clayden Hope — looking to start a club and teacher Josef Reiter transferring from Tauranga Boys' High to Gisborne Boys' High.

Reiter was co-coach of the national title-winning Tauranga BHS clay target team for six years.

In 2020, his second year of competitive shooting, Hope won the national skeet shooting title and the Central and Lower North Island Secondary Schools Clay Target Series high gun award for the best shooter with a score of 98 out of 100.

He was a major factor in the success of the Gisborne Boys' High team, Reiter said.

The team continued after Hope went to university, and Reiter believes they can become one of the stronger schools in the sport.

“Some of these guys (in other regions) have been shooting their whole life. We struggled to get a team together (initially).”

Reiter says the biggest barrier to entry is the cost. Clay birds and shells are not expensive individually but an afternoon of shooting competitively can start to add up.

Reiter says they are looking to expand their programme with assistance from Gisborne Clay Target Club.

Club president Rick Spence said he was excited to see the next generation of shooters coming through the ranks.

Spence coaches the Gisborne Boys' High team, and says the keys to success are the form and action of the shooter. Keeping the barrel still is key.

The club waives fees for school shooters, and guns are available for people to borrow to see if they like the sport.

The sport has no age restriction. Club shooters range from teenagers to the elderly, and the club is always on the lookout for youngsters interested in giving clay target shooting a go.