Trapshooting: Shooting for improved results

New Zealand trapshooter Brant Woodward left for Egypt yesterday on the first stage of his build-up to the Sydney Olympic Games in September.

Woodward, aged 38, of Whitby, near Porirua, tasted the extra demands of Olympic competition in Atlanta four years ago and is determined to learn from the experience.

"Atlanta was like no other event. There were only 50 shooters taking part, instead of the 120-odd you get at World Cup events. You have to wait a lot longer to shoot," he said. "At the Olympics things come around a lot quicker. You have got to be able to pace yourself."

The speed of things cost Woodward at Atlanta.

After his first two rounds he had missed a shot in each. He had only just gone under cover to sit down and prepare himself for his next round when the manager came in and told him he should be back out there.

"I was mentally unprepared and I didn't shoot so well. It was a valuable lesson to learn and the 24th or so I had there is not where I want to be this time."

Woodward has never shot in Cairo, but he has at his destination after that, Legnado, near Milan in Italy. He shoots in another World Cup event there on May 17 and 18. Legnado is a challenge to unsuspecting shooters as the clay targets come out of the traps much faster than usual, then lose speed more quickly.

With that in mind Woodward has been winding up his practice traps to something approaching the speed he will strike in Italy. While he did not have a good result there last year, he has happy memories of a fourth placing overall in 1997 and ninth the year before.

But Sydney is his real focus.

"I want to get as much competition as possible beforehand in order to work myself into the right frame of mind," he said.

"You can practise as much as you like, and I do try to simulate match situations, but there is nothing quite like actual competition."

While he won the Oceania Games trapshooting in November, that did not mean automatic entry into the Olympic Games.

Placings at the Oceania Games determined only the number of entries from the countries concerned. New Zealand won two and those entrants were decided after three qualifying events where the five eligible shooters were whittled down to two. Paeroa's Victor Shaw won the other position.

Woodward has won only one national championship in his 12-year Olympic trapshooting career, but while he would like to win more, consistency over tournaments is his main goal.

- NZPA