They are working on improvements to the 29-year-old's technique from the moment she calls "pull", the signal for the target's release.
"I'm trying to make sure I've got a soft take-off with the gun. When you call for the target, it's coming out instantly at about 100km/h. You see a flash and you take off after it.
"If you're snappy, you're probably going to pass that target and miss it."
Rooney aims to hold the gun high over the trap to start.
"I then look through it with soft eyes around where the target's going to come out. That means looking in every direction, because you don't know where it's going. Then you zoom in on the target, with your eyes and body moving as one."
To achieve optimum harmony between face and weapon requires tailoring, something her sponsors Beretta arranged.
"I was given my gun at the end of 2012 and went to their factory in Italy to get my stock made for me. The measurements mean when I put my face on the stock, I'm
looking straight down the barrel."
Rooney has suffered her share of setbacks since taking up the sport at Timaru's Craighead Diocesan School as a teenager. She was axed from London Olympics selection when Ryan Taylor successfully appealed to the sports tribunal, and she lost her mum Adrienne to breast cancer in 2013.
The adversity makes her story all the more compelling.
"I sat down after missing out on London, set my goals and thought about how I was going to make sure that didn't happen again. It was about putting myself out there and making the necessary changes.
"I asked Beretta New Zealand if they would sponsor me, and luckily they saw the potential. They organised with their parent company in Italy for me to train there between two competitions in Europe, and organised a coach, which happened to be Andrea, and we've worked together since."
Rooney benefitted from working for her father Gary's firm at its Waimate-based head office. That job gave her the flexibility to compete overseas.
Her circumstances have changed since earning the silver medal. She has become a schools ambassador for the New Zealand Olympic Committee, and was invited to cut the tape at the December opening of the Waimate Events Centre, a project her Dad helped sponsor.
This year, Rooney received $55,000 as a performance enhancement grant from High Performance Sport New Zealand and her Rio effort, alongside the top-16 placings of Chloe Tipple in the skeet and Taylor in the 50m rifle prone, saw the New Zealand Shooting Federation's funding allocation rise from $20,000 to $125,000.
"The PEG has allowed me to focus on shooting full-time which has been incredible. Before the Olympics, I was working full-time and shooting as much as I could. Luckily, my father was kind to me and let me travel to competitions."
Rooney has competed at World Cups in India, Mexico and Cyprus this year.
"This has been my test year to see if it works for me. I've picked up some great experience doing competitions that I wouldn't normally have been able to do.
"At home, I'm not able to shoot full-time because of the facilities, but here [in Italy], I can put myself into shooting mode five or six days a week, with my coach telling me if I'm doing something wrong.
"That's getting me into the best possible position before the world championships."
