MOUNT Gambier sharpshooter Bridgette McKinnon will represent Australia with shotgun in hand when she competes at the 2019 ISSF Oceania Championships which start in Sydney next week.
McKinnon has been chosen as part of the women’s B team in the ISSF Skeet discipline, after shooting in the high performance series for the past two years.
It will be her first international competition and while the feeling of representing Australia remains surreal, McKinnon is excited for the opportunity to make her country proud.
“When I first began shooting, I never imagined I would be competing against the best in Australia, let alone competing alongside of them,” she said.
“It definitely makes me nervous, but at the moment I am more excited than anything.”
Recently attending a National ISSF development camp and the New South Wales State Championships, McKinnon has had plenty of preparation for her Australian debut.
The development camp was run by Olympic gold medallist Suzy Balogh, in preparation for the state championships.
The state competition was the final selection event for the Oceania Championships and McKinnon impressed, making one of the two women’s teams in her discipline.
“I was very pleased with my performance,” she said.
“I shot a new personal best in the qualifying rounds and qualified into the ladies’ final in fourth position which I was very happy with.”
McKinnon remains relatively new to the sport, having competed in shooting for almost four years, while she picked up the ISSF variation more recently.
“For the first couple of years I shot American skeet which is what most gun clubs have available, but for nearly two years now I have been shooting the ISSF skeet, which is the Olympic standard for skeet,” she said.
“The jump from American to ISSF was difficult to make and I still have so much to learn and so much to improve on.”
However, there is no denying McKinnon has come a long way in a short amount of time.
She credits much of her success to the hard work of coach Guy Yoannidis, who has been her mentor since day one.
“The help that Guy, along with my parents, have given me in that time is tremendous,” she said.
“Not only does Guy coach me, but he helps with booking accommodation, organising travel – I have spent many hours sitting in the back seat of his car – getting my event nominations sorted and bringing ammunition to competitions for me.
“Without the support he has given me, there is no way I would have gotten as far as I have.”
McKinnon said she came across clay shooting by chance, as she tagged along with her brother Tristan to see what it was about.
That sparked her interest and from there her passion continued to grow.
Currently studying medicine in Adelaide, it is often a difficult juggling act between university and sports commitments.
“I am nearly finished my first year of studying medicine, which is a demanding course at the best of times,” McKinnon said.
“I have been so lucky to be supported by the University’s elite athlete program, which aims to help students be successful in both their University studies and sporting commitments.”
McKinnon’s busy schedule is set to continue in the lead up to the Oceania Championships, with the South Australian State Championships in Adelaide this weekend, before she makes the trip to Sydney for the big event, which runs from November 1-8.
“I think the (state) event will be good competition practice before Sydney,” she said.
“The pressure of a competition is not something you can easily simulate at training, so I think this will be beneficial to me.
“Last year I won the ladies’ section of the competition, which I hope to do again this year, but my aim is to make the final for overall.”
The state competition mixes men and women into the one category for an overall final, which is what she will have her sights set on this year.
Looking at long-term aspirations, McKinnon said she “would love to go to the Olympics one day”.
“That is definitely a goal for me,” she said.
“For the Oceania Championships I am eligible for an MQS, which is the minimum qualifying score you have to shoot in an ISSF sanctioned competition to be eligible for the Olympics.
“So, while the Olympics are a goal, they are more of a long-term goal.
“A short-term goal would be to compete to the best of my ability at the Oceania Championships and hopefully shoot an MQS while I am there.”
