2008 Newcastle Lake Macquarie Clay Target Club Open Day
by Paul Barker
Pre-shoot coaching with an emphasis on safety was
the order of the day.
It was encouraging to see the significant number
of potential juniors eager to try their hand at
clay target shooting.
The name of the game - breaking clays.
Individual one-on-one coaching led to a very
successful and safe day for all.
Gathering clouds towards the day’s end did not slow
the number of starters - they just kept on queuing.
Arriving at the club a few minutes after starting time, it was quite obvious by the packed carpark and the comments from the club member directing traffic that it was going to be a big day. There were people everywhere. It was a fair bet that the Newcastle Lake Macquarie Clay Target Club (NLMCTC) 2008 Open Day was certainly off to a flying start.
NLMCTC is located on the western side of Lake Macquarie and just a few minutes off the F3 Freeway, the main Sydney-Newcastle link and part of the Pacific Highway. It’s about an hour and a half drive between cities.
The SSAA Newcastle Branch is also affiliated with the NLMCTC and the club is hosting the SSAA Five-Stand Nationals in September 2009.
The club is set up on 80 acres of ideal country that straddles a ridge that lies approximately north/south. To the east, the area has been cleared, while to the west, the country is basically untouched Aussie bush.
The club is extremely well set up to cater for all facets of Clay Target shooting with six Down The Line layouts, three Skeet layouts, four Olympic Trap layouts (a fifth ready for installation), four 5-Stand set-ups and loads of country for two 25 Target Field layouts. A modern, well-appointed clubhouse with a large kitchen area, fully computerised office, rest rooms and hot showers are all aimed at making shooting at the club an efficient and pleasurable experience for members and visiting shooters. For those visitors wishing to stay on-site during two-day shoots, there are powered sites available for caravans and camping.
The concept behind the Open Day was to introduce a wider audience to the sport of Clay Target shooting and to dispel some of the myths that surround the shooting sports, particularly those that seem to apply to shotguns.
On the day, it was fairly obvious that the newspaper articles and radio interviews along with word of mouth had led to a packed house from the time the gates were open to the close of shooting.
As it panned out, Saturday August 16 was the end of the first week of the Beijing Olympics and Michael Diamond was back home after the Olympic Trap events and came out to the club to add some support for the cause. Also on-hand to add to the day was the NSW Shooters Party member Robert Brown MLC. Both he and Michael were kept fairly busy fielding questions on their respective sides of the sport.
Due to the popularity of the Open Day and the large number of participants wanting to try their hand at breaking clays, it was obvious that a second registration area would have to be set up to keep the process rolling along smoothly.
New South Wales firearms laws required each participant to fill out a P590 form, ‘Declaration For Range Users’, before they could take part in any shooting. With the paperwork completed, they were directed to the office where they could purchase color-coded tickets that matched one of the seven layouts. Only $3 gave each participant five cartridges supplied by their personal coach plus five targets.
During the previous week, the boys had set up seven near-identical layouts comprising one straightaway target that climbed away from the trap house at a modest speed. A second target was included on each layout for some variation, a high incomer that seemed to float up to the shooters on most of the layouts pretty much most of the day and was well received by many of the new shooters.
The one-on-one coaching was of paramount importance in regard to safety, with each shooter receiving some tuition in gun mount and feet placement and the basics of how to lead a moving target. When each shooter in the squad was reasonably happy with the concepts, the coach would position the shooter, load a single cartridge and have them call for a target. The friendly one-on-one coaching went down well with those shooting on the day and the whole area was a-buzz, with people talking and bragging about the number of targets they had broken and a vast number of them lining up for multiple rounds.
The Open Day also had another aspect to it, in that, it was in support of the Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service. The local support group did a fantastic job running their efficient mobile food canteen for the day, with the long queues testament to the great food they were presenting.
By the end of the day, the 60-plus club volunteers and 20 Westpac Rescue Helicopter support group members had looked after 302 shooters and other visitors. It was great to see so many ladies and juniors taking part in the shooting. By way of statistics, 57 ladies, 65 juniors and 180 guys bought 845 tickets to shoot. A significant number of those attending were inquiring about club membership and other aspects of Clay Target shooting.
The day raised $1450 for the Westpac chopper, together with a $550 donation a week later from the NLMCTC. This donation was raised from a well-attended two-day field shoot the following weekend.
In all, credit must go to everyone who came along to make the day the great success that it was. It’s days like this that go a long way to spreading the word that shooting is a safe sport that everyone can take part in and enjoy.