Adriana Talajic - outspoken for her sport
- by senior correspondent Jennifer Martens

Western Australia’s Adriana Talajic is just like most other teenagers. She likes music, shopping and sports. However, she differs from many of the kids her age, in that, she is a sporting shooter. Few of her peers have discovered the joys and benefits of this family-friendly sport - benefits such as improved concentration, hand/eye coordination, confidence, relaxation, opportunities for socialisation, self-control and discipline.

Before she took to shooting, Adriana admits that she never thought the sport, which her father has enjoyed for 15 years, could be any fun. However, when she gave it a go, she quickly changed her mind. She is now quite eager to get to the range for her weekly training session. Both Adriana and her father shoot Rimfire 3P and Field Rifle at the Southern Districts Rifle Club in Bedfordale, WA.

Despite becoming a sporting shooter only a few months ago, in June this year, Adriana has already set her sights on getting into AAA Grade and becoming the best shooter she can be. Her performances so far have been limited to club competitions, but she has already received her junior bronzes in 3P, Junior Rifle and Field Rifle. Her best score is a 192.3 in the sitting position, which she shot using her Walther Match .22 rimfire rifle.

An outspoken teen
Even though Adriana is only 15 years old, she is an outspoken proponent of the shooting sports. This past August she was chosen by her teachers to represent youth at the Legislative Assembly for the 175th anniversary of the Western Australian Upper House. There, she was fortunate enough to share her views in an Address-in-Reply to the Chamber. With little public speaking experience behind her, she waded into the waters and kept herself afloat as she capably discussed the social problems of graffiti and bullying.

“Whether it be emotionally, physically, directly or indirectly, students who suffer in other aspects of their life are taking out their frustration upon other innocent students. Societies classify this as bullying, but instead I classify it as abuse,” she said in her speech. “This needs to stop and it needs to stop now.”

While she had the ears of her peers and government representatives, Adriana touted the benefits of the shooting sports. “On a happier note,” she said, “Australia recognises many great sports, but there is one which I think deserves more recognition: sports shooting.

“Many people think it is a violent and vicious sport, but in fact, I would consider it as one of the safest sports in the world.” She described the mental and physical strength and the technique required to shoot a bullseye and she emphasised that shooting is a sport that can be enjoyed by people of any age, sex or ability. “This makes it a family sport…which can be passed on through generations,” she said. She ended her speech by saying, “I think every sport has the right to be recognised equally without presumptions or scepticism…sports shooting should be recognised as a sport for excellent individual achievements and enjoyment.”

While there was no formal response to Adriana’s speech, many people, both young and old, approached her afterwards to congratulate her and ask about sports shooting. “It was a good opportunity to promote the sport,” she said.

Unpleasant press
Not long after Adriana gave her speech, she was approached by The West Australian newspaper and asked to be photographed for an article about shooting. Adriana says she was told the story would portray her and shooting in a positive light. On Friday September 14, 2007, she enthusiastically turned to page seven of The West Australian to see her picture and the story on sports shooting. Only, she was anything but enthused about the article with the headline ‘Gun clubs have kindy kids in their sights’.

Adriana said it was “completely biased and conveyed me as a killer”. She wasn’t wrong - the call-out quote by Gun Control Australia’s John Crook, which was placed not far from Adriana’s pleasant photo, reads, “Teaching a child to shoot, is teaching a child to kill. It’s what guns are used for.”

Clearly, Adriana is not a ‘kindy kid’. Also, if readers examine the story in more detail, they would have noticed that Adriana is not quoted once or mentioned in the article that so prominently, and exploitatively, featured her picture.

In addition, the newspaper failed to make it clear that when SSAA National President Bob Green asked members to sign up a junior, pointing out that “it really doesn’t matter if they are five or 15”, that he was speaking to existing SSAA members. He was not ‘targeting’ local kindergartens or primary schools. The article also failed to mention that while five-year-olds can become members of the SSAA, they are not allowed to take part in sports shooting until they reach the legal age required in their state or territory.

Also in the newspaper article, Police and Recreation Minister John Kobelke is quoted as saying, “I cannot condone the encouragement of young people to be involved with firearms without the strictest controls, management and safeguards in place - even more so than those that currently apply to adults.” To be fair, the article should have stated that the SSAA agrees wholeheartedly with the Minister.

The reality is that the controls and safeguards in place for children are indeed much stricter than those in place for adults. In all states of Australia, children under the age of 18 are to be supervised by a licensed adult. SSAA gun clubs place the highest priority on safety and on shooting days have range officers on duty. Shooters, no matter what age, are required to abide by the safety requirements.

The half-truths and out-of-context information continued throughout the article.

Waiting for an apology
Adriana expressed her disapproval to the writer and newspaper editor and was invited to have her say in a letter to the editor. She’s also appeared on a few radio stations to communicate her concerns about the biased nature of the article.

While Adriana would appreciate an apology from the newspaper, she’s not too optimistic. The media has never been overtly kind to the SSAA or the shooting sports. Rather than wallow in her first, and unpleasant, encounter with the media, Adriana is promoting her sport to her peers, improving her shooting skills, speaking out for injustice when the opportunity presents itself and enjoying all that being a teenager does, and should, entail.