Junior’s style is on target - Alice Styles
- by Assistant Editor Kaye Jenkins
At only 16 years of age, SSAA (ACT) member Alice Styles is already an experienced and accomplished shooter and is ahead of many of her shooting peers. Being introduced to sport shooting by her father Rod at just 12 years of age obviously made a strong impression upon Alice, because she soon joined the SSAA ACT Juniors and has since taken up and done very well in several disciplines, including .22 Field Rifle, Rimfire and Air Rifle Metallic Silhouette and 10m Air Rifle.
Like most teenagers, Alice enjoys reading magazines and books and listening to music. She also enjoys watching motor sports and horse riding, but it is obvious that shooting is her passion. When she started shooting Air Rifle Silhouette, Alice wowed her peers by shooting her Junior Proficiency, Bronze, Silver and Gold awards in four successive matches. She used fellow shooter Con Smith’s air rifle for these matches, but has since purchased her own air rifle and gone on to some more wins.
In January 2006, Alice started as a D-Grade competitor in the 10m Air Rifle. Shortly thereafter, she competed in the ARAA Australian Championships in Sydney and then reached Master Grade at the ARAA Illawarra Championships in August.
Later in 2006, Alice competed in the AISL Australia Cup 4 in Brisbane and won a gold medal in the 10m Air Rifle Open competition - a match she has now participated in for around 18 months. She also won one gold, one silver and two bronze medals in the Open Women’s class throughout the year and then placed second overall in the Air Rifle Silhouette event at the National Silhouette Championships in Berridale, NSW.
Alice has competed in several Junior events, including the 2006 Junior National Championships where she won a gold medal and then broke the record for the 12-16 year age group with a score of 388/400. She has also shot and been graded as a Master Grade shooter for the newly introduced SSAA 10m Precision Scoped Air Rifle match. She obtained this grading in her first match and then proceeded to shoot a massive score of 400.18 out of 400.40 in a subsequent match.
At the Inaugural Pacific Regional Shooting Championships in Brisbane last year, Alice was the youngest competitor and although she did not win any medals, she was enthusiastic and always happy to share and learn from other shooters. It could also be said that this experience opened up further international shooting opportunities for Alice. Indeed, earlier this year, she had the opportunity to travel to Hungary and Munich for two international competitions as part of the AISL Australian team. At the Hungarian Open she won a bronze medal, only just missing out on the silver medal by a countback, with a score of 392/400.
More recently, Alice competed in the TRA Air Rifle Nationals and AISL Australia Cup and was selected for the Australian team to compete at the ISSF World Cup, which was held in Sydney in April.
Alice is currently ranked No. 2 in the Open Women in Australia (AISL) and No. 1 Junior in Australia (AISL), and now has the title of Australia Junior Champion added to her name.
Alice is a great role model for junior shooters, particularly female shooters, but she is open and happy to accept all the help she can get. Alice says she is aided by all of the “Silhouette boys” in Canberra and by her father Rod, who himself is a very involved and valued member of SSAA (ACT). She also receives more specialised assistance from her coach, fellow ACT shooter and newly appointed SSAA Field Rifle 3-Positional Discipline Chairman, Darius Krivanek, and says she spends about eight hours a week training and preparing for shooting competitions on the weekends.
By representing Australia and competing in several international competitions and a World Cup, Alice has already fulfilled some of her shooting dreams. However, she has now set her goals even higher and hopes to one day represent Australia at Commonwealth or Olympic Games level. And being a dedicated, enthusiastic and obviously skilled shooter, we think she definitely has a future in top-level shooting ahead of her.
At only 16 years of age, SSAA (ACT) member Alice Styles is already an experienced and accomplished shooter and is ahead of many of her shooting peers. Being introduced to sport shooting by her father Rod at just 12 years of age obviously made a strong impression upon Alice, because she soon joined the SSAA ACT Juniors and has since taken up and done very well in several disciplines, including .22 Field Rifle, Rimfire and Air Rifle Metallic Silhouette and 10m Air Rifle.
At the Inaugural Pacific Regional Shooting Championships in Brisbane last year, Alice was the youngest competitor and although she did not win any medals, she was enthusiastic and always happy to share and learn from other shooters. It could also be said that this experience opened up further international shooting opportunities for Alice. Indeed, earlier this year, she had the opportunity to travel to Hungary and Munich for two international competitions as part of the AISL Australian team. At the Hungarian Open she won a bronze medal, only just missing out on the silver medal by a countback, with a score of 392/400.