Kadiejayne Tirkot: on her way to the top
- by senior correspondent Jennifer Martens

Kadiejayne Tirkot talks about her seven years as a sporting shooter with a level of maturity that belies her age. She is extremely confident, well spoken, determined, disciplined and insightful - yet she has not lost the innocence and joviality that comes with youth.

The 18-year-old Dockers fan has turned a weekend hobby with her father into a way of life. She specialises in SSAA Field Rifle/3-Positional Rimfire (.22) and Centrefire (.222). She trains every Saturday from 11.30am to 5.30pm, every other Sunday morning and now that she has completed Year 12, most weeknights.

All of this training is ultimately geared towards the 2012 Olympics; however, she isn’t counting her bullseyes before they hit the target just yet. The years between now and then will be filled with hundreds of hours of training and a number of important competitions. She will be required to prove herself by outperforming many other talented shooters before London in 2012 becomes a reality.

This past November, Kadiejayne’s exceptional shooting abilities earned her the title of Overall Winner of the Junior Division at the Western Australian Shooting Association (WASA) (Inc) 20th Anniversary 2007 Ballistic Sports ‘Sports Star’ Awards Night. The event, which started in 1988, was established to recognise the achievements of the nine different ballistic sporting associations within Western Australia.

Kadiejayne puts this honour above all others. “It was an outstanding achievement to win this award and then to be told I was only the second SSAA member to ever win and the first junior female to win topped off the night,” she said.
SSAA (WA) President Ron Bryant said, “Kadiejayne was nominated by the SSAA WA as our junior entrant into the WASA sports awards and to everyone’s pleasure, she came home with the trophy. Her win was particularly good news in light of the SSAA’s ‘Year of the Junior’ program.”

On top of this accomplishment, Kadiejayne has won four national titles and three state titles. She is a current club champion, a current record holder for the standing offhand position at 25 and 50m Rimfire and a Master Grade shooter.

Her recent winning streak has scored her a sponsorship deal from WA Sports and Recreation and Smarter than Smoking, a National Heart Foundation project that ‘aims to reduce smoking prevalence among 10 to 15 year olds in Western Australia’. The sponsorship will assist Kadiejayne with equipment, travel and coaching costs and will cover her entries into the 2008 Queensland Field Rifle Championships, as well as the 2008 Nationals held in Adelaide.

“My role with Smarter than Smoking was to be part of the 2007 campaign, remain a good role model to others, advertise for the campaign and keep them up to date with my achievements as a young athlete,” she said.

As a recipient of the sponsorship, Kadiejayne was also invited to take part in a two-day gifted athlete program designed by the Department of Sports and Recreation and the WA Institute of Sport. “The workshop gave much needed education on life skills such as time planning, media, promotion, nutrition, injury prevention and athlete pathways, which all growing athletes should learn about in order to live a successful balanced life,” she says.

Kadiejayne’s drive to compete and her love for the sport are her strengths. “Apart from this,” she says, “a lot of my strength comes from my belief in myself and from my sister, who always attends comps with me and keeps me laughing for hours.”

What about her weaknesses? “I do not believe I have any weaknesses because to be a top athlete you learn to take any weakness and make it your strongest asset,” says the young Master Grade shooter. “I have trained myself to not dwell on all the bad things or all the things I cannot do, but instead to understand why I cannot do them and hence fix them and be strong in all aspects of my sport in order to reach the top and remain there.”

As is the case with many sporting shooters, Kadiejayne has achieved her success minus a coach. However, she knows that to go much further in the sport, she will probably need someone to guide her. That is part of the reason the Murdoch College graduate is moving to Adelaide where Australian coaches await her arrival. In addition to the intense training regime she’ll undergo, she plans to study Secondary Education combined with Health Sciences at Flinders University.

All of her training and competitions come at a price. Add to that the cost of attending university and there is little left for Kadiejayne to put towards new gear and her goal of competing for Australia in the next Olympic Games. However, given her intense drive and exceptional talent, she’s sure to find a way to make that dream come true.

Kadiejayne’s talent extends beyond the boundaries of the shooting range. A keen artist, she enjoys painting “anything with bright colors”. She has managed to merge her disparate interests by embellishing her firearms with bright colors and unique designs, making them unmistakably hers. Her CZ Brno, with a heavy barrel, Lynx scope and a handmade stock, is painted metallic blue and is covered with eclectic patterns. Her centrefire rifle consists of a Madco stainless steel barrel, which is engraved with her name, a Remington 700 action, a handmade stock and a Tasco World Class riflescope. The cartoon fanatic said the rifle wasn’t complete until she painted it apple green with gold trimmings.

Maureen Edwards, the SSAA (WA) State Secretary, sums up Kadiejayne well: “She is an all-around high achiever with a personality to match.”