Jessie-Lea Medway
by senior correspondent Jennifer Martens
Show me a girl who didn’t like to play ‘dress-ups’ growing up and I’ll show you a kid who doesn’t like lollies. Both are rare breeds indeed.
For 15-year-old SSAA member Jessie-Lea Medway, the fun of being a little girl is still much a part of her life. As a Single Action shooter, Jessie-Lea still enjoys dressing up in some pretty nifty outfits, most of which date back to the 1800s - the era of American cowgirls Annie Oakley and Calamity Jane.
While the costumes are part of the fun, when it comes to competition, Jessie-Lea, alias ‘Jazzi Jess’, is all business. She has only been in the sport for two years, but her talent, determination and focus during that time has seen her rise rapidly to the top of her field. She was the Junior Girl’s bronze medal winner at the 2008 Single Action Shooting (SAS) World Championships (also known as End of Trail) and is a two-time Australian National Junior Champion. At the 2008 Australian National Championships, she won her second National Junior title, finished sixth overall, and was the Junior Girl’s Champion in the Pat Garrett Match.
She credits her father, Brett, and her older brother, Sam, with introducing her to the sport, as well as encouraging her to make the most of her talent. Under Brett’s coaching, the family shoots together. They also reload together. They’ve found that reloading improves accuracy in their rifles and pistols and also helps defray the costs of having three devoted shooters in one house.
Sam is a multi-Australian National Champion and the 2008 World Single Action Junior Champion. Jessie-Lea is trying to follow in his footsteps. Never one to back down from a challenge, she trains with a purpose next to her successful brother at the Cowra Pistol Club or “anywhere there might be a shoot on”. Being the good big brother that he is, Sam shares his shooting secrets and his experiences with his little sister. With talent running deep in the family, Jessie-Lea has a good chance of duplicating her brother’s amazing accomplishments.
Winning is no doubt a thrill for Jessie-Lea, but the youngster says the real joy of the sport comes from the people she has met since she began going to the range. She also gets a buzz out of competitions, travelling, and the fact that she is doing something a little out of the ordinary. None of her school friends have taken to shooting just yet, but Jazzi-Jess says they all admire her accomplishments and a few are showing some genuine interest in the sport.
Jessie-Lea uses a combination of two Ruger pistols in .357 Magnum, an Uberti 1873 20" .357 Magnum rifle and a Beretta side-by-side 12-gauge shotgun. She believes her strengths are found in her rifle shooting and that her weaknesses lie within her pistol shooting.
Her early success in the sport has kept her focus narrow and she hasn’t experimented with other disciplines just yet, but says as she matures and her skills improve that she is looking forward to venturing beyond the Single Action discipline.
With two years left in high school, Jessie-Lea is already planning for her future. Her fondness for animals has encouraged her to look into working as a veterinarian. Shooting targets isn’t her only hobby. During the winter months, Jessie-Lea enjoys shooting hockey pucks into heavily guarded nets and hanging out with her friends - reserving ‘dress-up’ play for the Single Action range.
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