Rooney embracing her roots as Games approach
Timaru shooter Natalie Rooney is embracing her roots ahead of the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.
Rooney headlined the New Zealand shooting team for the Games, which was announced on Wednesday.
The South Cantabrian was ranked the number 1 trap shooter in the world for the first time last year, replacing Australian Catherine Skinner in top spot. She was the first Kiwi, man or woman, to hold top spot in any shooting discipline.
Rooney said she was proud not only to be representing New Zealand at the Games, but South Canterbury.
‘‘South Canterbury has always supported me extremely well.
‘‘I’m proud to be representing a community like Timaru where I grew up.’’
She said her Games aration was going well.
‘‘I have been up in Christchurch a lot training up there.
‘‘I have nationals in a couple of weeks time in the Hutt Valley and prep- the World Cup in Mexico at the beginning of March, so have a really good build-up.’’
Rooney said she would ‘‘love to come away with the gold’’ at the Commonwealth Games.
She had come of age and become a more serious competitor
’’The first one [Commonwealth Games] I was very inexperienced and young.
‘‘With age and maturity you kind of know what more to expect.’’
Rooney put New Zealand trap shooting on the map when she struck silver in Rio.
Rooney won the women’s trap at the ISSF World Cup final in Italy in October 2016, and backed that up with a silver at the second round of the ISSF World Cup series in Mexico.
Set to compete in her third Commonwealth Games, Rooney was now an experienced campaigner.
Her achievements were even more impressive considering she was still based in Timaru, and up until the Rio Olympics had travelled the world by herself, without the support of a coach or a mentor.
Rooney was confident in the team New Zealand was sending to the games, which she said was a reflection of how much the sport had grown in New Zealand.
‘‘It’s quite a difficult sport to get into.
‘‘We’re sending a pretty strong team. Experience and talent could be extremely valuable to us.’’
Also named in the New Zealand shooting team were Delhi 2010 gold medallist John Snowden and Glasgow 2014 gold medallist Sally Johnston.
The shooting events would be contested at the Belmont Shooting Centre from April 8 to 14.