First all-female shooting team takes aim at Pan Am Championships
‘Carry Gun Nationals’ set to raise funds ahead of looming September deadline
IN AN effort to raise much-needed cash to prepare for, and participate in, the Pan American Shooting Championships in USA in September this year, Jamaica’s first all-female shooting team, Super Six, will stage a fundraising shooting match on Saturday, May 28, at the Jamaica Rifle Association (JRA).
The match, dubbed ‘Carry Gun Nationals’, will see shooters ditching expensive and feather-trigger race guns, and use the ones they carry on the streets and is set to bring a different dimension to the sport.
There will also be added excitement, as while there will be i ndividual competitions, a number of teams will either be formed from professions among the shooters or from other organisations.
Domino Players, Restaurant Owners, Legal, Team Construction, and Team ‘One Foot’ (shooters who have suffered sporting injuries), i nclude amateur shooters within the JRA. Trelawny Tactical, Dreamek Range, The JCF and Customs have also confirmed teams.
Super Six, which is led by Detective Corporal Sasha Mullings, also has in its ranks three other members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force, Corporal Kayla Keane, Constables Sheresa Solan and Shayon Francis, as well as businesswoman and farmer Renee Rickhi and forensic scientist Yeonie Campbell.
REAL-LIFE
Regarding the match, Mullings said: “We wanted to host a different match from what obtains at the club on a regular basis. Those matches are governed by strict rules outlined by the various international bodies. While we will not compromise safety, these stages will mimic real-life scenarios.”
According to Mullings, training for and participating in the Pan Am Shooting Championships will cost in excess of $5 million. And so, the need arises to stage events to raise funds. She indicated that the money raised will go solely towards team preparation, including the purchasing of ammunition for training. Something she described as very expensive.
“We have been promised governmental support through Sports Minister Babsy Grange. We know we will get it. I was told she is not one to walk back on her words.
We also understand that the Carifta Games, World Cup Football qualifications for the various football teams would have been on her budget before shooting, so we will wait our turn and hope we are now close to the head of the line,” said Mullings.
Another member of the team, Shayon Francis, in making an appeal to shooters and corporate Jamaica for sponsorship, noted the marked differences between the sport of shooting and traditional sports.
“Unlike football, cricket, and track and field that can have spectators in packed stadia, shooting is not that privileged, so we have to raise funds for ourselves while we bring awareness to the sport,” she said.
For Campbell, the most experienced shooter on the team, this is the first time Jamaica will be sending an all-female shooting team to an international event, and as a group of determined ladies, they are adamant to work together to get there and do well.
Match director and assistant coach Robin Rickhi said he hopes the stages will be an eye-opener to competitive shooters at the club, who spend a lot of time focusing on competitions with all the stages designed to match likely street scenarios.