Our sport and association are supportive of athletes with disabilities. There are some restrictions, and abilities, an athlete requires to become a member, acquire a licence and compete at club level and all the way through to Olympic level. Pistol shooting is a challenging sport, but is also one in which many shooters with a disability attain great success.
PSQ is dedicated to the Sports Connect Program and its link to the Australian Sports Commission. CONNECT stands for Creating Opportunities Nationally through Networks in Education, Classification and Training. Sports CONNECT aims to provide national sporting organisations with assistance in meeting the needs of people with a disability within their sport.
Its two main focus areas are: Creating athlete pathways for people with a disability by breaking down the barriers within disability and non-disability specific sport structures. It does this by forming partnerships at national, state and local levels to address critical issues that affect the participation of people with a disability. These issues are being addressed in Disability Action Plans, which form the basis of support services provided through Sports CONNECT.
AISL is one of over 15 National Sports Organisations (NSOs) which have been successful in a bid for Sports CONNECT support through their Principal Partner, the Australian Sports Commission, to promote the inclusion of people with disabilities in their sports.
Sports Connect Charter with PSQ – 2013 Sports CONNECT Charter.pdf
PSQ’s Commitment to Sports Connect ‘Pistol Shooting Queensland (PSQ) is committed to promoting inclusive opportunities within its’ member bodies and supporting opportunities for shooters with a disability.’
PSQ adheres to inclusive competitions when possible, along with the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) events. The IPC events give our athletes with a disability the pathway through to the Paralympics. Athletes are able to receive ‘classification’, which qualifies the level of support athletes are able to receive in the chair they use in competition.
All this information is available in the ‘Inclusive Shooting Toolkit’ – Classification for International Paralympic Shooting Events.
The AISL ‘Inclusive Shooting Toolkit’ booklet is available through our clubs or PSQ.
A Success story in the making….
Chris commenced pistol shooting approximately 5 years ago, started to get interested in competitions and enjoyed shooting alongside the able body competitors. Someone suggested to him that his ability was showing some success and he might like to try to go further. So he started participating in some higher level competitions including AISL Aus Cups. He qualified for the Pistol Australia National Performance Squad and attended training camps that enthused his appetite for wanting to achieve more.
And where is he today…February 2013…a member of both PA and AISL National Squads, participating at another Australia Cup in Sydney, has been selected to represent Australia and compete at an International Paralympic Committee (IPC) World Cup in Poland and Thailand during 2013!
Chris departed Melbourne on 13th April to compete in his first World Cup. We will be following his progress throughout the competition and be assured we will get him to share some of his story when he returns.
Chris’s story has so much more to add, which will get done soon