Over the last week, Shooting Australia, hosted its inaugural Trans-Tasman camp at the Brisbane International Shooting Centre. The camp brought together 15 para-athletes from Australia and New Zealand, with the goal of enhancing practical skills and fostering connections amongst international talent and national programs.
The camp was attended by 3 New Zealand and 12 Australian athletes, as well as support staff and national coaches from the two largest national shooting sport programs in Oceania. The Australian attendees included current high-performance program athletes and national squad members, as well as talent transfer athletes, who have recently been introduced to target shooting sports and who have high-performance experience in other sports.
The camp also aligned with the BISC Open pistol and rifle competition, offering athletes access to a quality domestic competition. Additionally, this competition showcased the integration of the target shooting sports, demonstrating Shooting Australia’s continued efforts to increase the accessibility of domestic events for para-athletes, enabling men, women, able and para-athletes to compete alongside each other.
The Trans-Tasman camp was the first of an intended series of Paralympics Australia and Paralympics New Zealand endorsed events, which intend to increase the number and development of para shooting athletes in the Oceania region, ahead of the Brisbane 2032 Paralympic Games. Trans-Tasman camps will occur twice annually, alternating between Australia and New Zealand.
Speaking to the success of the Trans-Tasman Camp, Shooting Australia’s Precision Program Manager and Para Technical Lead, Catherine Berry, highlighted, “It’s been fantastic to have the New Zealand Para Team come across, and to have them join our new and experienced Para athletes for the Trans-Tasman Camp.”
“Our goal with this camp was to help both parties train for international competition and to build a relationship between our programs, athletes and support staff, so that we can continue to work together in the future.”
New Zealand Para Team Leader and athlete, Neelam O’Neill, explained “This opportunity to come over for the Trans-Tasman Camp has been amazing, especially for our up-and-coming New Zealand Para athletes.”
“It’s been a great opportunity to put all of our skills together and work towards building our sport as one, so we can hopefully represent a bigger group at the 2032 Paralympics here in Brisbane.”
The camp coincides with Shooting Australia’s increased focus and commitment to developing its Paralympic Program and athletes ahead of the LA 2028 and Brisbane 2032 Paralympic Games.
As Shooting Australia CEO, Adam Sachs, stated, “The Trans-Tasman Camp reflects Shooting Australia’s increased commitment of resources and development opportunities to the para program. The development of competitive para-athletes will be a key focus as we aim to maximise our qualification numbers and overall performance scores at the LA 2028 Paralympic Games. This growth will be an important springboard for the development of our Paralympic team in Brisbane in 2032.”
The development of the Paralympic program and the identification of future para talent has been a core focus for Shooting Australia so far in 2025, with events such as the Para Talent Transfer Camp in February and the May National Classification Day demonstrating this commitment. This will continue to be a priority throughout the remainder of 2025 through events such as the South Australia Sport Institute (SASI) Come and Try Day in July and the second National Classification Day in October.
