Target Shooting at Wellington

Target Shooting works closely with the College Combined Cadet Force and encourages participants to be cadets and gain selection for National Cadet overseas touring teams. It is available to all pupils of any age and gender within College and no previous experience is necessary. All necessary equipment and rifles are supplied for those starting, with recommendations to purchase kit for those who stay on after a couple of terms.

Target shooting is conducted initially in the College smallbore rifle range situated just behind the school armoury at the bottom of Chapel Hill and then progresses in the summer term to outdoor large calibre shooting at the world renowned National Shooting Centre at Bisley where Wellington have their own pavilion.

Shooting is both a team and individual sport and requires the participant to enhance many personal skills such as concentration, fitness, muscle control, mental agility, breathing, planning and engagement with others. Coaching is conducted by current Great Britain team participants of the highest level and a high percentage of Wellington College pupils attain England and GB places in their latter years at College or soon after.

We run a preseason camp during the Easter break, prior to the start of the Summer term, and we run a second camp focussed on National competitions during the first few weeks of the Summer break. The preseason Easter Camp is normally five to six days long and prepares the shooters for the summer outdoor season, as competitions commence immediately once the term starts. College teams compete in events throughout the summer, usually on a weekend, with all leading up to the main Summer Camp in July when the coveted Ashburton Shield youth shooting (a National Youth event) events take place, followed by the National Imperial meeting. All school shooters who are competent will partake in the Youth shooting events for the Ashburton, which last five days, and those of a higher level will be invited to shoot the Imperial meeting, the National competition, lasting ten days. This usually takes place in the summer break in the middle two weeks of July, and pupils who are shooters tend to sacrifice some of their holiday time for these incredible events.

The Ashburton is the highest school and youth shooting award in the country, and requires a well prepared, well drilled, team of dedicated shooters. It is a huge honour to represent your school in this event, and to gain a podium place is a true testament to their shooting skill and teamwork. Wellington have won this 5 times in the last 13 years and been in the top 3 a further four times. The Imperial meeting is the biggest target shooting event in the world with over 1000 competitors from many countries in attendance. Wellington pupils compete amongst this number and achieve outstanding results but they only get there by training hard, developing their personal skills and putting in the time required. Selection for international touring teams is based off Imperial meeting performance, with touring teams having gone to The Channel Islands, Canada, America, Australia, South Africa, and parts of the West Indies. Whilst there currently isn’t any cadet touring teams, there is hope that youth touring teams will available in the coming year.

Unfortunately shooting is a costly sport and although pupils are subsidised to a large extent by College and the CCF there are still overheads to cover for the camps and some events.

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