SHOOTING star By Joe Novella Photos Yanni
T
he Peninsula has produced many sports stars over the years and is a well-known nursery for talented athletes in sports like Aussie rules, football, netball and cricket, and now it can add shooting to the list. Yes, there is a thriving shooting community here on the Peninsula helping to nurture and develop talent like 17-year-old Mount Martha resident, Ollie Zielezna, who is already hitting the target on the international stage.
Ollie began his love affair with the sport of clay target shooting from a very young age. “I got into shooting through my dad,” said Ollie. “Dad used to shoot a bit back in his twenties, but stopped and settled down when a family came along to look after, which is a very common narrative in the shooting community.
“Even after the family came along, Dad would still go and have the odd shot at the Mornington Clay Target Club, so I tagged along once when I was old enough to have a go, which was at age 12. I instantly got hooked on pulling a trigger and watching targets break.” Ollie’s progression through the shooting ranks has been nothing short of meteoric, having won or placed in numerous junior state and national titles over the years. His name now engraved on trophies alongside legends of the sport like Michael Diamond and Russell Mark. 2023 has been an especially busy and fruitful year for the young shooter, winning the DTL (Down the Line) Pointscore and Junior Macintosh titles at the Junior Nationals, and then winning selection to represent Australia as a junior at the International Clay Target Shooting Federation (ICTSF) World Championships in Cape Town, South Africa. He came fourth in the world, a result he considers the highlight of his career so far. “Representing Australia is pretty special,” said Ollie, “and something that I certainly don’t take for granted. It’s definitely pretty cool to be shooting internationally amongst the best in the world and flying the flag for the Aussies back home.” Ollie gained more international shooting experience in July 2023, with a visit to Changwon, South Korea, to be part of the U18 Men’s Trap Team representing Australia at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Junior Championships. “Changwon really showcased how good the best under 21s in the world are. It was definitely a good learning experience for me as I didn’t shoot a score that I was overall happy with, but I figured out a few strengths and weaknesses that I wasn’t aware of before the competition and now I can get back to the training grounds and turn those weaknesses into strengths.” Ollie will have plenty of opportunity to put into practice what he has learned at the upcoming ISSF National and Commonwealth titles in Brisbane in January 2024, followed by the Australian Clay Target Association’s DTL Nationals, which will be in March in Wagga Wagga. He’ll also aim to qualify for either the junior or senior team heading to England for the ICTSF World DTL titles later in 2024. And of course, he dreams of representing and winning gold for Australia at an Olympic Games one day.
E ssence
14 | PENINSULA
September 2023