Annual Awards Voting - Emerging Shooter of the Year

My name is Kallum Burrell, I am 18 years old and live in a small village called Sibsey in east Lincolnshire. I am currently studying for my A-levels, at Boston Grammar School, with the hope of studying sport and exercise science at Loughborough University. With the final aim of becoming a coach or teacher. I also work part time on a large Vegetable farm called Staples Vegetables during school holidays and weekends when I’m not busy competing.

I started my competitive shooting career in March 2019 at Grimsthorpe Estate Shooting ground. Coming forward to 2021, it has been my most successful season so far, as I have won both the junior and overall Sportrap world title, as well as securing my place in the England sporting team for San Antonio, Texas in April. All of which would not have been possible without the support and guidance from my coach, John Lee.

Looking back, I have come a long way in such a short period of time; of which I am looking to build on further over the coming seasons by traveling abroad to experience the variety of targets set across the different countries and events as well as meeting new people. I also aim to retain my place within the England team for the next international event following San Antonio in April, as well as retaining my world title whilst in San Antonio. I believe that my hard work can be shown through the acquisition of my first two sponsors, Ascenso Tyres and East of England Shooting Ground, who are helping support me through these next steps and are as excited as I am to see where these steps lead us.

My name is Darcy McBride, I am 17 years old and from Hertfordshire.  I have been shooting since I was 9, and train with my coach Philip Thorrold.  You may recognise me as being one the CPSA Young Shots for 2021.  Although this has now come to an end, it has been a huge honour to represent our Association for this year and I would like to thank them and the associated sponsors for their support.   The 2020 shooting season was a game changer for me, it was the first year my training had started to pay off and I realised I could contend in competitions at a high Level.  I managed to achieve 1^st Place in Juniors at The Churchill Cup, 1^st Place in both Colts and A Class at The Beretta Worlds and only 5 weeks after turning 16 years old and changing category from Colts to Juniors - I won the Junior Title at The British Open.  This is undoubtedly a massive highlight not just in my shooting career but my life in general and it’s a day I’ll never forget.  Having had a successful 2020, the pressure to build on my success in 2021 was immense but I’m pleased with how I have ended the season.  A few 2021 highlights include 1^st in Colts at The Beretta Worlds, 1st in Sportrap in both A Class and Juniors and 3^rd in Juniors ESP at The Clay Shooting Classic.  Junior Champion at the Lyalvale Express Sportrap Masters and Hertfordshire ESP Junior Champion.  I have also just moved into AA Class classification.  I am looking forward to the 2022 season ahead which will see me training harder and hopefully once again build on my successes whilst also sitting my A Level Exams.

Most of you may already know who I am and

may know my story, but for those of you who

don't; I am an 18-year-old ABT, 

UT and OT shooter from Staffordshire. I started off my shooting journey within DTL. I had many successes within this discipline including 3rd overall at the English Open in 2020, and a plethora of wins within both lady and junior categories. July 2020, I began shooting ABT. I quickly picked up the discipline and began winning medals almost immediately. I also made the England ABT Ladies team this year for the Home Internationals, where the England ladies

were the winning team. Phil Sanders from Park Farm also suggested that I try out for the Great Britain team for UT. After only shooting UT for a few months, I made the GB junior team where, as a team, we won junior team bronze at the World Championships in Spain in 2021. I also began shooting OT in 2021 as I set myself the goal of one day making the Olympics. After shooting OT only three or four times, I won junior lady gold at the British Shooting Shotgun Series after a final under ISSF rules. I have since gone on to win various other medals within this discipline. The 2021 season didn't start off on the best of terms after losing my Mum in January, so I am pleased about what I have achieved in order to make her proud. In 2022, I am hoping to compete in the OT Junior World Cup in Suhl, and hopefully many other international competitions. Finally, I would like to say thank you to everyone who have helped me to get to this stage within my shooting journey. I hope I am worthy of your vote

I am really grateful to have been nominated for Emerging shooter of the year award 2021. I have been shooting for a few years now but this year I was really pleased to increase my average by 9% and also win medals at most of the major shoots I took part in; something I didn’t expect to happen for my first year shooting competitively. In 2021 I won Bronze at The British Masters Compak, British Open English Sporting and The World English sporting and at the English Open Sportrap I won a Silver Medal. 

My highlight of the year was winning the English Open FITASC Colts Title because it was my first ever time shooting FITASC. I really enjoyed the shoot, even though I thought it was difficult on some layouts, as it was at one of my favourite grounds Barbury Shooting School. I also was very excited to win Colts and C class at the Cheddite Championships back in May 2021, because I was very surprised to beat some really good shooters at such a big event. I would like to say thank you to Mum and Dad and everyone else in my family for taking me to all the shoots and Caesar Guerini, Swatcom and Teague Chokes for supporting me this year.  

It would mean so much to me if I was to win Emerging shooter of the year because I love shooting and hope that I can carry on shooting for the rest of my life.  

Hello, I’m Harry and I am 15 years old. I was brought up in a shooting household but didn’t

show any interest until my 13th birthday. My parents took me to a sporting shoot on Sundays

twice a month and I really enjoyed it. After 4 months of shooting, I entered the Purdey Young

Shots Sporting competition at the Royal Berkshire Shooting School and despite being the

least experienced, I was pleased to win.

From there I got the bug for competing and wanted to see what other disciplines there were.

We met with Tony Higham a CPSA instructor at the National Clay Shooting Centre and he

introduced me to DTL, English Skeet and Olympic Trap. My first attempt at Olympic Trap I

shot 7/25, it was definitely the hardest discipline, but I was hooked, and I love its challenges.

I took part in my first CPSA registered OT competition in January 2020 and from then on, I

practiced 3/4 times a week, including going straight from school until they closed. Often

being the last one there. Covid hit and everything stopped. This was the time I realised that I

would like to see how far I can take this. My dream is to shoot for GB and one day shoot at

the Olympics.

It was May 2020 that my parents looked at taking on a coach for me and I was invited to meet

Matthew Coward-Holley. After a few rounds of DTL I was extremely pleased that despite his

own heavy shooting schedule, he took me on and has coached me ever since.

My first full year of competing has been a great success for me and below is my best

achievements in 2021 -

. English Open ABT Colt Champion

. British Shooting Bronze in a selection shoot

. British Shooting Pathway Championships - Silver

. Berkshire OT Overall Champion

. Berkshire ABT Colt Champion

. New OT PB

I love my shooting and spend all my spare time at a ground training. I am driven to make my

dreams come true.