Emily Bale
Emily is the youngest member of the Bale family, with two brothers and one sister shooting and very competitive; she was not going to let them all have the fun. Emily started shooting at the age of eleven at Braunton Target Shooting Club, she had wanted to start earlier at the age of ten but because of Emily's small frame she had to wait. Every week down the club with Jack and Dean, Emily was listening and learning, waiting for her chance to compete against her brothers. She started shooting Sporter air rifle for the Scouts and was invited to shoot for the National Scout Squad. With both her brothers in the Great Britain Junior Rifle Squad, the coaches started taking a close look at her and she was soon to be a member of the GB Rifle Squad. All the coaches were impressed with her drive and willingness to learn and implement what she had learned. It did not take long for Emily to start winning competitions and giving her brothers more competition.
She soon moved onto precision air rifle, well jacket, trousers, school shoes and still using the Sporter air rifle. At the Geoff Partridge competition held at Wolverhampton, Emily aged 13 shot well and confidently with an average of 94 ex100. This was mentioned to the organiser (Steve Downs) of the competition by his wife. Steve had a chat with Emily and invited her to come along to a TENS Academy training weekend. Emily was over the moon, as this meant she would be the first out of the family to get into TENS Academy. TENS is Team England National Squad.
Emily changed from using her Sporter rifle for a Precision air rifle that Braunton Target Shooting Club had. This loan was to help her to start winning competitions under the ISSF Precision air rifle rules. Emily soon started winning medals in not only national but international matches as well.
Emily went to the Netherlands to shoot in the Intershoot 2014 competition for the GB Junior Squad; unfortunately she was not in the selected GB junior team. Emily had a great shoot and gained a place in the final of her first international match overseas. She came out in 6th place and is determined to go to the Intershoot competition next year as part of the selected team and to get into the final again. Later in the year she went to Oldenburg with the GB Junior Rifle Squad on their annual tour and was awarded Best Shooter of the Match by the Oldenburg organisers.
In the 2014 British Air Gun Championship in February, the organisers had decided not to have a junior class competition. This change meant that the juniors where up against the seniors. This didn’t faze Emily and ended the Qualifying Match in the top eight to earn her a place in the final. This has been a very busy and successful 2014 for Emily, but with her determination and desire to improve she is looking to be an athlete we will see in even more finals in the future.
