Hot shot: Col Bruce Scott will be applying the marksmanship principles at the Commonwealth Games. Photo by Cpl Damian Shovell

Gold quest: Col Bruce Scott. Photo by Cpl Damian Shovell

By Cpl Damian Shovell

AN ARMY shooter has his sights firmly set on gold for next year’s Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.

Reservist and Commandant of RTC-NQ Col Bruce Scott has made selection to compete for Australia at the games, joining Victorian James Corbett as the two long-range target rifle shooters in the 29-member Australian Shooting Team, which includes shot gun, pistol and rifle shooters.

Col Scott will take on the Commonwealth’s best in pairs and individual events.

He will contest the pairs’ match shot over 300, 500, 600, 900 and 1000 yards on March 19; the individual short-range event, shot twice over 300, 500 and 600 yards, on March 21; and the individual long-range event, with 15 shots at 900 and 1000 yards on March 23.

He expects some strong competition, but remains confident.

“There’s [no competitor] that I’m really worried about, but I know in the pairs the Irish are exceptionally good, and in the individual event the two English competitors are exceptional and the New Zealanders are very tough,” he said.

Col Scott’s passion for shooting began as a school cadet, which led him to take it up as his primary sport when he was an officer cadet at Portsea in 1975. He narrowly missed out on selection for the 2002 Commonwealth Games after he finished fifth in the Australian selection final, where only the top two were asked to compete.

Since discharging from the ARA in 2001 after more than 27 years, he has spent much of his time concentrating on getting ready for the 2006 games.

“I knew [in 2001] that I have the ability to do it, but it’s just a case of instead of giving myself 18 months preparation, I gave myself four years preparation for this one,” he said.

During the past few years he’s won several events, including the Victorian Open Championship, and was selected in the Australian team at the World Long Range Championships in 2003, before placing second at the National Championships in 2004 and fourth in 2005.

In June he was also in the Australian team that won the Australian match with a record score.

Col Scott also recently won silver at the Oceania Championships in Brisbane – being defeated only on count-back by New Zealander and 2002 Commonwealth bronze medal winner Di Collings.

He said his preparation for the Games would continue to be rigorous, having recently completed a week-long training camp with Mr Corbett in Bendigo (the venue for the game’s shooting events), during which he competed in, and won, the Castlemaine Championships, before travelling to Canberra where he won the 2005 ACT Grand Championship.

He also plans to compete at the New Zealand Championships in January before attending another training camp in Bendigo with Mr Corbett in early February, followed by the Victorian Championships.

But his preparation isn’t just shooting, Col Scott’s training regimen also includes swimming 1600m four days a week – to build upper body strength – and cycling.

“I still have another level of fitness to get to yet, but I’m pretty confident that I’ve got as good a chance as I’ll ever have [of winning gold],” he said.

But perhaps surprisingly, Col Scott said the most important discipline in shooting was mental training to achieve the focus and relaxation required each time he took to the mound.

“In shooting, once you’ve got the technique right, it’s all about repeating the perfect shot – and you can train people to repeat the perfect shot, and from there it’s 95 per cent mental.”

He said with the aid of coach Don Brook he had honed the ability to remove all distractions and pressures of competition from his mind as he considered such things as wind direction and mirage, or his rhythm and general shooting.

This skill will become apparent at the Games when all competitors will be on the mound at the same time, with two shooters firing on to the one target alternately.

“I have to get into the zone – for every shot I have to get into the zone. It’s not getting into the zone for a match, it’s getting into the zone for every shot, and that takes mental dexterity.”

He said his custom-built 7.62 target rifle would also need some fine tuning before the event to adjust for the factory-made Winchester ammunition, which will be issued on the mound.

“I’m working on making sure my rifle is capable of shooting the best groups possible.”

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