Let me take you back to 2010. In spite of the success of the GB team at the Beijing Olympics, exposure of women’s sport was still – let’s face it – practically non-existent, and a 16-year-old Faye’s only decent experiences with sport had been a few fencing sessions, two seasons spent on the secondary school basketball team and a term playing compulsory hockey. Considering I had been in education for 11 years by this point, that’s a startlingly tiny proportion. So I think it’s safe to say that sport was not my forte, and I was well on my way to becoming an academic rather than an athlete. Ok, admittedly, shooting isn’t your regular sport. It doesn’t require peak physical fitness, it doesn’t benefit from huge quantities of media coverage, and it can, unfortunately, be affected by severe negativity by those who aren’t particularly well educated in the true nature of the sport. So I can only really say that it was luck that got me into it.

That year I secured a part-time job at a local shooting ground; being the obsessive pedant that I am, I figured that I should learn about gun safety in order to be most efficient in my role. From that first day with a gun in my hands, I was hooked! Thing is, you’d expect working at a shooting ground to be a benefit to a new shooter: sadly, it wasn’t. After all, you need to make money to spend money, and to be honest, putting myself through sixth-form, then university required a significant amount of hours working and studying rather than shooting. It meant that for the first three or four years, I could only get out to shoot perhaps once or twice a month; but I persevered. Partly because I enjoyed it, partly because it was the only thing I could ever beat my father at!

Fast forward to seven years later, and a twenty-something Faye has just embarked on her newest shooting adventure; training for Olympic Skeet on the British Shooting Talent Pathway. My project, therefore, is to raise money to help me fund training, equipment, and travel costs. Cartridges and petrol are expensive! But, it is something I couldn’t not have in my life. Shooting is a wonderful sport, and I am so excited to continue this next chapter of my sports career.

(All Photo Credit to George Wills. instagram.com/geowillsgb)