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Ron leads by example at
Inclusive Target Club
Pembrokeshiresport.co.uk has always tried to promote the belief that there is sport available for almost everybody in our community and Ron Hovell, from Saundersfoot, is living proof of that view since, although he admits to being 60 and has spinal damage he is a very active Hon Secretary and air-rifle shooter in the Modern Print Inclusive Target Club.
They are the only club in Pembrokeshire which competes in the disciplined sport of 10 Metre Olympic Target Shooting and also have a section dedicated to pistol shooting and host competitions in the Pembroke Pistol League which attracts entries from as far afield as Bridgend and Cardiff, but more of that later.
Most importantly, the club not only has a very strict code of conduct as they meet twice-weekly at Pennar Community School in Pembroke Dock, but they have a strong section for the disabled, who are actively encouraged to take part – and recently hosted a day where blind participants were able to benefit from the highly technical equipment which the club now has.
Newcomers, both able and disabled are made to feel very welcome and the first visit is totally free to see if it suits and thereafter a very reasonable charge is made for the Monday and Thursday sessions from 6-9pm. Ron is ever-ready to give advice and his contribution to the club was recognised at the 2008 Pembrokeshire Sport awards as he received a runners-up trophy for all his hard work.
Desperate for settled premises to help disabled
Indeed, it is Ron’s major aim that the club could find suitable premises where this equipment, which needs careful erection, could be left standing permanently for use by blind or partially sighted people and if there is anyone out there who could offer a space of at least 15 metres long and ten metres wide then Ron would certainly be delighted to hear from you!
There are currently 23 members, ranging from 11 to 78 and included in that total is Daniel Court, a smashing young shooter who is making a huge name for himself in target shooting circles and has already achieved an amazing score of 585 out of a maximum 600 to show just how good he is.
Ron is club secretary and has Alan Gibby as an excellent chairman/treasurer, with the only qualified female Range Co-ordinating Officers certified by the National Small-Bore Rifle Association. Their role is to ensure safety at all times and no-one is allowed to fire a shot without their express permission – and they were trained thanks to a Community Chest grant which also enabled the club to purchase their air-rifle equipment for the blind.
Disabled shooters heavily involved
There are currently eight disabled shooters at the club and they include someone who had a stroke, two with spinal injuries and another in a wheelchair. He also points out that there is an excellent paraplegic shooter, with the Three Counties Club in Carmarthen, who was injured playing rugby, who uses his chin to site the gun and is really committed to his sport.
Ron suffers from a spinal injury and has an NSRA exemption certificate which allows him to sit on a stool when he is shooting in a competition, where participants have to fire 60 shots at a target ten metres away in 105 minutes, which sounds plenty of time but goes by very quickly. He has been shooting for 25 years and last season hit a score of 515 at Bisley, which pleased him greatly.
Qualities needed
Ask Ron about qualities needed to be a good shooter and his answer is unequivocal:
“Like most sports it is won and lost in the mind since concentration is a principle requirement,” he tells us, “hand and eye co-ordination can be taught, as can other skills but total focus is what makes the top marksmen. It’s the same with the rifles, which are 4.5mm air-compressed free-charging rifles with the cylinder underneath the barrel and can cost as much as £3,000 for top models since the gun should fit the shooter and not the other way round. We supply rifles for starting but often a marksman reaches a plateau where he needs to look at what he’s shooting with.”
Clay-pigeon start for Ron
Prior to his involvement with air pistols Ron enjoyed clay-pigeon shooting at his home in Croydon, Surrey, and also competed with the old muzzle-loading ‘black-powder’ pistols, and also enjoyed his motor cross, snooker and darts before coming to Wales. His wife Kay doesn’t compete but is a great support to him and, like many other wives, is happy to make refreshments for competitions!
Postal pistol club on the up and up
Going back to the Pembroke Pistol League run by Ron and Co it is a very interesting concept
where the targets are posted out to participating clubs and officers there mark them after firing and return them to Ron to collate the results. It naturally involves trust and as Ron says,
“If anyone cheated they would only be cheating themselves. Administrators like Dave Finnemore (Cardiff) and Clive Davies (Bridgend) typify the sportsman-like approach and a great benefit of this league is that it cuts down on travel. I know there is a great deal of fair-play and heaps of interest in taking part.”
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