The Smith farm at Bookaar in south-west Victoria is home to the usual cows, pastures and machinery — plus a shooting range that is training a potential Olympic champion.
Clay target shooter Penny Smith has qualified for the Tokyo Olympics and during COVID-19 restrictions hasn’t had far to go to train.
Born and raised on the farm, Penny simply walks into the backyard where her father Michael has built a trap shooting range able to simulate what she will encounter at Tokyo in late July.
The cows and even the horses don’t mind the noise and Penny has maintained her training routine through the pandemic as she prepares to fulfil a nine-year dream of competing in the Olympics.
At the same time, she continues to help around the farm and maintains a job leading the customer service team and as a lifeguard and swimming coach at the Colac Leisure Centre.
The 25-year-old is talented in everything from football to horse riding — her first passion — and found her niche in shooting by accident.
“Shooting wasn’t something I had an interest in growing up; horse riding was my passion,” she said.
“I fell into it through my brother Andrew when I was 13 or 14 years old.”
Andrew survived a bad motorbike accident and was advised by his parents to take up something safer. He chose shooting and recruited Penny to join a school competition.
“I said I’d help make up a team and was only going to do it for a bit of fun,” she said.
“One thing led to another and I went to the nationals and had some success and then wanted some more success.”
That success led to solo and mixed team world titles won in Italy, Russia, Finland and India, but being selected in the Olympics team is the pinnacle of her career so far.
“I qualified in March 2019 before COVID wiped out everything,” she said.
“It was disappointing but I changed a few things with my shooting and it probably benefitted me through having more time to consolidate those things I changed.”
Two females and two males make up the shotgun trap team, with Penny joining competitors from Melbourne, Albury and Sydney.
During COVID-19 restrictions, Penny spent more time at home on the farm helping to raise calves, milk cows and do whatever else was needed while fitting in as much practice as possible around her work schedule.
“I was so lucky to have this range,” she said.
“It started with a down-the-line layout then Dad put a 20-foot shipping container in the ground that shoots out the traps for simulated training.
“It would have killed me living in town during COVID; I was so fortunate to have something on the farm so I can continue training.”
The traps fly about 78 metres and 1.5 to three metres high at up to 100 km kilometres an hour. The 130 British Friesian cows on the 81-hectare family farm aren’t in the firing line, and don’t seem to mind the noise.
“The cows are all pretty good,” Penny said.
“They’re used to the shooting now; even the horses don’t blink an eye at it.”
Penny said dedication, persistence, practice and good hand-eye coordination were essential to her success.
“Anyone can shoot, it’s just a matter of how much time you want to spend to get to the top.”
While she has enjoyed great success nationally and internationally, Penny said the Olympics was the pinnacle.
“It’s where everyone wants to be with the best of the best athletes. Tokyo was always the goal.
“I had an eight-year plan that has been bumped out to nine years; that’s how long it has taken me.”
Despite the ongoing pandemic, Penny is confident the Olympics will happen.
“We’re being reassured by our higher body it will go ahead,” she said.
“We have to keep going forward in life and learn to live with and manage the virus.”
While not getting ahead of herself with expectations, Penny was the first to qualify for the Australian team with a 12-shot buffer, overcoming her disappointment of missing the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
The top scorer in the selection series qualifies automatically but the second position is at Shooting Australia’s discretion.
“I missed the Commonwealth Games in 2018,” she said.
“I was second but missed selection to the third-place getter and I was determined to take that out of the equation this time.
“That was the driving force to push me forward to finish first.”