By Callum Ludwig
Sharpshooting Warburton resident and Lilydale High School student Ben De Pedro has returned from Spain after representing Australia in the Universal Trench World Championships in August.
17-year-old Ben was part of the three-man Junior team which won Gold in the team rankings while he also finished a spectacular seventh overall in the individual rankings.
Ben said it was amazing and he loved his time competing over there.
“The shooting is more looked upon there, as well as Italy, so it was a better atmosphere over there, as well as shooting with some of the best shooters in the world,” he said.
“It felt great to shoot well over there, especially as the rest of the team shot great as well.”
Ben hit a total of 185 of his 200 total targets, only nine behind first place overall.
Universal trench, also known as ‘five-trap’, involves targets being shot up from one of a group of five traps installed in a trench in front of the shooter. 25 targets per round are shot out at different angles, elevations and speeds and the athlete gets only two shots to hit it and score a single point.
Ben said on the first day he was very nervous.
“I performed quite well after that so I felt good, definitely felt a bit more relaxed after that first day,” he said.
“I’d love to keep going overseas to shoot more, I want to keep competing to be the best I can.”
Ben’s first experience with shooting was by getting involved in the clay shooting club offered at Lilydale High School, going on to join, train and compete at the Melbourne Gun Club in Yering before his international ventures.
Ben said he picked up a few tips and tricks over in Spain too.
“It was just certain techniques and things I could do to prepare, during the comp in Italy prior there were a few days where I struggled with the first target of the round and the Australian shotgun coach said that I should try visualising the targets before I shoot, so imagining myself shooting them and that helped a lot,” he said.
“You just gotta know you can shoot them and do the same thing, it’s all about consistency, doing the same thing over and over because if one thing’s different, that’s what could cost you the target.”
