Growing up on a farm in the Free State, Jaco Zandberg learned to shoot from the womb.
After nurturing his talent and a sharp eye, he has now been selected to represent South Africa in the United States of America.
Trap shooting is one of the three major disciplines of competitive clay pigeon shooting (shooting shotguns at clay targets). The other disciplines are skeet shooting and sporting clays.
Zandberg is hoping to compete in the America Grand Trap Shoot that will be hosted in Illinois. Unfortunately, because this is not a sponsored trip, Zandberg has to raise the funds for flights and accommodation to participate.
He took up professional shooting five years ago when he joined the Gauteng Central Team. With his impressive scores, he was selected as captain of the trap shooting discipline team in 2016 and 2017.
To qualify for the national team, each of the country’s provinces hosts a shooting competition. A competition usually consists of 100 targets and the best 10 scores from all the competitions are taken into consideration but to be selected, a shooter must have an average above 94 per cent.
“The problem in South Africa is financial, especially for sports that are not televised,” said Zandberg. “In America for example, a guy will shoot 200 targets every day of the week. I, on the other hand, have only shot about 1 200 targets this year. You start off with a gun that costs over R100 000, a round of clay is between R50 and R100 and ammunition is R120 a packet.”
Although Zandberg is partly sponsored by Northwold Spar, he is still short of funds to be able to compete in America. But the financial strain of his favourite sport has never gotten in the way of his achievements.
“With financial issues, it’s been a struggle but this is something I love. I started doing this is a hobby and when I realised I have a knack for it, from there on I practised for two years.
The shooting part gets easier but the mental bit gets tougher because if your head is not in it, you won’t get a good score. In trap, losing one bird can cost you the whole competition.”
His flight is scheduled for the 29 July with the competition starting from 1 to 11 August.
To assist, contact Zandberg on 082 815 1733 or donate to FNB, the account number is 62772226760 and the code is 250655. The account name is ATA GRAND TOUR USA.
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