Australian junior Josh Collard showed that the future of men’s trap shooting is in safe hands with an excellent performance at the Australian Clay Target Association National Championships last weekend in Lake Macquarie.

Collard, who in the first of two events shot an impressive 116 before finishing 5^th in the final, backed it up with his first ever Performance Qualifying Score in the final event.

The Victorian youngster, who in 2011 made his first appearance at a world championship with a solid 114 in Belgrade, Serbia, has improved greatly over the past 12 months and has begun to show signs he could succeed at the highest level.

Collard is part of the Focus 2016 Squad, which has become a large part of AISL’s planning and his improvement, is a clear sign that this strategy is beginning to bear fruit.

Collard shot rounds of 25, 24, 24, 23 and 25 in the national title event to beat his previous personal best by three targets and enter the final in first place.

The 19 year old hit 18 targets in the final to finish behind Glenn Kable, Daniel Di Pietro, Michael Diamond and Frank Minici, but the experience he gained from the four days of competition will hold him in good stead for the future.

Collard says his improvement over the past months can be attributed to a number of factors.

“I have found that my concentration and consistency has been a large part of my improvement,” Collard said. “I was shooting 25 consistently in practice but couldn’t quite transfer that in competitions over five rounds.

“To be able to shoot with the more experienced shooters in competition such as Michael Diamond and Adam Vella is really beneficial.

“You see how they prepare and how relaxed they are and it helps to calm you down.”

Collard said more work away from the shooting range is helping his improvement.

“I’ve started doing a lot more physical activity over the past few months. The better physical shape you are in reflects your scores on the range, and this will be a key focus for me moving forward.”

Collard’s next major event on the clay target calendar will come at Aus Cup 1 which will be held in Adelaide from February 17-19.