By XAVIER SMERDON
A POINT Cook mother has her sights set on one goal, to represent her country in her unusual sport.
Anna Shedrina moved to Sanctuary Lakes just over two years ago before her son was born and was recently selected for the Commonwealth Games Shadow Team for trap shooting.
Along with six other women from around Australia she is vying for two places in the Commonwealth Games team.
Earlier this month Ms Shedrina competed at the Australian Masters Games and walked away with a gold medal in every event she entered.
Currently ranked fourth in Australia for trap shooting, at just 31-years-old and after just eight years in the sport she is a good chance to achieve her dream of representing her country.
But Ms Shedrina said sport did not come naturally to her and she felt lucky to have discovered shooting.
“As a kid, I was pretty average at every sport I tried. I had never won a trophy or a medal, which made me want that more than anything else.
“Those blue ribbons you get when you win at school sport were very elusive. While others walked around with 10 of them plastered onto their chest, I’d never won one. I found one on the ground once and kept it.
“It turns out that I just hadn’t tried the sport that I was good at yet.”
Since discovering shooting Ms Shedrina, who also works three jobs, has become addicted to the sport and it now occupies all her spare time.
She even set up an ammunition manufacturing business with her partner, Bronze Wing Ammunition, where she works as a finance manager.
She said the thrill of beating her competitors is what she loved the most about the sport.
“The feeling that you get when you have a win. The satisfaction you feel to have all your hard work pay off – it never gets old,” she said.
“It’s been eight years since (I discovered shooting) and I’ve barely had a weekend away from it. Now, it’s my life – my recreation, my sport and most of my work is related to shooting.”
