Walstra crowned top shot in Alberta

Tyler Lowey
Times Reporter

 

Strathmore’s Sam Walstra is locked and loaded after a brilliant showing at the Alberta Handgun Association & Alberta Smallbore Rifle Association’s 2017 Alberta Air Gun Provincials in Sylvan Lake, Alta. Now, she’s taking aim at the national level.
Competing in the provincial championships that ran Jan. 28, Walstra, 15, sniped the gold medal in the junior category of 10m air rifle, along with finishing third overall.
An outstanding haul for any athlete, but especially impressive considering that Walstra is brand new to the sport.
“I got a membership to the Calgary Rifle and Pistol Club (CRPC) for my 13th birthday and I was hooked,” said Walstra. “I was just shooting there one day and one of the coaches there recommended that I start competing.”
It didn’t take long for Walstra to catch on.
Last year, she earned the most improved shooter. Remarkably, one year later, she captured the honours again, marking the first time a shooter has ever won back-to-back most improved awards in the history of the Alberta Smallbore Rifle Association.
While the medals and most improved awards are great, Walstra’s greatest accomplishment was when she was named Alberta Shooter of the Year at provincials in Sylvan Lake.
“It was kind of cool to see all my hard work paying off; growing as a beginner and moving up to the higher levels,” said Walstra. “It just goes to show that hard work does pay off and can lead me to where I want to go.”
In the eyes of one of her coaches, Karl Schulze, he isn’t surprised at all by her rise to dominance.
“I’m not shocked at all by her results,” said Schulze, who has been a coach at CPRC for five years. “From the get-go she had the determination to excel and was committed to the sport.”
Living in Strathmore, Walstra only makes it out to the range two times a week. The rest of her time at home is spent working on her stance, practicing breathing techniques and firing air bullets.
Standing a smidgen over 5-foot-3, one would think that Walstra’s frame might be more beneficial for pistol shooting, but that’s not the case.
“Having good core strength and arm strength really helps,” claimed Walstra.
Some kids learn to shoot from sitting down, to help rest the gun. Walstra has been standing since day one.
Her strong stance allows her to remain unfazed while holding her seven-pound Hammerli AR20 rifle during competitions that require her to stand and shoot for 50 minutes.
In competitions, such as the one she dominated in Sylvan Lake, the women take 40 shots in the allotted 50 minutes at a target 10 metres away. Points are awarded based on where each shot lands, ranging from zero, to 10.9 for a bull’s-eye.
These days, Walstra is staring down the barrel at a chance at breaking into the National level.
With attending Nationals this summer at the PanAm Legacy shooting range in Cookstown, Ont., Walstra is eyeing a chance at making the junior national team.
In order to do so, she will have to score at least 393 points out of a possible 436 over her next couple of competitions.
“If she carries on with the same dedication and passion, I see her doing very well at National competitions and has a chance to compete internationally,” said Schulze.
Until that time, she will continue to hone her mechanics outside of her science-heavy course load at Strathmore High School with a dream of working in medicine one day.