Talent Development Scholarship

My best friend gave me a toy gun on my 14th birthday, which inspired me to start my shooting career. Shooting is not popular in Hong Kong. There is not much media coverage. I would like to, therefore, take this chance to share my shooting experience and promote this sport in parallel.

The story began with the toy gun as aforementioned. This toy gun ignited my passion towards shooting. With supports from my family especially my mother, I have participated in some shooting courses and examinations, and joined the Hong Kong Junior Shooting Team. I was given lots opportunities to practice and attend overseas competitions.

I was attracted by its free-of-charge practices and opportunities to attend overseas competitions. Luckily, I was chosen to be one of the members. When I got into the team, I was only 14 years’ old. I used a lot of time in practicing my basic skills of aiming, physical fitness etc. When I reached the age of 15 later, I finally could use the competition equipment, and yet the practices were hard but when I pulled the trigger and got 10 points, I knew I was doing the right thing.

I had spent 4 years in my shooting career. I joined several local competitions and two overseas competitions. I was champion in three local competitions and I got the opportunities to represent Hong Kong and joined two overseas competitions. Competing with other shooters from different countries allowed me to come to know my weaknesses in shooting skills and psychological qualities. Improvements had been made after the competitions, and I have learnt a lot from this sports indeed. Patience is one of the essential qualities for a shooter – waiting for the perfect timing and pulling the trigger. Every movement should be natural, and never trying to control the directions of my gun and my arms - I was totally inspired by this principle. And I realized that life is strange - sometimes when I tried hard and had a fixation to win in a competition, I would get a bad result in it. Therefore, I learnt to care less about my results and enjoy the processes of the competitions. The results would always surprise me.

However, my academic results didn’t surprise me. I got unsatisfactory HKDSE results. After that, I stopped my shooting career. It seems a bad news for me. However, I really wanted to achieve my goal of getting into a bachelor’s degree in communications. Therefore, I am grateful and honored to be awarded the Talent Development Scholarship. I will spend the scholarship money on my studies to pursue my dreams. I really hope that I can succeed and participate in shooting again in the future.