A chance encounter with clay target shooting about eight years ago has led to a South East farmer becoming the first woman to be selected into a national open team for the sport.
Penola Station's Liz Rymill did not realise clay target shooting was a "thing" until her husband Tom showed her a few rounds in the paddock.
"We were mucking around and he was showing me how it was done. After a couple of attempts, I thought to myself, I can do this," she said.
Liz got a bit "hooked" on it and joined the Mount Gambier Gun Club.
"I had never been exposed to rifles and pistols before," she said.
But she loved the history of her local club - it proudly owns the title of the world's oldest continuing gun club.
"There is a lot of history behind it," she said.
So on a Friday afternoon, Liz fronted up with a tray of afternoon tea to a gun club meeting and traded off scones for a few lessons on clay shooting.
"I was really, really nervous. But those nerves came from not wanting to feel silly," she said. "The nerves of wanting to prove that a woman can be as good as a man were certainly there."
When Liz first walked into the gun club's clubrooms, it was mostly older men who tried their hand at the sport but as the years have gone on, plenty of women have walked through the doors.
"Everyone at the club has been amazing and it's no longer a barrier for women to walk in and give it a go," she said.
Liz has become a specialist in skeet shooting and attended the National Skeet Championships at Wagga Wagga, NSW, in May. It was the second year Liz made the open team.
"It is essentially a men's team and I am the first women to be selected," she said.
"It has certainly helped me a lot on the farm - I can use the skills from clay shooting quite often."
Liz also loves the challenge of mastering the sport's technicalities.
"The moment when your body and brain work as one during a shoot feels amazing," she said. "Once you get all of the fundamental steps right, once those are nailed - the confidence grows."
Being a woman, the physicality of a particular sport plays a pretty big role in determining success, but Liz reckons that men have no physical advantage in clay shooting.
"It is just guns and shells - it can be comfy for anyone to pick up and it just comes down to confidence and curiosity to try it," she said.
Liz hopes to throw a lot into growing the sport among women, as she believes its almost a "natural" talent for women to expand on.
"I have held some 'come and try' days for women and I have noticed women pick it up easily with their natural determination and hand and eye coordination," she said.
Good life balance provides space to thrive
GETTING back onto the farm felt like the right thing to do for a young family and its helped to ignite new passions and paths.
Based on Penola Station, Liz Rymill joined her husband Tom on the South East property, after it skipped a generation.
"No one was working on the farm but we decided to get it going again," she said.
"We both work off-farm too but we are building the farm up."
Liz juggles farm life - the Rymills run 1800 composite maternal ewes - alongside three children and a radio gig with the ABC, and also keeps her hobbies alive too.
Liz was not from a farming background originally but she always had the burn to get into agriculture.
"When I went to school, agriculture was not exactly a career path that was open for women to be a part of but thankfully that has changed - I have landed on the farm now, so I got there eventually," she said.
Liz sits in the hot seat of ABC radio at Mount Gambier part-time and her competitive nature means challenges are taken on regularly, if not welcomed.
"I have always enjoyed sports, competitive tennis and horse riding - I have tried my hand at a few things to keep active in the community and challenge myself," she said.
"I have always loved the challenge that comes with trying to master something - especially when it requires a different part of the brain to be used."
Liz believed it was important to maintain a drive to accomplish new things while also being a mother of three small children.
"I think it is crucial to maintain a bit of balance and also an outlet," she said. "The days and nights can become a bit monotonous. Its helped me throughout out motherhood."
Vanessa Binks
I am the Markets Editor and journalist at the Stock Journal. I am based at Nuriootpa in SA's lower north.
I am the Markets Editor and journalist at the Stock Journal. I am based at Nuriootpa in SA's lower north.
