Arming a group of fierce competitors with rifles sounds like a recipe for disaster but Paralympic shooter Ryan Cockbill wants to prove his sport is the safest in the world.
Cockbill, 33, was left tetraplegic after jumping into a paddling pool at a GCSE exams party gone wrong but quickly found his knack for accuracy on the shooting range during his rehabilitation.
Preparing for his fourth Paralympic Games after securing a quota place at the World Cup in New Delhi, the seasoned shooter feels he has more than his capability within the sport to prove.
He said: “There can be a different perception of shooting, it doesn’t get much publicity at all. A lot of people are worried about the safety aspect and think that guns are dangerous but they’re only dangerous if they are not used correctly.
“We have so many rules and regulations at ranges and I do believe it is the safest sport you can do, people think that’s strange but it’s because the ranges are governed properly.
“We have to apply for firearms licenses and we have to have background checks so the police know before we compete. But the main thing I want to show it that it’s also an enjoyable thing, to have the ability to compete at such a high level because my tetraplegic disability.
“To be able to get on that firing point and it just be me, it’s showcasing that I have the ability to do something so accurate so well.”
Cockbill is one of over 1,000 elite athletes on UK Sport’s National Lottery-funded World Class Programme, allowing him to train full time, have access to the world’s best coaches and benefit from pioneering medical support.
Cockbill usually competes in the R4 10m category but punched a Paris quota ticket for ParalympicsGB in the 50m event.
At the very start of his shooting career in 2007, he was told by his coach it would take 10 to 15 years to make it to the upper echelons of elite para shooting.
He defied the odds to make London 2012 and believes the door is open for him to make the Paralympic podium for the first time.
He said: “I was an outside chance in London, I was there for more of the experience and it’s probably been my favourite Games so far just because of the buzz of the home crowd, it was electric.
“I always think of my accident as happening as a fortunate time. I’d just left school so I hadn’t really started out on a path of what I wanted to do in life. The accident happened and I was in hospital for nine months and everything changed.
“But, as that door closed another one opened, the rehabilitation and the physio gave me these new opportunities in a new sport and I was hooked from that point. I count myself very lucky that I get to travel all over the world and compete in something that started out as a hobby.
“The thing is, I never set out to be a Paralympian and hunt for those medals but it became an opportunity and I took it.”
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