Club

Supporting and encouraging children and young people has always been our priority. Children can start shooting from the age of ten, initially training with a fixed support and suitable sporting equipment. They can then take their first unsupported shots in the various Olympic disciplines.

With the guidance of our coaches and supervisors, we offer a meaningful leisure activity that develops self-confidence and concentration. Training also includes games and fun, while discipline remains essential. Many talented athletes have emerged from our youth programme and progressed to the national junior and later senior teams.

The earliest records of shooting activities date from the 17th century. Documents from 1660 in the municipal archives describe armed guards protecting the prison in Neumarkt and livestock on pastures from wolves. These records mention shooting practice, but no shooting range. The first records of competitions at the Auer shooting range date from 1741, in the form of municipal payments for prizes. Sporting activities continued until 1943, then resumed when the club was re-established in 1976.

Auer Shooting Club was re-established in 1976. Initially, we had four shooting lanes in a room that also served as the dining room of the Schwarzenbach inn. In 1978, we moved into a new underground range built alongside the ice rink. This marked the beginning of our section’s sporting development. The facility soon became too small and no longer met the necessary legal requirements.

A permanent solution was found in 1995 with the construction of the current facility at the sports ground, which we moved into in 1996. The club has around 80 members, many of them young people. Since 1986, our athletes have regularly won medals and titles at the Italian Championships. Several members have joined the Italian national team and competed successfully at European and World Championships.

We also established a reputation for organising major events and were entrusted with increasingly important competitions. Our new facility enables us to host national events. Since 1997, it has hosted an annual Italian Cup competition and the international Walther Trophy.

Our shooting range has a modern electronic scoring system. Shooters can see their hits immediately on a monitor, with scores measured to a tenth of a point. Every shot is recorded in a report that can be printed after training or competition. This supports training analysis and competition reviews, and considerably reduces the work involved in organising major events such as the Walther Trophy and Italian Championship qualifiers.

The system also benefits spectators: the competition can be projected onto a screen, allowing them to follow every shooter and every shot.

Such an investment could not be funded by the club alone. We therefore extend our particular thanks to the municipality of Auer, Mayor Roland Pichler and Sports Councillor Helga Aberham Glöggl, as well as Governor Dr Arno Kompatscher.