The bedrock of our sport
Shooting as a sport is build on the many local clubs all over the country. Membership of an approved club is used as evidence of "good reason" when applying for a Firearm Certificate for target shooting purposes.
Clubs that are affiliated to the NSRA enjoy many benefits including access to competitions, nationally recognised qualifications for instructors, coaches, range officers and scorers, specially arranged insurance and the support and advice of the National Governing Body.
Clubs are often affiliated to their County Association. Counties are also affiliated to the NSRA, and this gives clubs and their members access to more competitions, both organised by the County and the inter-county competitions organised by the NSRA.
In parallel with the County Association structure, there are also regional organisations that tend to be more focused on discovering and training talented individuals to feed in to the international level of shooting.
International shooting competitions cover a wide range, from the Home Countries (England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland , Isle of Man and the Channel Islands), through Great Britain teams in long-standing matches against other countries, to World Cup matches, the Olympics and Commonwealth Games. These latter events form the highest level of the sport and are governed by the ISSF and involve shooting under a more exacting set of rules and regulations.
Underpinning all this is the local club. Without the widespread network of clubs throughout the country our sport could not exist. Clubs tend to take on the personalities and interests of their members, and so no two clubs are the same. Picking the right club for your interests will help you to get the most out of your shooting.