Ken Parr Jnr has been backed to add to his Gold Coast 2018 medal haul as he prepares for the 50m rifle three positions qualification tomorrow.
The Croydon shooter won bronze in the men’s 50m rifle prone finals on Tuesday and his father is confident he can claim another Commonwealth Games medal.
Ken Parr Snr himself won two shooting bronze medals at the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur, but admitted he still gets nervous watching his child compete.
Speaking of his son’s success, Parr Snr said: “As a parent, and as a coach, it’s quite nerve-wracking.
“Like any other coaches, you give them advice, you help them train and then it’s up to them what they do.
“As a previous athlete myself, I know that when you’re on that firing point you don’t worry about anything else other than what you’re doing.
“The people behind you are more worried than you are, because you’re in control of your destiny, sitting behind it is very difficult.”
Parr Jnr, 29, will be looking to add to his success at Glasgow 2014 where he won bronze in the 50m rifle air prone, and Delhi 2010, where he won two silver medals in the 10m air rifle pairs and the 50m rifle three positions pairs.
Parr Snr started taking his son shooting from about aged 10 and admitted that his son ended up playing by default.
He said: “He obviously saw the competitive element of it, and he’s very competitive with his sister as well.
“It’s just as well, because she’s a couple of years older and she did shooting, so there was quite a sibling rivalry.
“It’s about the competition, it’s about beating other people.
“Of course, if I was going to a competition then he would be with me and he would compete as well.
“If I was a sensible father I’d have got him into golf or tennis to get money and keep me in my old age.”
He added that anyone get can involved and all you need to do is train hard: “There are no boundaries with it, you don’t need to be a particular shape, or size, or sex because the women are as competitive in the event as men.
“We don’t necessarily shoot against them in the same way in the international competition, but in domestic we compete against them, and in a number of the events they’re better than the guys.
“It’s fantastic, it’s a level playing field. It’s about the time and effort you put into it.
“It’s no different to any other sport — we’re talking 10,000 hours of training to get good at whatever you do, which is a long time.”
Image taken from YouTube
