WA Shooting Association Sports Star of the Year Awards

Service to Sport Category

 Barry Wilmot

Barry was born and has lived in Perth all his life, where his interest in Firearms and Militaria began at an early age. He was among a small group of members who founded Sporting Shooters Association in WA many years ago and he is also a life member. This followed by him helping to establish the Perth Muzzle Loading Club in WA.

From 1980 to 1999 he owned and operated several firearm stores in Perth, holding a gunsmiths licence where he performed a very needy service to the shooters. He is actively involved in the eradication of feral pest birds and animals as well.

Barry has spent most of his life reloading, which is quite significant given his more than 60 years experience with the shooting sports. His interest in cartridge ballistics prompted him to write Reloading for Rifles and Pistols, a manual which is still sold in firearm outlets in Australia and New Zealand. Barry says that there’s no reason why experienced handgun or rifle shooters shouldn’t be reloading. “Once they start, they realise how much money they can save and how gratifying experimenting can be,” he said.

He has also written the reloading column in the Australian Shooter magazine on a regular basis for the past 15 years.

Now, continuing to pass on his extensive knowledge to other shooters, Barry has just taken up a position as one of our new “Top Shots” panel of experts at the Australian Shooter. He will be ready and willing to answer SSAA member questions on a wide range of topics, his specialties being reloading, optics and scopes.

Senior Athlete Category

Matthew Boots 

Matthew continued to dominate the SSAA Scoped 3-Positional, Field Rifle, and NRA & Air Rifle discipline in 2016/17, he won his 7th straight National Title and his 10^th straight WA State Title in 2017 with some tough competition.

No other SSAA shooter has won the WA State Championships more than 3 in a row and 4 times in total and no shooter has ever won the National Championships more than twice in a row and 5 times in total. He also holds too many National and State records to list here!

In an administrative capacity he continues in the positions of State Discipline Delegate and National Discipline Chairman in the Field Rifle/ 3-P Discipline where he has brought both State and National Competitions to regions that have not previously held them or back to areas that haven’t held them for a number of years. As a State Discipline Delegate, he advises shooters on all matters relating to protocol as described by the discipline whilst in his National role he oversees the discipline Australia wide.

Junior & International Category

Keigan Williams 

Keigan began shooting a number of years ago and has developed into a fine young athlete. His high scores at State and National level saw him represent Australia as the youngest member of the Senior SSAA team for the 2016 Pacific Regional Shooting Competition, held in November 2016 in Canberra. Keigan achieved four silver medals (two individual and two team) and two bronze medals (one individual and one team) at the competition and also broke an Australian junior record for the NRA 3P kneeling position.

At the 2017 Field Rifle & 3-Positional National Championships Keigan dominated in the Junior ranks winning the Australian National Junior Championship and smashing a number of National Junior & Australian junior records in the process. He also qualified for selection as part of the Australian team to compete in the NRA National Smallbore Championships in USA in July 2018.

Keigan holds a large number of WA State Junior records in the Field Rifle/ 3-P discipline and also holds the Open records for Scoped 10m Air Rifle in prone position, standing position and overall score.