The 2024 Paris Olympics have received great attention worldwide, in the U.S. and locally. One of the events, shooting, has been a prominent Olympic sport since the first Olympics in Athens in 1896.
A young Gilroy girl, 14-year-old Hypatia Shen, is a standout performer in this little-known field, and just accomplished new heights in the Junior Olympics and Air Rifle National Championships.
In April at the Junior Olympics, Shen, competing in the U15 (under age 15) category, won gold in the 3×20 50-meter Smallbore competition and silver in the 10-meter Air Rifle event. In July, she competed in the Air Rifle Nationals at Camp Perry in Ohio and won silver. Air Rifle events are part of the Olympics.
“Hypatia started shooting with us in early 2022 and very quickly showed promise,” said Ryan Watts, head coach of the Lincoln Rifle Club’s Junior Precision Team. “Hypatia excels in both Smallbore and Air Rifle Competitions. From the very beginning Hypatia started winning awards in her age group and this most recent competition (National Championships) was no exception.”
In each of two days of competition, competitors shoot 60 total shots in the Standing, Kneeling and Prone positions.
“Out of 600 available points, Hypatia shot a 586 on the first day of competition and 584 on the second day,” Watts said. “These scores not only lined her up to receive a Silver Medal in her age group (U15), but also earned her points towards a Distinguished Badge. The Distinguished Rifleman Badge is a coveted award given to those who earn points by scoring in the top 20% at any Civilian Marksmanship Program Cup Match.”
Shen also had great success at both the Junior Olympics and CMP Nationals in 2023. In April 2023, she won gold in Air Rifle at the Junior Olympics in the U15 age group. Later, she picked up silver and gold at the CMP Nationals. Shen has now added to that in 2024, and as a young, rising ninth-grader.
“In the Olympics, you shoot from standing only which is the reason why I considered the Junior Olympics a little more important because standing position is kind of the hardest position out of all three positions,” Shen said.
The Shen family has lived in Gilroy since 2006. There is some local and at-home training available, but connecting with the elite Lincoln Rifle Club has put her under superb coaching. Lincoln’s Junior Precision Team took second place in 2019 at the National Championships, with one of the shooters placing second overall. In 2021, the team took first place in the National Championships. Each week, father Phil Shen drives Hypatia Shen and her younger sister Faraday to Lincoln, east of Sacramento, for practice.
“And their hard work pays off,” Watts said.
Hypatia is named after a historical philosopher, astronomer and mathematician from around 400 AD.
“I’ve always had a love for the shooting sports, mostly because of my dad,” Shen said. “He started taking me to the range at age 5 just for fun. Later on, we both discovered that it was something I had a talent for, so at age 11, he started looking around to get me to shoot for competition.”
There was a junior shooting club in the Bay Area but things went on hold during Covid and later stopped. Phil Shen then learned about the Lincoln Rifle Club. In mid-2021, he began taking Hypatia to Lincoln. Due to the 175-mile distance, they trained there just one day a week. Hypatia started in their junior program.
“I did well enough that after a few months, the advanced coaches noticed my progress and invited me to join the advanced team,” Hypatia said. “So by January of 2022, I officially joined the advanced team and have been shooting with them since.
“I wasn’t planning to be in the top of my age group. I wanted to just go with the flow. I put effort into it. It is a mix of everything. You have to be very meticulous. Preparation and then process on every shot. Be consistent with your precision.”
Watts won multiple awards as a shooter during military service and after. He became a rifle and pistol coach and later assisted at Lincoln, eventually becoming the head coach.
“Her progression is pretty awesome,” Watts said. “She is pretty dedicated and she enjoys it. One of the great things about her is that she really listens. I give her the ‘why’ and never have to say it again. She understands and does it.
“She shot 590 as a 13-year old. That’s essentially unheard of. At Junior Olympics this year, she took silver in Air, 10 meter standing. She got 619 of 654. Olympic level is 626 or 627.”
There are college rifle teams, mostly in the east and southeast. Schools offer scholarships and that is a great opportunity. Shen is not yet in high school and thus that is a bit down the road.
“My future goal is to get in the top eight for JO’s or for Nationals,” Hypatia said. “This is the top eight of all scores of the match, regardless of age division, and it is very prestigious to be able to get into the top eight. The top eight will have a separate final match to see who are the ultimate gold, silver and bronze.
“If things go well, I would like to try doing some international competitions, and I would eventually like to try to get onto the Team USA shooting team. Also of course, the 2028 Olympics will be somewhat close in Los Angeles.”
Coach Watts has extensive experience in the field, both personally and as a coach. He knows how to help competitors and what the elite level is.
“It is such a pleasure to have Hypatia on our team and it is an honor to be able to coach her,” Watts said. “I look forward to seeing her compete into high school and I am excited for what the future holds.”
Olympic shooting explained
Olympic shooting features three types of guns: rifle, pistol and shotgun.
In rifle and pistol events, athletes shoot at stationary targets at indoor shooting ranges. Shotgun is held outdoors where shooters aim at targets hurled in the air. Rifle and pistol shooting are done from a prescribed distance (10, 25 or 50 meters) with athletes aiming for a bullseye on a paper target.
In Olympic Air Rifle shooting, athletes aim for a bullseye on a paper target with 10 concentric circles. There are two sub categories, 50-meter Rifle 3 and 10-meter Air Rifle, with a couple of notable differences for each event. In the 50-meter, athletes shoot at the target from three different positions within a time frame of two hours, 45 minutes.
In the 10-meter, athletes fire 60 shots at the target in one hour, 15 minutes, to decide who advances to the medal round.
The sport requires precision, focus and tremendous muscle endurance, as athletes need to hold their body steady for long periods of time. Although shooters are largely confined to one place during competition, the sport is nevertheless mentally and physically demanding.
“For a layman, when he sees a shooter, he thinks, there is no physical effort,” Athens 2004 Olympian Suma Shirur said. “But in reality, there is a lot of effort.
“There is a lot of physical activity that is not seen from outside. Because the most natural aspect of the human body is movement. If I have to control the movement, hold my body steady, at the same place for a long period of time, I need a lot of muscle endurance. That needs a lot of strength. For that, you need to have good fitness.”
Thank you Gilroy Dispatch for this article. Shooting sports are often left out of the press because of the anti-gun lobby. In some families, trap and skeet, sporting clays, rifle and pistol target shooting are just as important as golf and tennis.