In 2005, Suzy was awarded an Order of Australia Medal for services to sport and is a life member of the Australian Clay Target Association and the Sporting Shooters Association of Australia.
Suzy has a Bachelor of Rural Science, from The University of New England and utilising this degree spent 10 years working for the NSW Department of Primary Industries as a State Advisor, Liaison and Training Specialist in invasive species and land sustainability. Amongst her key roles were team building and group coordination. Suzy utilises these skills to coordinate the unique Team Building sessions with her Hitting Targets’ clients. Suzy has also worked with the Invasive Species Cooperative Research Centre as their Key Extension Officer for the Educational Roadshows.
Qualified as a clay target coach at Australian Competition Level in the Sports Commissions National Coach Accreditation Scheme, Suzy is also one of only four people in Australia with an International Sports Shooting Federation Shotgun Coaching Licence and the only shotgun coach with a B+ licence.
Between 2013-2020 Suzy was the Head Coach and National Coaching Director for the Australian Clay Target Association. In this role she carried out coach development and accreditation and ran the Elite Junior ACTA Academy. She travelled extensively throughout Australia delivering shotgun coaching clinics to ACTA members from novices to AA elite shooters.
Suzy has coached the Australian Shooting team to ISSF World Cups and ISSF Junior World Cups and DTL Oceania Championships with Gold medals achieved each time! And she also coached and managed the National University Shooting Team on trips to the World University Shooting Championships and World University Games.
Suzy is involved with many charities, sporting and community projects including being a Speakers Bureau Ambassador for the National Breast Cancer Foundation.
Suzy also assists junior shooters in their development and progression into Olympic Disciplines through the Olympic Endeavour Shooting trophy.
Suzy is the only Gold Medallist shooting Alumni who is a mentor for the AIS Gold Medal Ready Program. A program that involves 33 Olympic Gold medallists, AIS Sports Psychologists and Defence Force Commandos. The GMR program commenced in 2018 focussed on preparing Australian Olympians, Paralympians and Commonwealth Games Athletes for Tokyo 2020, Birmingham 2022, Beijing 2022, Paris 2024 and beyond. The skills focussed on are winning mindset, ability to acknowledge, utilise and handle stress, set focussed action plans and shot routines and follow the GMR Ready Model for those peak performance moments. The Gold Medal Ready program is at the absolute forefront of high-performance sport.
Suzy is part of the AIS’s Australian Army trained Pinnacle Event Debrief Facilitation Team debriefing sports after major events such as Tokyo 2020 Olympics to continue to improve our competitiveness on the world sporting scene.
However, through her company Hitting Targets she gets to coach novices through to Olympians and introduce people to her sport of clay target shooting every day – AND this is what she truly loves doing!
