Tammy Delano Sometimes it takes a second chance to make the right
impression. If not, Rome, New York-native Tammy Delano may never
have moved to the Olympic Training Center to become a resi- dent athlete, won a gold medal at the International Paralym- pic Committee (IPC) World Cup in Poland, or earned the right to compete in R2 and R3 for the USA Shooting Team at the IPC World Championships in Suhl, Germany. Delano, who got her start in shooting fi ve years ago, was a member of the Sitrin STARS, a disabled sports program in her hometown. One day Vanessa Ross (NRA’s Manager of Disabled Shooting Services) stopped by to conduct a shoot- ing clinic for participants. “I enjoyed it right off the bat, was really good at it, and
have been pursuing it ever since,” Delano said. “I was kind of excited – my whole family likes to hunt and fi sh, and even though it’s just air rifl e, I just thought it was really cool. I fell in love with it right there.” Two weeks later, Delano heard about a competition Ross
was hosting in Boston so Delano, who had to borrow all of the equipment, went to compete. Without her own gun, a jacket – not even knowing if she could use a stand or a loader, she fi nished in second place. With nowhere to shoot (nor anyone to coach), Delano was
on her own to learn about her new passion, referring back to the notes she took during the clinic, and would only manage to fi nd a range to shoot on every so often. Ross eventually referred Delano to National Paralympic Coach Bob Foth to attend another shooting clinic. “I shouldn’t have come to it,” she said. “I didn’t realize
how sick I was, I had a heart attack and it was such an op- portunity that I didn’t want to miss it, but because I was so sick. I wasn’t very impressive and Bob didn’t call me for a while.”
So she got a rifl e and continued to practice. About three
years later, she reached out to Foth to attend another clinic and asked if she could participate in the Winter Airgun com- petition. Foth advised her that it probably wouldn’t be worth it without a shooting jacket so she went online and overnight- ed one to the Olympic Training Center for the competition. “Once I had a jacket, my score went up by like 32 points!” Delano laughed. By now, her program back home had developed a shoot-
ing program where she could train. She went to compete at the USA Shooting National Championships in 2013 and that’s where Foth named her to the Developmental Team. In January, she was offered residency at the Olympic Training Center. “I was kind of surprised! But now that I’m here, I’ve been making a million adjustments,” she said. “(Foth) said I could keep shooting the way I was but my scores weren’t going to get any better so I’m working out the
kinks...Because hey – Rio’s the goal.”
28 USA Shooting News | July 2014 Photo by: Kevin Liles
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