Isabella Keys is the daughter of a two-time state pistol shooting champion, but the 15-year-old is now making a name for herself in the sport that she loves.
The Narrabri High School student is the daughter of Grahame and Jodie Keys. Grahame is a well-known pistol shooter and was Isabella’s inspiration for taking up the sport at 12-years-old.
Her mother has also recently started shooting as well, making it a fun day out for the family when they all line up together.
Isabella is currently soaring at the junior level and is quickly rising up the ranks, especially in the air pistol division.
She began shooting competitively in August last year when she attended a ‘girls on target’ event in Cessnock, which is a confidence-building event for beginners, and she then attended a competition shoot at Glen Innes a few weeks later.
Isabella then attended a junior training camp in January, which was hosted by the NSW Amateur Pistol Association, where she learned plenty of new skills and received some top-quality coaching.
She has also attended several shoots this year and has consistently set new personal best scores.
Her PB in the air pistol division now sits at 520 out of a possible score of 600, which is impressive for a junior who has been competing for less than a year. It also puts her in contention to earn a spot on the NSW state team to shoot at the 2024 national championships.
The Narrabri girl told The Courier that she was enjoying the sport.
“I’m enjoying it a lot. It’s really good,” she said.
“I started when I was 12. Dad had always shot, and I always went out to the pistol club with him, and I just loved it.
“My first competitive shoot was in August last year, and it was really fun. It was a lot different to just shooting at home.”
Isabella trains almost every day, and the 2032 Olympics in Brisbane is a goal for the future for the Narrabri girl.
That practice has been paying off in the present as well.
She has been selected for a NSW team that will travel to Melbourne in June to shoot at a tri-state challenge alongside juniors from Victoria and South Australia.
She will go into that with confidence following recent success at state level.
Earlier this month, Isabella lined up at the NSW Junior Championships event, which was held at the Sydney International Shooting Center.
She won the air pistol division and placed second in sports pistol, which the Narrabri teenager said were her greatest achievements to date.
That event is not officially classed as the state titles, but it is essentially a mid-year tournament designed to give the juniors a chance to see how an open state titles event is run.
The NSW ISSF state titles will be held in Cessnock later this year in September, and Isabella will compete at that event.
Two weeks prior to the NSW Junior Championships, Isabella competed at Cessnock Vintage, the biggest open event held in NSW outside of the state titles and nationals events.
She placed second in junior girls air pistol for her grade, first in her grade for the women’s open air pistol as well as first in her grade for junior sport pistol (using a .22 calibre pistol).
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