First by starting with a few departmental and regional competitions then continuing with the French championships, where she also met her partner, Guillaume Gay. Coming from a family of hunters and originally…
First by starting with a few departmental and regional competitions then continuing with the French championships, where she also met her partner, Guillaume Gay. Coming from a family of hunters and originally from Pas-de-Calais, she also shares this passion with her father and her brother.
She quickly fell in admiration of this discipline. “ Holding a rifle in my hands, I already knew what it was because I have been hunting since I was young. But when I practice ball trap, it gives me adrenaline. It’s also a challenge to want to break as many boards as possible and try to beat your friends (laughs),” laughs the young woman.
Arriving in Charente in 2017, she took the plunge into international competitions a year later, inspired by the man who has shared her life for four years now.
“At first, I was shooting to say shoot and have a good day with my friends. In the end, from 2018, I really started to train more seriously to compete”explains the licensee of the BTC Saint-Médard/Saint-Pierre in Saint-Pierre-du-Palais, at the southern tip of Charente-Maritime.
2022, the consecration
At 27, this laboratory technician knows what she wants. So keen on the discipline that she recently took over the Saint-Pierre-du-Palais shooting range with her partner, created by the latter’s grandfather, Gérard Demay, in 1986. Right next to the family armory.
This adopted Charentaise started competitions with flying colors by becoming in her first year (2018) French champion of Compak Sporting and hunting course in ladies B category. The three years that followed, 2020 being a white season due to of covid, have not been as successful, with only a fifth place at the French championships two years ago.
Marine Varlet.
But with two training sessions per week from February onwards, Marine Varlet spared no effort to return to the forefront. Until traveling to Saur and Biscarosse in the Landes to compete in series before the major competitions and achieve the ultimate objective: team selection in France.
It’s done. Last year, she won her first official selection and brought home the team gold medal from the world championships in South Africa. Called up again in Blue this year, she won a fourth place in the team at the world championships in Greece after taking third place individually at the French championships.
Between perfectionism and doubts
« I am very proud to be on the podium in France this year and to represent the tricolor colors », she savors.
Because discipline requires a lot. Confident in everyday life, the perfectionist young woman has a lot of doubts on the shooting range. “There is such a high standard among women that I don’t think I’m capable of it, admits the shooter. I try to reassure myself as best I can by telling myself that if it’s been two years in a row that I’ve been selected for the French team, I have nothing to prove. But on the other hand, I want to do well. Even too many times and I put barriers on myself. »
Aware of this weakness, the young woman plans to do sophrology to work on her mind and tackle the next competitions which take place from mid-March to September: pre-selections and selections for the French team, European championships, France (Editor’s note. You have to finish in the first three to claim to go to the Worlds), and finally the world.
To achieve this, the investment is total. Personal and financial, especially since the increase in the price of cartridges. But the French federation and his club help him a lot.
“Thanks to the FFBT, the French team, the federal delegate and the doctor who accompany us, we are very well supported. We really have unforgettable moments in competitions », savors Marine Varlet, proud to practice a sport which is becoming more and more feminine: “Which is really positive. In big competitions like the Worlds, it brings more challenge. »
Compak Sporting, késako ?
The trap shooter who practices Compak Sporting is placed in a metal frame which defines his position and limits his movements. He must shoot using a shotgun at clay trays that are thrown in front of him.
Similar to the discipline of Trail Hunting, Compak is also practiced in the great outdoors, in vast wooded areas. It is an ideal discipline to start trap shooting.
#Marine #Varlet #Giracs #sniper
