Hayden makes Dent in shooting

By Sasha Petrova
FOURTEEN-year-old Hayden Dent has a licence to shoot. Well, almost. He’s a member of Beaconsfield Pistol Club and has a provisional licence. This means he can shoot his air pistol, but only with a full licensed member around.
But this won’t be the case for long, because Hayden is set to get his full licence in the middle of the year.
“You have to join a pistol club, then sign a lot of paper,” he said when asked how someone gets their licence.
“You have to get a couple of people to write a note to say that you’re a responsible person.”
Hayden attends the club with his father Tim, who bought him his air pistol second-hand for $550.
“Instead of using powder, it uses air – CO2.” Hayden explained.
“It only shoots small pellets so it’s a little bit safer.”
Hayden being unable to shoot without supervision is only one restriction. Another is that he can’t keep his gun at home.
“When I turn 18, that’s when I can own my own weapon,” he said.
Hayden joined the pistol club in April last year after his Kambrya College friend Nick recommended it. Although Hayden plays basketball at school and used to play a bit of cricket, he said being a part of the club was “different from playing a sport”.
“It’s a lot more fun,” he said.
Having an uncle from Ferntree Gully who hunts from time-to-time, Hayden had previous experience with a firearm before he joined the pistol club. I shot rifles. I was hunting with my uncle. I’ve shot a rabbit and some other stuff,” he said.
Hayden also competes.
“I have played a couple of centre fire competitions and some rim fire competitions.”
These competitions involve high precision where, in the first half, the 10-point bulls-eye of the target is the size of a five-cent piece and is 25 metres away. In the second half, the target is bigger but faces the competitor for only three seconds before turning on its side. Altogether, 60 shots are fired. Hayden’s highest recorded score was an impressive 446.
But what does Hayden do besides shooting?
“I play basketball. I have school and all the other stuff that teenagers do.”
And as teenagers do, Hayden has dreams. He aspires to be a fireman, so much so that he has joined the Beaconsfield Junior Fire Brigade.
“We use the hoses and go on the trucks sometimes,” he said.
Because of his training at the fire brigade, Hayden is useful to have around in case of a fire.
“We already had one,” he said.
“My sister lit the microwave on fire and I put that out. It was foil that Shannon put in the microwave. I pulled the foil out and put the fire out.”
Hayden’s main passion, however, is shooting.
“It’s the sort of sport that I want to keep going with and get really good at,” he said.