Secunda cop is newest member of Protea Combat Rifle team
Louwrens van Schaik was awarded his Protea colours and was also selected for the team to shoot in the international test against New Zeeland and the Netherlands the next day
SECUNDA – Be still, remain calm, focus on improving on minor details and do not get distracted by the sideshows.
That was the advice that W/O Louwrens van Schaik from Secunda followed to reach his dream of obtaining his Protea colours in combat rifle shooting.
He is one of only 10 South African marksmen to make the Protea team this year at the South African Combat Rifle Association’s (SACRA) national championship held in Bloemfontein.
He was also crowned the best police marksman in the country.
Van Schaik and the rest of the country’s best shooters, as well as several international competitors, spent from 4 to 11 August at the General De Wet shooting range taking part in three championships.
He competed in the X-class – the most advanced and toughest of all the classes.
The first competition was the South African National Defence Force National Combat Rifle Championship where Van Schaik came second in the 200m snap (sitting) match and obtained a silver medal.
He then took part in the South African Police Services’ Combat Rifle Championship where he won the Nonqua trophy and was awarded the gold medal as the overall X-Class police champion.
He obtained gold medals in the 100m snap (standing, kneeling or squatting), 300m mixed grill (prone), 200m snap and rapid (sitting position) and the 300m sustain fire and rapid (prone position). He also received a bronze medal in the 200m rapid prone match.
Van Schaik and his Mpumalanga police teammates achieved a gold medal in the falling plates match for 300 to 200m.
The Mpumalanga police team won a silver medal in this competition of SACRA.
Van Schaik was selected for the national police A team to compete in the inter-services team match. This team won a silver medal.
This paved the way to the third competition, namely the SACRA championship. This competition began with a top 100 medal day during which Van Schaik ranked 10th out of 268 marksmen. This earned him a silver medal. The competition pushed him to sixth place and a bronze medal.
Van Schaik said the members’ marksmanship skills were tested to the utmost in severe weather.
“We endured storm strength wind gusts of up to 61km/h, dust storms, rain and temperatures of minus six degrees Celcius with a wind chilling factor,” he said.
“Because we were not allowed to use gloves while shooting, our hands were numb with cold and the competitors resorted to innovative measures to heat up their hands between matches.
“We were told the weather was the worst in the history of SACRA’s national championships.”
Marksmen from Lesotho, Botswana, the Netherlands and New Zealand, and a shooter from Belgium also took part in the championship.
Van Schaik was awarded his Protea colours and was also selected for the team to shoot in the international test against New Zealand and the Netherlands the next day.
The South Africans beat the New Zealand team by far, earning them a gold medal.
Van Schaik is now one of 18 people selected as a practice group to attend two practice sessions wuring which a team of 10 members will be selected to compete at the New Zealand national combat rifle championship and international test match in 2019.
Van Schaik, a firearms trainer in the police, began participating in shooting competitions in 1995 and has been part of the South African A team since 2011, but the Protea colours kept evading him.
He could at first not believe his ears when he heard his name being called as the newest member of the Protea team at the awards ceremony.
“It was unreal. My heart was pounding in my chest and I had goose bumps all over. It was unreal. A dream come true,” explained Van Schaik.
He now has his sights set on the highest honour that can be bestowed on a member of SACRA, namely the Cas le Roux chain. This is only awarded to a marksman after calculating scores he set over four years of competing in the national championship.
Van Schaik thanked God, his family and work colleagues, old Protea marksmen, other shooters, his gunsmiths, and friends for all their support in making his dream a reality.
