Ryan Bramwell – shooting Jamaica to the top

Jamaicans have a penchant of impacting any sport they participate in, be it a traditional sport or not. In the sport of practical pistol shooting, Ryan Bramwell, through his performances and consistency is ensuring that tradition continues.

At the recently held Pan American Handgun Championships, Bramwell led the performance of the 25-member Jamaican delegation by finishing second among the seniors in the Carry Optics Division and sixth overall from a field of close to 150. He was the only individual Jamaican to medal at the event.

Records indicate that close to 700 shooters from across the Americas took part in this Continental Championships which is the region’s premier shooting competition. It is held every three years.

Being the most consistent shooter in Jamaica, Bramwell is seen as geometric shrewdness on which the standard of practical pistol shooting is measured in the island. Those standards, however, were not attained by just turning up at ranges to shoot, they come about through hard work.

The Campion College old boy started first shooting birds in the 1990s, but switched to pistol shooting in 2012. Since then, his consistency, performance and talent remain incomparable at the local level.

Like other top performers in various sporting disciplines, Bramwell’s meteoric rise did not come through raw talent. Hard work and the level of training designed to compete against top shooters internationally.

MAIN COACH, MENTOR

“When I started shooting and to this day, coach Anthony ‘TJ’ Johnson has been my main coach and mentor. I have also done classes with world renowned shooters, Eric Graufell and Chris Tilley, plus I am regular participant in online shooting forum,” stated Bramwell.

His training partner Sanjay Welsh said Bramwell has debunked the axiom of “train hard and fight easy”. Welsh said, “This man trains hard with an elevated degree of regularity and competes harder, no wonder whenever or wherever he participates, his name is always at the space reserved for winners.”

Despite being one of the top shooters in the region and needs to focus on his training to maintain that standard, his altruism allows him to find time to offer ideas and impart knowledge to other shooters locally. According to Welsh, on numerous occasions they would plan drills way in advance and when training begins other shooters approach Bramwell for advice, rather than putting them off, he stops what he is doing or asks them to join his team.

Being described by many as the biggest star in the sport in Jamaica, the 50-year-old sharpshooter while aspiring to pick up more medals, dreams of the day when Jamaica will be a force to reckon with at the world level in practical pistol shooting. Anthony Johnson has won a medal at the World Shoot before and Bramwell believes the local talent he sees on display can repeat that feat.

“I would like to see us competing at the major USA matches in between the World Shoot, which is held every three years. I think we also have the ability to win our respective classes and divisions at these matches, which will give us much-needed competition practice for the big events,” Bramwell said.

“I am a national representative, I am employed to a prominent organisation in this country, and I think it would be remiss of me not to appeal to those who use firearms for the wrong reasons. The illegal ownership of firearms and the wanton killing of our fellow Jamaicans with the gun must stop. If our energies are focused positively, we can achieve so much,” he concludes.