History of the Simon Grant Award

The Simon Grant Award is contested by Junior shooters over the six Southland circuit events.  The winner receives a framed certificate and a cash grant.

Its 11 years since Simon’s death and with many of the current Southland Juniors  not being aware of the significance of the award, the following history has been drafted by the Southland Assocation to accompany its presentation.

Simon Alexander Grant       
Born 13-10-1963     Died 13-7-2006

After narrowly missing selection for the 2004 Athens Paralympics, Simon was stoked to be named in the New Zealand Shooting Team to compete in the Padua Cup in Padova, Italy, and the World Paralympic Shooting Championships in Switzerland in 2006. His humble pride at being selected to represent his country, was only surpassed by his enthusiasm for the forthcoming event. Simon performed nervously, but well, at the Padua Cup and was primed for a good performance at the World Cup. On the way to a training venue on the day of the opening ceremony, the car in which Simon was travelling collided with a bus near the town of Sargans. Simon died in the collision. He was 42 years of age.

Born in Central Southland, Simon was a legend in the Southland target shooting community. Afflicted with cerebral palsy, Simon had poor coordination of his arms and legs, and in his  later years was in almost constant pain. His shooting success was achieved through sheer determination. For Simon, getting into the prone position was difficult, and getting up after the match was even worse.  Nothing stopped Simon. Obstacles were made to be overcome !

Simon started shooting at the Oreti Plains Rifle Club, and he delighted in telling anecdotes about road trips to shooting events with fellow Club members, not many of which could be printed here. Simon was no angel, but he was a lot of fun.

Simon made a career in the finance/banking sector, and moved to Wellington in the early 1990’s. At the time of his team selection he was an assistant sector manager with ANZ Bank.

He joined the Wellington Smallbore Rifle Club and became involved in local and national administration where his financial expertise was of immense value. He was a member of the TSNZ Executive and was helping to reorganise the TSNZ financial systems.

Simon was one of those people who was liked instantly upon meeting. He had a wicked sense of humour and lived for the day. Simon put every effort possible into all that he did. He was an inspiration …… and a totally good bloke.

The Simon Grant Award was founded by his parents to reward young shooters for effort and consistency around the Southland Circuit Championships.

Thank you to Southland Association for providing this information; it has been added to the "Celebrating TSNZ Members" page of our Members section, along with other inspirational articles.     If anyone has something they would like added to this feature, please email it to the office.  And please don't feel you have to restrict this to our Members' shooting antics - anything can be celebrated here, shooting or otherwise.