UAE | General
Taking aim at Jebel Ali
The Jebel Ali International Shooting Club caters to shooters in all stages of ability, from absolute beginners to the well-practiced.
- By Alice Johnson, Staff Reporter
- Published: 00:38 May 16, 2008
- Amine Makarem, general manager of the Jebel Ali International Shooting Club, takes aim on the shooting range.
- Image Credit: Prasad Nair/Gulf News
Dubai: How do you relax at the weekend? Maybe go to the beach, eat out or chill out with family and friends at home with a movie. Something that does not immediately spring to mind is a different kind of sport, shooting.
The Jebel Ali International Shooting Club caters to shooters in all stages of ability, from absolute beginners to the well-practiced.
General Manager Amine Makarem has been working at the club since 1998 and was previously employed with the Jebel Ali Hotel Resort and Spa, under which the shooting club is run.
The club has an outdoor, floodlit clay pigeon shooting range, a 25-metre indoor pistol range and an archery range of the same length. It also has a business meeting room, steakhouse restaurant, two football pitches and a shop selling related equipment and sports clothing.
It has been running since 1994 and has hosted a number of famous sporting events, including the Dubai Calibre 2005, the World Cup Shotgun Championships and Dubai Shooting 2007, which offered prize money of Dh1 million.
Corporate days out are popular at the club, as is the team-building centre based in its grounds.
Makarem said: "Many companies use the Nad Al Sheba room for meetings in the morning and then the employees will relax with some shooting on the ranges."
The club's popularity, he continues, has grown in recent years, in line with the expansive spread of Dubai towards the Jebel Ali area.
Members currently number 120 to 130. The majority are expatriates, accordingly every year about 80 new members join and others leave.
"Clay shooting is more popular, because it is more fun," Makarem said. "Pistol shooting takes more concentration because the target is static. With clay shooting there are many variations, left, right, up, down, and it's a pleasure when you hit the clay target. Pistol shooting is more popular with the ladies because it is a controlled environment and it is a small gun. With shotguns there is a kick-back in the shoulder."
Handguns provided at the club are mainly .22 calibre pistols, 20 gauge and 28 gauge shotguns. Visitors can choose from a selection of competition-standard semi-automatic pistols and revolvers for pistol shooting.
For this type of sport, safety is of para-mount importance. Makarem explained: "When you are at the shooting club it's a different type of atmosphere; you need to respect what you are coming to, so discipline is a must. The range again is a completely different atmosphere. You have a gun on you, you have to respect the gun so it can respect you."
He continued that shotguns must be carried in a dismantled state (with the barrel detached from the stock). The shotguns are carried in this condition on the shoulder to the range.
"When the gun is closed, you have to treat it as if it's loaded," Makarem said. "At all times when you have a loaded gun, it has to be pointed at the range. Not only when it is loaded, but if it is closed at any point."
"Never, ever fiddle with a gun. A gun is always dangerous. The gun is a part of you, so when you shoot with the gun, treat it as a part of yourself. If you're moving, the gun moves with you. Don't move into a dangerous position, move into a safe position and the gun will be with you in a safe position," he said.
Assistants carry the ammunition to the range, while guests carry the guns, to keep the two separate until the proper position is reached.
Club members receive a 30 per cent discount on ammunition and 20 per cent discount on food and beverages at the Shooters restaurant. They are also entitled to bring three guests to the club at a time and they remain responsible for them. Children are not allowed on the shooting range at any time unless they have reached the minimum age of 16.
At the moment the club does not compete with other clubs in the region unless it is hosting a shooting event.
Makarem said it is a dream of him to compete with other clubs in the Gulf.
Membership
- Annual membership: Dh2,000
- 25 rounds: Dh100
- Clay shooting lesson, including 25 rounds: Dh130
- Pistol shooting lesson, including 25 rounds: Dh80
- Prices valid until June 30, 2008.
concepts explained
- Clay: a round disc target spun into the air to simulate a live bird
- Rounds/shots: the ammunition/bullets used for pistols and shotguns
- Cartridges: the outer housing for the round - bullet, gunpowder and primer
- Primer: the substance that kickstarts the firing of a bullet
- Calibre: the interior diameter of the barrel of a gun, in inches, hundredths of an inch or in millimetres
- Gauge: the bore diameter of a shotgun barrel
- Shooting range: the location for shooting targets
- Skeet shooting: clay shooting from a tower
- Trap shooting: single-target clay shooting from the ground
- Double trap shooting: double-target clay shooting from the ground. The "clays" are spun out from the left and right, intersecting each other.
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