Meet Dania Vizzi

• Kimmie Dillon: Your nickname is "Shooterina." How did you go from the ballet studio to calling "pull" at the shooting range?

  Dania Vizzi: When I was three years old, my mom put me in dance class. I started competing in dance when I was five and growing up, I thought I wanted to be a professional dancer for my career. When I was 16, my dad asked me to go to the shooting range with him since I finally had a weekend off from dance competitions. I enjoyed that day so much and started going with my dad whenever I had a chance.
  
  A few months after I started shooting, an Olympic coach was at the range and he said, “Did you know this is an Olympic sport? I think you’d be really good at it.” Not knowing anything about professional shooting, this really intrigued me, and I started training for Olympic-style skeet shooting. Still dancing while I started my shooting journey, I was accepted into the Juilliard School for Dance for a summer semester.
  
  This being my dream, I went to NYC for the summer, but found myself missing shooting. When I got home, I went to my first shooting tournament, finished top three, and decided to make the tough decision of retiring from dance and putting all my focus on shooting.
  
  My mom was definitely sad that I quit my dance career because she supported me and traveled with me to all my competitions, but now she goes to the range with me every day and pulls my targets. My dad was definitely happy that I chose shooting because it was a sport that he already loved, so it was something he got to share with me. I am definitely the son he never had. I think I fell in love with shooting so quickly because in dance, I was so used to being judged on what I looked like or what song I chose, but in shooting, you are strictly judged on hitting or missing the target.

  Dania’s skeet record speaks for itself:
  2023 World Cup Gold Medalist
  2023 World Championships Silver Medalist
  2023 World Cup Finals Bronze Medalist
  2023 Pan American Games Gold Medalist
  2022 World Cup Gold Medalist
  2022 CAT Games Gold Medalist
  2019 Pan American Games Bronze Medalist
  2017 World Champion
  2017 World Cup Finals Bronze Medalist

  
  5x World Championships Medalist
  2x National Champion
  5x National Championships Medalist

• Kimmie Dillon: Qualifying for the 2024 US Olympic Team must take an incredible amount of training, focus and dedication. Please share with our Blue Press readers your training routine.

  Dania Vizzi: Training to make an Olympic team is definitely a full-time job, you have to be the best of the best in your sport to compete at such a high level. On a typical training day, I will shoot about 250-300 targets a day, half in the morning and half in the evening so that I can train with two different lights. In competition we will shoot from 8:00 am until 6:00 pm so you need to learn how to shoot in all lighting conditions. I get home around 5:00 pm and then go to the gym for an hour or so.

• Kimmie Dillon: How do you prepare mntally to compeete at your best level?

  Dania Vizzi: I get asked this all the time, but I really don’t do much mental training. I have tried to work with sports psychologists because I know succeeding in the shooting sports is heavily based on your mental game, but it has never improved my game. I think I am different because I have been competing since I was five years old, so I know what it feels like to have hundreds of eyes on me. The only difference is that my stage went from the dance theater to the skeet field.

• Kimmie Dillon: How do you prepare mntally to compeete at your best level?

  Dania Vizzi: I get asked this all the time, but I really don’t do much mental training. I have tried to work with sports psychologists because I know succeeding in the shooting sports is heavily based on your mental game, but it has never improved my game. I think I am different because I have been competing since I was five years old, so I know what it feels like to have hundreds of eyes on me. The only difference is that my stage went from the dance theater to the skeet field.

• Kimmie Dillon: Tell us about your incredible coach and how he brings out the best in you.

  Dania Vizzi: My coach, Todd Graves, is amazing. He is a 4x Olympian, Olympic Bronze Medalist, multiple World Cup Medalist, and served in the Army for 26 years. He is also the only person in the world to ever win a World Cup in all three Olympic Shooting disciplines. He has taught me everything I know about pointing a shotgun, being mentally strong, and just reminding me that I am one of the best shooters in the world (when you’re an elite athlete, sometimes you just need that reassurance).

• Kimmie Dillon: What advice do you have for someone interested in learning about shooting clay targets?

  Dania Vizzi: Clay shooting is so fun it’s definitely something that everyone should try. The shooting sports are so special because they’re something that can be enjoyed by people of all ages. If you’re wanting to be competitive, I would say that my biggest advice is to start competing early. Some people think they need to be shooting perfect scores in practice before they start competing, but I believe gaining competition experience is just as important as achieving good scores in practice.