Generation ROC: Local teen shoots in National Jr. Olympics Air Rifle Championship

BRIGHTON, N.Y. ( WROC ) — It all starts with “the process”: your breathing, setting your perfectly measured stance, clearing your mind of negative thoughts, and even taking aim to find the perfect pause between heartbeats. Dominic Baliva says there’s a lot more to the sport of air rifle firing than just point and shoot.

“It takes a lot of mental strain, which is actually kind of fun. It’s kind of the fun part about it,” he explains to News 8’s Mikhaela Singleton .

Dominic has only been shooting for about three years, but already has the eyes and skills of a sharpshooter. Sending minuscule pellets into barely visible targets right through the bullseye.

He recently scored in the first round at the New York State 3-Position Air Rifle Championship — high enough to move up and qualify for the 2024 National Junior Olympics Championships.

“Definitely exciting. It was something I was hoping to do for the last couple of years now since I learned about the Junior Olympics and how it was something I was involved with as a sport, but I was definitely excited when I learned. I got the email and I remember thinking, oh I actually made it,” Dominic recalls.

He then set his sights on the competition in Colorado by training every single day — sometimes with his tech from home and other days at his home training club at the Rochester Rifle Club in Brighton.

“He progressed phenomenally over the last three years, and three years is pretty quick to hit the Junior Olympic status. So we’re very proud to have Dominic as part of our club,” says his coach, Abigail Donovan.

“It was definitely cool to be shooting against kids that have been shooting three times the amount of time I have and just with 10 times the amount of experience, and just to meet some of the people I met there. It’s once in a lifetime and I could’ve never met them if I didn’t go to the Junior Olympics,” Dominic reflects.

Some of the coolest people he met you wonder? He loved standing toe to toe with the Olympians he hopes to be one day.

“It was surreal to stand there and talk to Olympians. I remember watching them on TV and thinking huh that would be sweet to do one day, but never actually thought it could be possible,” he says.

Dominic ended placing 104th in the competition, and says while winning would have been great, he’s most grateful for the support he’s received to make it this far.

“I don’t think I’ve met a single person that hasn’t been nice to me and offered me as much help as I needed within the shooting sport. I mean, I’ve had competitors come up to me and help me while we’re in the middle of a match because I was having an issue,” he says humbly.

This is not then end of his ambition by a long stretch. He says he’d love if he could be an Olympian one day, and he’s already trained his eye on what he’ll practice to be even better next year.

“You can’t let it get — the nerves and the idea of I’m at the Junior Olympics — get to you. It’s just another match,” he says. “That’s definitely something I’ll take away and know what to expect for next year.”

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