Bonnie Chamberlain Full Biography

Full Biography

Although she grew up in Tennessee, Bonnie was not introduced to shooting sports until the early 1990’s while living on Islay, an island off the western coast of Scotland. Bonnie’s initial exposure was to sporting clays and upland game hunting, as well as rifle hunting the magnificent red stag on the island. Having always been an avid outdoors person, she displayed a natural ability for shooting sports and quickly developed a passion for these new outdoor pursuits.

After observing many competitive shooters in her travels throughout Scotland and England, she realized the importance of developing and implementing proper shotgun fundamentals and techniques.  Upon moving to England, Bonnie had the opportunity to study and train under the tutelage of 20+ year England Team member, Mr. Joe Kitson. During this time, her training focused on not only learning and mastering the fundamentals of proper shotgunning but also theory and the implementation of various training tools and techniques, which she still employs in her coaching and private instruction process.

Understanding and Appreciating the need to stay abreast of new training methodology and technology in the shooting industry, Bonnie actively pursues expanding her knowledge base of sport psychology, mental training, physiology, nutrition, vision process and training by taking classes, attending conferences and seminars as well as working with elite level athletes and coaches.

Bonnie is able to employ her educational background in Psychology to not only make her clients feel at ease as she assists in the development of their shooting abilities. She also easily and effectively communicates theory and process to her clients in terms they can readily understand, remember and duplicate during training.

Dedicated to giving back to the community, in 2004 helped establish a county-wide shotgun team for young athlete’s ages 9 – 19, the Madison County Clay Crushers. Training and competition focused on both American and Olympic disciplines. She has served as a guest shotgun instructor for the Bird Dog Foundation and as Committee Member for her local chapter of the Friends of NRA. Also, an active volunteer Referee for ISSF Shotgun World Cups, USA Shooting National competitions, USA National Team Selection Shoots and both State and National Junior Olympic Championships.  

In 2011, Bonnie partnered to establish the United States Clay Target Foundation, a not for profit shotgun education program designed to support athletes at the grassroots level in shotgun safety, training and education as well as provide coaching and facilities for shotgun athletes pursuing Olympic dreams. Currently serving as Head Coach at the United States Clay Target Academy, an Olympic development program for Olympic shotgun sports.