WOOSTER, Ark. (KARK) — Olympic dreams began early for Arkansas native Kayle Browning.
“I never was an ice skater or a gymnast but that’s kind of where the fire came from for the Olympics,” said Browning.
So instead of trying something she didn’t know much about, she turned to what she was good at — shooting shotguns.
“As a young child she was a very talented shooter,” said her father Tommy.
Fast forward several years, Browning has moved from talented to the U.S. Olympic Team in Tokyo.
“It’s pretty surreal, I mean it’s something I’ve chased for a very long time,” she said.
While many athletes across the world are having to delay training because of COVID-19, Kayle has a regulation Olympic shooting range in her backyard.
“It’s peaceful out here, I can shoot, my neighbors don’t complain because I don’t have any,” she said. “I mean I can literally walk out my front door and train when I need to.”
It was 2006 when the idea to build this range set in.
“I had a coach tell me to shoot the game that I needed to move to Colorado Springs,” said Browning.
“And I was like, ‘I’m not letting you raise my 13-year-old daughter,’ and they said ‘You basically have to because there’s no place to shoot within 10 or 11 hours of you,’ and I said ‘Well I build one,’ and that’s what I did,” said her father.
The equipment cost $100,000 and the upkeep continues.
“I think it was my parents trying to give me every opportunity that they could so that I had the best chance to make it,” said Browning.
Thanks to parental foresight that has seen a dream come true, Kayle Browning aims at golden targets in an uncertain time.