There are around 136,000 marksmen and markswomen in Switzerland who regularly practice and compete in various disciplines. They maintain a rich club culture with shooting customs and traditional rituals. Traditional Swiss shooting has its roots in beginnings of the Swiss Confederacy – in particular the character of Wilhelm Tell, who can be traced back to the 15th century. The discipline as we know it today has its origins in the Schweizerischer Schützenverein, a club that was founded in Aarau in 1824 and is the predecessor of today’s Schweizer Schiesssportverband (Swiss Shooting Sport Federation). The founding period of the Swiss Shooting Sport Federation is inextricably linked to the emergence of a modern national identity during the period from 1824 to 1848 – the prerequisite for the modern state.
Traditional Swiss shooting revolves around shooting festivals and other events that club members participate in along with their relatives and the public. The Swiss Shooting Sport Federation is organised into 26 cantonal chapters and 2,500 other clubs and associations. The federation ensures that Swiss shooting traditions are passed on with its youth shooting courses and other events such as the Federal Youth Shooting Festival (Eidgenössisches Schützenfest für Jugendliche) and the Knabenschiessen target shooting competition in Zurich; it likewise enables the training of top Swiss athletes such as Heidi Diethelm Gerber (bronze medal at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in 2016) and Nina Christen (gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021).
