Frans Pace was born on 16 February 1962. He is married to Roseanne and has three children. Rebecca, Adam and Anneka.
Frans started this interview by going back to his early days and recalling his childhood. “I was born in a family with a sport culture, in fact we used to watch and even play billiards, bocci, table tennis and football. From a young age I remember playing in different events between our extended family mostly with my cousins. It was a joy for us to participate and enjoy different kinds of sport. We were brought up doing a bit of everything. School, studying, hunting, swimming and fishing.”
Like everyone, Frans took his first education at the local primary school. “After my primary years I won a scholarship and went to St Augustine College. Subsequently, I sat for my O Levels and I immediately started working as a Junior Accounts clerk with a private company.”
But how did Frans opt for shooting. “I used to play different kinds of sport, but though having a good level, I never excelled. I remember watching a TV programme, The Way to Glory, which was about the Olympics Games. This programme helped me to break the ice and being the nephew of Wenzu Vella, who participated in the 1960 Rome Olympics and cousin of Larry Vella, who represented Malta at the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, I wanted to follow in their footsteps. Shooting was my natural sport. In fact I started practising and after a year I made great strides and soon became the national champion. From then on I never looked back.”
Frans started way back in 1989. He used to go with his cousins to watch and observe before practising shooting. “I had the help of them especially from Larry who was practically my mentor at that time. Subsequently the Federation brought over a Russian coach, who took me under his wing and, having nothing to distract me, I climbed the ladder quickly. At that time there were about 15 shooters who were of an international standard but once I passed their level I started dominating my category.
Pace found time to recall the good and the bad moments of his illustrious career. Incidentally both happened during the Summer Olympics in Atlanta 1996. I was happy that I reached and obtained a very respectable result as I wanted to compete and not participate. I had a very good performance on my debut hitting 24, 24 and 24 out of a possible 25, incidentally losing my last target in each round. I remember the Italian coach Enio Mattarelli wanted to kill me. I stared the following day hitting a perfect score of 25 and pressure started mounting. I was with the first 10. In the second round I hit 22. So my overall score was 119 missing the final by just two clays. It was my first big experience but a wonderful one which made me proud.
On the other hand my biggest disappointment was four years later during the Olympics in Sydney. “I had the best preparation possible and even in a pre Olympic event, as a team, we classified in first place. But a few hours before the official event I ran a fever due to a cold. And it affected my performance on day one. On the second day I made up for it by hitting the best score of the day. But in shooting you can’t miss a turn because that will be fatal and practically impossible to get back on your feet.”
Who had the most positive bearing on your career? “I think that primarily it wasn’t a person but the television programme I mentioned before, The Way to Glory. I used to spend hours in front of the television and literally feel the Olympic passion. Obviously, there was my family who among others, has a number of shooters. They passed on to me a positive vibe and also guided me to avoid certain bad decisions that they made during their career. They were talking from experience.”
Frans took part in two editions of the Summer Olympics, Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000. “When you talk with any athlete his target and dream is to participate in the Olympics. Why? Because the Olympics are held every four years with just over 2,000 athletes from a world population of then six billion people. Being there you feel that you are already a winner. When you participate in the opening and closing ceremony and the way you are treated at the Village and the overall experience is something that you will never forget. You feel that you are treated in a preferential manner. But above all Olympics is always Olympics.”
There were also the Commonwealth Games and the GSSE Games, which you also had a fair success in them. “My first success dates back to the Commonwealth Games Vancouver 1994. I finished in sixth place in the singles and in the pairs we just missed out on bronze finishing fourth. A year later Horace Micallef and I took part in the Commonwealth Shooting Championships in India. Horace won individual bronze and we won Gold as a team. In 1998 I took part in the Nations Cup finishing fourth out of 286 participants. For me it was a big feat. As regards the GSSE games I won three silver and a bronze. The most memorable is the silver I won in Malta in 2003. Of particular importance is also winning in San Marino 2017 when I came out of retirement and won silver. It was also very emotional since I had won silver in the same country 14 years before.”
Time has changed and today is a different preposition. “After my time, there was William Chetcuti, who though not participating in my category, was on a class of his own. There were also Nathan and Gianluca among others. In the Trap, Brian Galea is the one to beat. Going back to Chetcuti he was born a shooter. I think that he held a gun and not a bottle in his hands when still a baby.
“As regards today William Chetcuti is also participating in the Trap along with Brian and James Galea beingthe main contenders. Clive Farrugia is a very good shooter in the Skeet category and I can frankly say that he can compete with the best in Europe. In this sport you have to be dedicated to the full to achieve success. I was 24/7 thinking about shooting.”
But what is his opinion about today’s level? “The level leaves much to be desired. Of coure there are good shooters. Brian Galea won bronze in the Commonwealth Games. He has yet to win a GSSE medal but his day will come for sure and he will move on after breaking the jinx. William has got talent and his time in Trap will come too, although he has already proved himself after winning a silver medal in GSSE 2019.
But in Trap you are competing against a lot of shooters. You can’t miss cause someone will pass you for sure. I remember failing to make it to the final barage after hitting 121. Today even with 123 you don’t even make it to the finals. Worldwide the level has gone up and you find a crop of young shooters not yet 40 years old. Recalling the words of Enio Mattarelli, a gold medalist in Tokyo Olympic games: “To succeed in shooting you either have to be a genius or insane.”
Pace was also recognised locally and won the Sportsman of the Year award way back in 1994 and finished as runner-up two years later in 1999. He was also part of the winning team event in 1995.
Is Pace still in touch nowadays? “I was a member in the Council after ending my career. I wanted to pass on what I knew to others. But when you are in a Committee there is a love and hate issue. Certain decisions don’t go well with everyone. So today I just go to the Shooting Range and do some practice and I only intervene and give my advice if I am asked to do so. I’m not committed now. Even coaching requires a lot of dedication and is time-consuming. Now I want to make for lost time with my family.”
Talking about family affairs Frans had this to say. “During my career I even used to miss on holidays with my family due to certain committments. I made a lot of sacrifices for this sport and my family made a lot of sacrifices for me. It’s now pay back time.”
Pace lists fish as his favourite food before turning his attention onto his favourite travel destination. “I love England. I consider it as my second home. The affinity and the Britisth connection plays a big role in being so in love with this country.”
And does he have any other hobbies? “Yes during my free time I play Darts and Snooker and am also fond of fishing. Even during my career I used to consider these moments very important since they gave me physcological strength. By practising something else I used to loosen up and be ready for the big events.”
Frans didn’t conclude this interview before passing one final word to the present generation. “Shooting is an expensive hobby. If you want to succeed it has to be given top priority. And always listen to advices passed on to you by veterans and experienced athletes. Remember that hitting a straight or contrary to that getting a drab result, you’ve always got a lot of things to learn from any experience.”