About SwissAAA
SwissAAA
Aspire
Envision your future performance
Persist
Invest in improvement every day
Prevail
Celebrate successes
SwissAAA, the Swiss-African Adventure Academy, offers instruction, training, coaching, competition and adventure around selected sports shooting disciplines. Our specialty are safe, simple and effective methods and techniques that will make you even more successful. We combine Swiss quality with local expertise internationally.
Team
Andy Pfenninger
Andy Pfenninger, SwissAAA's head instructor, has more than 30 years of experience in firearms and related topics. He is an Advanced Firearms and Tactical Instructor with ITA South Africa and a former Swiss Armed Forces Officer (retired). Furthermore, he is a Certified Fitness Instructor as well.
Besides teaching and coaching, Andy competes himself in several sports shooting disciplines around the world. In IDPA, he was an all-division-master. Competing in many countries such as for example Switzerland, Italy, Lithuania, USA, Poland, South Africa and Thailand, he has won several international and national championships as well as many division, class and category wins in matches at international, national, regional, state and local levels.
In 2023, Andy and a team of founding members have launched the CMA - Competitive Marksman Action initiative. CMA is a new dynamic shooting sport that emphasizes safe and effective skills and mental and physical fitness.
Raphi Vögtli
Raphi received his basic rifle training in 2001 in his military service with the mechanized light troops. During officer school, he additionally received the pistol education.
After the military service, shooting became less important and Raphi focused more on his job, his studies and, in his free time, on various martial arts and self-defense systems.
In 2019, Raphi attended the SwissAAA 3-Gun Camp in South Africa. Safe firearm handling was not a problem for him, but he initially struggled a bit with speedy hits. Andy Pfenninger managed to teach him how to hit quickly within a week and that became the basis for his enthusiasm for competitive pistol shooting.
What followed where numerous courses, camps and competitions in the IDPA and IPSC disciplines at home and abroad.
Raphi is a member of the founding team of CMA and was certified as a CMA instructor in August 2023.
Thanks to his many years of experience as a martial arts instructor, Raphi is able to provide safe and interesting training sessions. In his lessons, safety always comes first, but there's always plenty of fun and challenges as well.
Florian Persch
Florian has been an enthusiastic sports shooter since 2020. He has met Andy in 2021 during an introductory course on dynamic shooting. Following this, he participated in numerous courses, competitions and training camps both in Switzerland and abroad. In the summer of 2023, he became certified as a CMA instructor and started to teach shooting classes in Switzerland in 2024. As an instructor, his primary focus is on safety. With well-founded feedback, he strives to improve the skills of his students, always ensuring that there is ample room for fun and individual needs.
In addition to his dedication to safety and skills improvement, Florian is known for his approachable and patient teaching style. He believes that a supportive and encouraging environment is key to effective learning. His experience in various international settings has given him a broad perspective on different shooting techniques and methods, which he incorporates into his training sessions. Florian is also committed to staying current with the latest developments in shooting sports, regularly attending workshops and seminars to enhance his knowledge and expertise. His passion for the sport and commitment to his students make him a respected and valued instructor in the shooting community.
Björn Thomann
Björn started shooting at an early age as a so called "Jungschütze" (young shooter). In his first years as a shooter, he was successful at 300m with the rifle and later also at 25m with the pistol.
After his military service, he started his career with the professional fire department of the city of Zurich. Among other things, Björn is a specialist for rescue operations in serious traffic accidents and for opening doors by force in emergency situations, for which he has become an internationally sought-after trainer for fire departments and other authorities. He brings a wealth of experience and excellent education skills with him.
Björn started dynamic shooting in 2017, both with pistol and rifle. He is a founding member of CMA and has successfully proven himself in numerous competitions and courses in the roles of Safety Officer, Match Director and Instructor.
His particular passion is the solid basic training of new shooters in the safe handling of the pistol. Björn achieves an optimal mix of safety, fun and challenge. It is a particular pleasure for him to say goodbye to his participants with a sense of achievement and a desire for more.
Competency
The SwissAAA instruction program allows the students to acquire and master the skills required to be successful through the three steps 1: Aspire 2: Persist and 3: Prevail. A lot of emphasis is placed on the methodical, step by step buildup of capabilities. We avoid taking shortcuts, because those will often turn into barriers that block further advancement later on.
Our instructors are very experienced in their field of expertise. Additionally, we work with selected partners to provide an optimal coverage and development of know how in order to provide maximum value to our students.
Courses and Camps
The courses, training, competitions and intensive camps are grouped according to the skill levels of the target group of participants. However, remember that champions spend a lot of time honing their fundamental skills! Never stop investing in the fundamentals. Consult the detail pages and corresponding schedules and take contact to take your next step!
Coaching
We offer individual or small group coaching for ambitious sports shooters and beginners alike. These sessions are highly effective because the program can be tuned to fit each participant for maximum gain. The coaching is based on four pillars: mental fitness, physical fitness, fundamentals and practice. The pillars are trained using a system of proven drills with five levels leading to superior performance when it really counts.
A very good opportunity to get familiar with this program are the intensive camps focused on sports shooting. Alternatively, individual coaching can be planed quite flexible to suit a student's busy schedule. Whether you are a competitive shooter or a novice: take contact now and we will assess the needs, potential and corresponding possibilities and start working and achieving together!
Shooting Sports
Competitive Marksman Action
CMA is a new, dynamic shooting sport based on safe, simple and effective shooting abilities. It emphasizes personal skills and mental and physical fitness.
International Practical Shooting Confederation
IPSC is a dynamic shooting sport where the combination of speed and accuracy is key to success. Competitions are held for handguns, rifles and shotguns. A vast variety of specialized equipment can be used in the different divisions of the sport.
Precision Rifle Series
PRS is a practical shooting sport in the long-range precision shooting field. It provides a safe, fair, and practical basis for shooters of all skill levels and ages to compete. Born out of military, law enforcement and hunting scenarios, the practical application of the precision rifle is the underlying theme for all competitions.
International Precision Rifle Federation
The IPRF aims to unify the sport of Precision Rifle worldwide and set standards for competitions internationally to enable a level field of play up to World Championships.
