USAShootingNews

Sept/oct 2009 volume 17, No. 5

Contents FEATURES 18 2009 Nationals Wrap- Up By Mary Beth Vorwerk

24 2009 Update By Mary Beth Vorwerk

DISCIPLINES 14 Pistol By Keith Sanderson

15 Rifle By Launi Meili

16 By Bret Erickson & Mark Weeks

COLUMNS 6 From the Editor By Mary Beth Vorwerk

7 Aim with AMU By SFC Richard Merrill

8 Inside the Blue By Sr. Master Sgt. Jeffrey J. Julig

10 On the Firing Line By J.P. O’Connor

12 Coaches’ Corner By Rifle Coach Dave Johnson

AROUND THE RANGE 28 Shotgun Junior Olympic Wrap-Up

ON THE COMPLEX 30 Thoughts from: The Executive Director Paralympics Marketing Competitions Operations 18 33 NEWS & EVENTS USA Shooting News is published six times a year. USA Shooting is the national governing body for Olympic in the . USA Shooting News is produced as a service to international shooters, coaches, officials and media who cover Olympic-style shooting. Shooters featured in USA Shooting News magazine may be photographed without eye protection. These are posed photographs using unloaded guns and do not represent actual competiton. USA Shooting encourages all shooters to use proper eye and ear protection when shooting. Inclusion of advertisements in USA Shooting does not constitiute endorsement of advertised products or services by USA Shooting, its staff or its sponsors. www.usashooting.org 3 USA Shooting 1 Olympic Plaza Colorado Springs, CO 80909 Phone: 719-866-4670 Administration Fax: 719-635-7989 Competitions Fax: 719-866-4884

Lindsay Brooke Competitions Manager 719-866-4885 [email protected]

Buddy DuVall Director of Marketing 719-866-4880 [email protected]

Bob Foth National Paralympic Coach 719-866-4881 [email protected]

Cynthia Jackson Coaches’ Assistant/Team Manager 719-866-4611 [email protected]

David Johnson National Rifle Coach 719-866-4630 [email protected]

Nicole Levine Competitions Assistant 719-866-4882 [email protected]

Sergey Luzov National Pistol Coach 719-866-4615 [email protected]

Robert Mitchell Chief Executive Officer 719-866-4899 [email protected] USA Shooting wishes to thank its supporting partners.

Nichole Rae Learn what these sponsors do for you. Membership/Merchandise Manager Visit our website at www.usashooting.org. 719-866-4743 [email protected]

Bill Roy Director of Operations 719-866-4890 [email protected]

Mary Beth Vorwerk Media & Public Relations Manager 719-866-4896 [email protected]

Mark Weeks National Shotgun Coach 719-866-4682 [email protected]

Corrie West Marketing Manager 719-866-4616 [email protected]

Karie Wright Controller 719-866-4887

Editor: Mary Beth Vorwerk Designer: Claire Landis-Tyson Printing: Sport Graphics

Contributors: Contributors: Lindsay Brooke Buddy DuVall Bret Erickson Bob Foth Senior Master Sgt. Jeffrey J. Julig Launi Meili SFC Richard Merrill Robert Mitchell JP O’Connor Marcus Raab Bill Roy Keith Sanderson Wolfgang Schreiber

Cover Photo: Wolfgang Schreiber, issf-sports.org DON’T POINT AND CLICK. AIM AND FIRE.

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When I discovered this picture two days after I actually took it during the Men’s Final at the 2009 USA Shooting Shotgun National Championships, I quickly emailed it off to my fellow staff, as well as family and friends with the subject heading, “Coolest picture I’ve ever taken.” I must say, this is definitely by far the best photo I have snapped in my eight years of working in Media Relations for the Olympic movement. I am by no means an accomplished photographer, in fact, I got pretty lucky with this picture, but I do enjoy taking photos and getting a shot like this doesn’t happen too often. Stand- ing in back of the bunker, I was taking pictures behind the shooters hoping to get a puff of orange from the target breaking in the sky in some of my photos. I literally had no idea until two days later when I finally had a chance to go through all my pictures that I got the perfect shot: lightening flashing in the background as well as a puff target, another target breaking and two shooters at the line. I guess the photo was the perfect way to showcase what a great match we had this year at Ft. Carson’s International Shooting Park, by bringing out the “electrifying” nature of this shotgun event in general! I can’t imagine ever being able to take a better picture if I tried! It was definitely luck, but I am certainly happy with the result, and especially since so many others seemed to love it as well. I heard several people talking about the infamous “lightening photo” throughout the course of the nationals. The picture seemed to spread like wildfire on email as I had numerous shooters, referees and others come up to me and tell me what a great shot it was. I was a little embarrassed and even a little reluctant to publish it in the magazine, but knowing how many people enjoyed seeing it, I really did want to share it with all of our USA Shooting News readers. I would like to point out, however, that the lightening is MUCH farther away than it appears in the photo. National Shotgun Coach Mark Weeks and his staff are constantly watching out for threatening weather and checking the lightening detector at the range and would never keep our shooters on the field if they were in any sort of danger. So, the lightening that appeared in the picture was definitely not a threat to our shooters. With that being said, I really hope you all enjoy seeing the “coolest picture I’ve ever taken”! Columns From the Editor Aim with AMU Inside the Blue On the Firing Line Coaches’ Corner Grip Fitting 104 By SFC Richard Merrill and the USAMU International Pistol Team

In our previous discussions on grip fitting, we have moved from the this valley too deep because this will produce the same problem as logic of properly fitting a grip, to tools and shaping, to important ter- having a finger ridgeline that is too pronounced. minology. Now we will conclude the series with a focus on fine tuning Last on the grip are the fingers. To keep the grip pressure aligned your grip from the rear forward. from front to rear, the fingers must be placed so that the middle seg- Working from the rear of the grip around to the fingers brings us to ment of the middle finger and ring finger are perpendicular to the axis the palm ridge line and the ball of the grip. If you look at your hand, of the barrel. Form a grip feature that allows fingertips to lie, but not a the palm ridge line is the line that extends from your wrist towards place to push into. If the middle segments of the fingers are incorrectly your fingers. The ball is at the end of this line. In your hand the ball is placed, the fingertips will be pushing from the side causing sight mis- a concave depression, but on the grip it is the round protrusion that fits alignment. So, like the thumb, the finger tips just lie there, but do not into our palm. Most commercial grips already have this line and you add pressure. The pinky finger hardly ever fits because on most peo- only need a minor adjustment to fit it to your hand. The easiest way to ple, it is too short. In order to remove enough wood to fit the pinky, fit this part is to add filler to the grip and grab the grip starting from you would be grinding the frame. Just give the pinky a good natural the back with the hand getting as high and into the grip as possible, place to lie that will not place any unwanted pressures to the grip. then reaching around with the fingers. From now on, this is how you Some grips have ridgelines between every segment and every fin- should grip your pistol to guarantee consistency. ger, such as a Steyr air pistol. These ridgelines are fine to have, but If filled correctly, you will form a knuckle-looking feature on top of not necessary. Since our hands expand and contract every day, these the ball. This forms from the tendon for the middle finger, which also ridgelines will usually be in a different place every day. For example, happens to be the deepest part of the ball. To know if you have added if your hand expands one millimeter every day, then each finger will enough filler, you should not feel high points on your palm from the expand one millimeter giving your fingers an overall expansion of four ball. The ball is on the side of the grip. If the ball is too large then you millimeters compared to the one millimeter of your hand. If you think will feel it push into your hand and this push will cause sight misalign- your grip feels different from day to day, your fingers definitely will. If ment. If you feel a gap in your palm, then you need more filler to you have finger ridgelines, keep them rounded so you can barely feel provide a proper index to ensure you have a proper grip. You can test them. if the ball is in the right spot by holding the pistol for at least an hour The middle finger shelf hardly ever has to be adjusted, but some without taking your hand out of the grip. When you release the grip people need to move their middle finger closer to the trigger. This there should be a red mark in the deepest part of the ball on your hand. means you need to make this shelf thinner. The middle finger shelf If this red mark is not in the deepest part then you need to move the should also extend all the way over the top of the middle finger since ball to the deepest spot. this is one of the two spots supporting the weight of the pistol. The next index is the finger ridgeline. The valley under your fingers After you have adjusted the grip to fit your hand, then adjust your goes along with the finger ridgeline. The finger ridgeline is easy to trigger. The tip segment of your trigger finger should be placed on set, and next to the ball, is the best index to make sure your hand is in the trigger shoe so that the segment is perpendicular to the barrel axis the same place on the grip every time. To form the ridge line simply when taking up the second stage of the trigger. This will allow you to add filler in a line between the middle finger shelf and the palm shelf. pull the trigger straight back. If you have inconsistent trigger squeeze, After filler is added grab the pistol from the rear going forward again. it will effect your sights less if the trigger comes straight back. Some The filler should be where your fingers and palm meet. Do not make people like none of their trigger finger touching the grip and some this ridge too pronounced. This ridge is on the side of the grip, and if like the bottom segment of the trigger finger touching the grip. This is you make it large, then it will push your hand to the side causing sight personal preference. misalignment. Again, you should not feel this ridge. If you feel it, then Fitting a grip does not need to be a daunting task. If you know what you have used too much filler. If you feel a gap, add more filler. to look for, you can personalize all your grips. Be patient and stick After the finger ridgeline has set, adjust the valley. The valley is the to the basic principles we’ve discussed, and you will be shooting a lot area between the finger ridge line and the ball. Simply remove enough more tens. My hope is that this series has helped you progress in your wood so that your hand is not squished into the grip. Avoid making shooting career. Until next time STAY ARMY STRONG!

www.usashooting.org 7 Columns From the Editor Aim with AMU Inside the Blue On the Firing Line Coaches’ Corner Inside the Blue: Second Opinion By: Senior Master Sgt. Jeffrey J. Julig, Air Force Shooting Team Success is an inside job. It is a leadership form a plan to get there, set waypoints and make took advantage of his or her unique set of op- and self-improvement maxim that transcends course corrections along the way. Look inside portunities. Training is over when the match many aspects of business, sport and personal to determine the level of commitment you will begins. Scores are counted and head-to-head life. Successful individuals sow the seeds of im- need to reach your destination. competition begins. What you bring to the line provement within and nurture them to reach A destination should incorporate factors is the sum of your experiences, good or bad. their goals. It is internal drive and determina- within an athlete’s span of control and not just Your opportunity to learn is over because you tion that motivates and inspires people to reach focus on an outcome. Outcomes (e.g., taking now must perform. Experience is gained this their goals. The tangible reward or recognition home a medal, winning a club championship) way, by embracing the opportunity to act and at the end of the match is the product of high may influence the perception of success but are learn even when the conditions are not perfect. performance, but true satisfaction is held deep not conclusive evidence of success. For exam- After the match your opportunity to improve within knowing you reached your goal. The ple, if an athlete sets a goal to win the National begins again. If you failed, you must learn from passion to compete and the reasons for accept- Championship in his or her sport and fails, was it. ing the challenge are found inside each athlete. he or she successful? What if the athlete posted Athletes often focus improvement efforts his or her top score in the final, set a National Leverage Failure externally to address performance equipment, record during the qualification rounds and still Failure is not the enemy of success; it is the physical fitness, performance techniques and lost? Is success tied to the medal? Because suc- teacher of success. Failure to reach a goal does match plans. However, an athlete must also cess is a subjective standard, athletes must care- not mean an athlete is a failure. It may reveal direct attention inward because the catalyst fully choose a destination to avoid setting them- shortcomings in training, equipment or perfor- for success lies within. In this article, we will selves up for failure. mance but it is not an indictment on the individ- explore how looking within may help improve Choose a destination linked to performance ual. Athletes must balance growth in all areas of your performance. – something you can control – and let the match life (physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, rec- director rank the performance of a group of reational and professional) and integrate within What is Success? competitors. An athlete must define success by a larger society. In the end, far more athletes Webster’s Dictionary defines success as: “a choosing his or her own destination. Experi- “fail to post the highest score” than actually lose degree or measure of succeeding” or “a favor- ence will help you make an informed decision. in life. Failure to reach a goal in a one area of life able or desired outcome.” For an athlete, it is does not paint the individual as a failure. This a subjective standard based on an individual or Value Experience attitude is more than just an academic concept. group’s evaluation of performance. But who de- Success comes from taking advantage of op- It allows an athlete to use a setback as an im- fines success: the group or the individual ath- portunities to gain experience before they are provement opportunity in order to learn from lete? lost forever. It goes without saying, but athletes his or her failures and not internalize it as an at- Success is a subjective evaluation of perfor- will never go undefeated. Even the best are tack on his or her character. mance and should be based on an athlete’s goals overcome at some point, but their experience A fundamental aspect of improvement is and self-image. For some athletes, success is – even in defeat – is invaluable for the athlete’s acknowledging the opportunity to fail. Avoid- winning a medal during an international com- development. Greatness is not only a measure ing failure and focusing only on areas an athlete petition. For others, it is recognition as one of of actions in victory but also actions shown does well is the surest way to perpetuate medi- the greatest all-time competitors in his or her in defeat. Disappointment over a loss or poor ocrity. Athletes should seek new challenges as sport. Others believe it is achieving peak per- performance is understandable, but the actions opportunities to learn rather than chances to formance within time and resource constraints. following the event are the most important for fail. Embrace the chance to compete in a final Still others feel it is a measure of their ability to long-term improvement. with your heart trying to escape your body – at set a goal and achieve it. Your standard may dif- Each athlete’s background includes a unique least you will know you are alive. Unfortunately, fer. As a subjective standard, athletes should ap- set of experiences to build upon. The challenge fear of failure prevents many otherwise capable ply their own criteria to evaluate the results of is to relate a past experience to a present oppor- athletes from reaching peak performance. If a their performance. It is an inside job. However, tunity and reach your peak performance. When setback is the result of a failed attempt, reflect without a destination, success is an elusive, ever- you reflect upon your earliest experiences in on the opportunity and dissect the experience changing target. your sport, what is different now? What did you to learn what went wrong and what you did well. learn? Did you have to learn the same lesson An athlete’s dedication to learn from his or her Choose Your Destination more than once? What did you learn from your failure is the one of the most valuable elements As an athlete, you must have a vision, a des- most recent match or training session? Com- of improvement and sustained performance. tination and a timetable to get there. Without paring and contrasting past experiences against A trusted advisor and mentor may help an it, success is difficult to measure. Where do you present opportunities is an important step to de- athlete put a setback in perspective. Athletes see yourself at the end of the season or in five veloping as an athlete – it can only happen when should seek and value the advice, experience years? What is the difference between your cur- you look inside and reflect. and knowledge of strong, match-tested marks- rent performance, your expected performance The athlete who stands ready to compete man when dealing with setbacks. There is no and your final destination? Is your timeframe when it really counts and is able to apply his or substitute for hearing, “I’ve been there before realistic? Choosing a destination allows you to her skills under pressure is usually the one who and know what you are feeling. Let me tell you

8 USA Shooting News Columns From the Editor Aim with AMU Inside the Blue On the Firing Line Coaches’ Corner what I did to overcome the challenge. Reflect- rations and whether he or she reached his or her to your advantage, leveraging failure to improve ing back on my experience, here is what I believe full potential. Only the athlete knows if he or and judging your own performance helps an will help you succeed in the future.” Positive she can pass the mirror test. Only he or she can athlete define success. The ability to produce a feedback and focusing on improvement allows judge his or her own performance. desired outcome is the reason we compete. Suc- an athlete to use failure to his or her advantage. Society judges athletes on the number of cessful athletes make informed choices, use ex- Learn to evaluate your own performance and championships and the tangible results they perience, learn from their mistakes and evaluate try not to make the same mistake twice. produce in competition. Anything less appears their performance to reach their full potential. to invite someone to conclude the athlete is un- Define success and achieve it. If all else fails, an Be the Judge successful. This standard assumes that cham- athlete may always follow the advice of Ameri- Competing to meet another’s standards or pionships are the sole indicators of success. can satirist and comedian Stephen Colbert who expectations is an impossible task and a perilous Athletes may be lured into this flawed logic and once said, “If at first you don’t succeed, redefine journey. An athlete must set his or her own cri- believe the only path to success is whether he or what you did as success.” teria for success and resist the pressure to reach she is a champion in his or her sport. Success is Until the next competition, the Air Force someone else’s goals. The athlete must judge based on an athlete’s ability to achieve his or her Shooting Team challenges each of you to seek his or her own success and failure and set the own goals as only they understand the totality of improvement from within to discover your own conditions for improvement and flame the pas- the circumstances that influence his or her abil- path to success and pursue excellence in all sion within to succeed. External inspiration or ity to accomplish the goals. you do. If you have any questions about the Air motivation may influence an athlete but only he Championships and other awards are useful Force in general, please visit www.airforce.com or she can internalize and take ownership of a to stratify the accomplishments among athletes for more information. goal. Passion, drive and determination are in- with comparable records but are not the exclu- ternal forces. sive indicators of success. If so, organizations “Inside the Blue” is a running series that looks Consider the following: Is an athlete who like the Major League Baseball and National at international shooting sports from an Airman’s fails to win a championship during his or her ca- Football League Halls of Fame would only in- perspective. Senior Master Sgt. Julig is a member of the Air Force International Trap Team and he is reer unsuccessful? What if he or she sustains a clude athlete’s who won a championship in their presently assigned to Bolling Air Force Base in Wash- high level of performance for years but performs respective sport. Objectively evaluate your own ington D.C. The views expressed in this article, un- poorly during a championship match when it performance using the high standards you set less otherwise indicated, are that of the individual matters the most? What if the athlete consis- for yourself. author. They do not purport to express the views of tently performs above his or her peers but never the Department of the Air Force or any other depart- becomes a champion? Which circumstance(s), One Final Shot ment or agency of the U.S. Government. if any, is a measure of success? Who gets to While success is often difficult to quantify, judge? The answer depends on an athlete’s aspi- choosing a destination, using your experience Columns From the Editor Aim with AMU Inside the Blue On the Firing Line Coaches’ Corner

The Conflicted Athlete Forty-sixth in a series By JP O’Connor “I am so frustrated I want to quit! Yet I love this so much that I cannot quit!” It is human nature to enjoy doing the things we are good at doing, and part of the athlete’s development. At the same time, we must also realize to avoid doing the things we are not good at doing. How many athletes that it is not always going to be fun and that there will be many “dark mo- practice their favorite event or activity, even though they are already per- ments” when the athlete suffers through a long plateau or other downturn. fect at doing so, and avoid working on the aspects of their game that are Sometimes, these “dark moments” can last a very long time. the weakest? No wonder they never get better! While interviewing Jason Turner a few weeks after his medal winning This same effect influences whether we stick with a sport or leave. Once performance in , when the topic of “dark moments” came up, it was frustration and disappointment overcome enjoyment, the athlete is likely obvious in his voice that he, like all great athletes had experienced times to leave. Yet, too many athletes quit in the face of a plateau or other obsta- of deep frustration and doubt. Indeed, he indicated that the “moments” cle without appropriately changing their approach, mindset, coaching or sometimes lasted much longer! Yet he found a way to keep going. Article other aspect of their activity in order to remove the obstacle. Others leave 40 “On Stepping Up” discusses his story and this topic in greater detail. after making many random changes, which made the departure more like- Doing well at something certainly is fun and motivating. The danger ly, rather than solving the problem with well thought out changes. is that when one is a “natural” at first, they often may not develop the Is this always the case? Is there anything one can do? No and yes, in mental toughness to work “hard” when their learning curve starts to level that order! off. Those who do not start as a “natural” have to work at their game be- fore they ever gain the excitement of doing really well. Their expectation The Plateau about the effort required is higher. Later, when the going gets tough, they “I am so frustrated that sometimes I just hate to shoot. I always seemed have already developed the skills needed to keep going through the tough to get better, and now I have been stuck with the same scores and per- times. This is the “hard” part of the hard work of becoming a champion. formances for the past two years. I should just quit but for some reason I As a result of these dynamics, the young J3 shooter with the top scores can’t bring myself to make the decision.” The athlete’s frustration and pain may not necessarily be the one with the top scores in high school, college were obvious in her words and facial expressions. A coach at the clinic or beyond. There are exceptions of course, among the truly motivated. responded, “Let me guess; despite being so frustrated that you want to The athlete who is struggling along with “average” skills, if able to tough quit, you cannot quit because you remember how much you used to love it out and remain motivated, is actually a bit more likely to be on top in to shoot, cannot bear the thought of leaving that behind and wish you later years. could recapture that feeling?” Her eyes grew wide in amazement and she Many years ago, a 13-year-old set a national J3 record at the National said, “Oh, yes! That is it exactly!” The coach continued, “What if we could Junior Olympics after only a short time in the sport. Many predictions identify the reasons for the plateau and for your frustrations, identify the were made at the time about what this athlete would accomplish… and causes and work to resolve them, and make shooting fun again?” Her face sadly, none came true. lit up as she excitedly asked, “We can do that?!” There is hope for athletes who stick it out, even through the “dark mo- For the next few months, the athlete and coach worked together to ments” of self-doubt and frustrating results. Certainly, Jason Turner pro- stock her toolkit with sharp tools using robust techniques that can with- vides an example of how the medal goes to the one with perseverance. stand the pressure of competition (many techniques that seem to work Another example is Nancy Johnson. She worked and worked, made the well in training are “fragile” and break down in competition). She was al- National Team, worked more and… could not win the big matches. She ready very well trained in her technical aspects of shooting, so she and the worked harder than most… and still could not win the biggest matches. coach decided on only a few smaller adjustments. Their primary technical She became frustrated, and her coach Dan Durben assured her that if she focus was on building a robust shot process. would just keep going despite the frustrations, that she would prevail over The major changes they worked on together were in her outlook and those who were not working as hard. Sure enough, Nancy’s hard work mental approach to the game. Soon, she could not wait to get to the range paid off, she started winning the biggest matches, and then she moved up again, and went on to a very successful college shooting career. several spots in the biggest air rifle final of her life to claim the Olympic In this case, the shooter truly appeared to be on the verge of leaving gold medal in . the sport. Because someone was able to help her discover that this did not have to be the case, and then traveled on the journey with her and helped Goals and Real Goals her discover the skills she needed, she was able to rekindle her joy of the Another cause of internal conflict is a difference between the athlete’s sport and improve her performances and scores. Different athletes have stated goals and the real goals they wish to achieve. One need not be an different needs. The coach must be attuned to the athlete in order to be aspiring junior or elite athlete to experience this effect. effective. Luckily, that was the case in this instance. At the USA Shooting Nationals, the old man came to enjoy the com- petition and camaraderie. Although he knew how to train well, his re- Dark Moments and Hard Work sponsibilities had prevented him from doing any serious training for over Our culture is results driven and we like to do well. When faced with two years. Still, he wanted to support the event, see his friends and enjoy repeated “failures” in competition, our internal motivation diminishes. shooting. Accordingly, he adjusted his goals and expectations – or so he Coaches and athletes alike must be aware and monitor the “fun factor” as thought!

10 USA Shooting News Columns From the Editor Aim with AMU Inside the Blue On the Firing Line Coaches’ Corner

After each event concluded, a young man who is working hard and is in this regard noticed that the article mentioned a daughter and said the making a name for himself came to see the old guy. They compared notes article didn’t apply to him because his athlete child was a son. Sorry, dad, and encouragement about their shooting. The young man quickly realized that article should have been about you! that old guy was struggling with something. They talked each day through When a parent is overbearing on their child or is “merely” overenthusi- the week, and the younger shooter helped the older shooter discover astic, the child may eventually wonder if they are shooting for themselves something… while he had told himself that he had adjusted his goals and or for their parent. Or they will become frustrated at their parent’s con- expectations… he still wished he shot at the higher levels he had achieved stant “disappointment” in them. This is debilitating to the athlete’s perfor- earlier when training regularly. Outcome-based expectations cause a lot of mance. Either way, the athlete becomes de-motivated, just as surely as if conflict if out of tune! After that, their conversations were even more en- they had hit a long plateau. joyable than they already were, as were the rest of the many competitions that week. The student had become the teacher! Clearing Conflict Expectations, the dreaded “E” word, are often too high and often based Ultimately, the conflicted athlete is the one who must clear the con- on wishes rather than realities. Be honest with yourself. Happy is the ath- flict. Certainly a coach, friend, fellow athlete or other person may lend lete who understands and applies this insight. Otherwise, another con- perspective, as in some of the examples above. Regardless, it is then in the flicted athlete suffers. athlete’s hands. Understand the sources of the conflict, and then address them. Yes, it sounds so simple – too simple. Learning to work with the Coach-Dad-Itis difficulties of conflict strengthens and empowers the athlete to meet even Sometimes the internal conflict has external roots. One of the most larger challenges. common examples of this is “Coach-Dad-Itis.” When a parent, whether The important thing is to start – and keep going. actually coaching their child or not, aggressively drives their child con- cerning outcome, the child develops a great deal of internal conflict. Based in the , Ga., area, JP O’Connor ([email protected] and http:// This topic was explored in article 21 of this series using the example of a www.america.net/~jpoc/) is involved in shooting as a competitor, is a former father and his daughter, along with the daughter’s ideas on the topic. How- Assistant National Coach – USA Paralympics Shooting Team, serves on the Na- tional Coach Development Staff in both rifle & pistol, coaches the rifle and pistol ever, the concept applies universally to moms as well, to all sports parents teams at North Georgia College & State University, and coaches a junior club. even though they are not the child’s actual coach, and – even though the He enjoys working with a number of pistol and rifle athletes from around the article was about a daughter – it applies equally if the athlete is a son. country, ranging from beginners to the highly advanced, in clinics and one-on- After the article was published, a younger friend of mine who coached one private coaching. Previous installments of this series may be found at www. a junior program at the time told me how in their club the worst parent pilkguns.com.

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The outstanding feature of the Fusion-material is its permanent stability which does not change even during fluctuations in temper- When will you make the switch? ature and climate. We also offer the full line of: The choice of Matt Emmons Try&Bom, Inc. www.kustermannusa.com Phone: 503-419-6310 Fax: 503-488-5859 [email protected] Clothing and Accessories Hours: M-F 10 - 6 PST www.kustermannusa.com Columns From the Editor Aim with AMU Inside the Blue On the Firing Line Coaches’ Corner A “Ticket to Train” By Major David Johnson, National Rifle Coach

1. Set and write down your goals (see “Learn exactly where I should place my the Resources/Downloads section of USA support elbow in standing to give me my Shooting’s website, http://www.usashoot- best support.” ing.org/downloads.php, under Coaching 5. In the next section of the “Ticket to to find a previous article written by John- Train,” put after “I Will”: “do a holding son on “Setting and Sorting Goals”). List exercise without my jacket for my first 20 your outcome and their associated perfor- minutes on the range today to help me mance goals that lead to the outcome goal learn where my support elbow should be achievement. Prioritize the goals that you for my steadiest position.”. want to achieve in the next year or training Do this with your most important perfor- period. mance goals and you will generate a list of 2. Download and/or print the “Ticket things to do in that day’s training. to Train” Excel spreadsheet (see the Re- At the end of your training session, take sources/Downloads section of USA Shoot- five minutes and fill in the last part of the tick- ing’s website, http://www.usashooting.org/ et. Did you work on the things you set out to The purpose of this article is to help maxi- downloads.php, under Coaching to print do that day? What is left to carry to the next mize what is perhaps our most precious re- your spreadsheet). session? File it in your journal and read it be- source: time. I will give you a way to efficiently 3. Start at the top, fill in the date and fore filling out the next day’s ticket to train. plan your own time on the range in training, then fill in Part I: “Performance Goals I am Trainers/Coaches/Club Leaders/Parents: but even more importantly, to take advantage going to work on today.” Help your athlete fill in the ticket—make it of (and honor!) the time your coaches and a. Example--Outcome Goal: Shoot a requirement to get on the firing line each club leaders have given to you and your team above 380/400 standing by December session. Help them manage their time so that for training. 2009 Winter Airgun Championship. they learn how many goals and tasks they can Creating a calendar-based training sched- Performance Goal related to this Long- effectively work on in a typical training ses- ule is the first step in building a training plan Term outcome goal: Learn exactly sion. that leads to skill improvement. The first step where to place support elbow on hip so Athletes: This exercise only takes about is also the easiest…the harder challenge is in- that I can have my best skeletal based five minutes before you start and five min- tegrating your goals into the plan so that your position and know how to find it every utes at the end of the session. The benefit is daily work leads to progress on your goals. time. attained instantly through more focused and Use the following “Ticket to Train” ap- 4. From this example, the “Ticket to productive training—which yields skill im- proach to create goal and skill based training Train” may have in block one, “Perfor- provement: shooting better! on a daily basis. mance goals I am working on today”:

Disciplines

Pistol

By Keith Sanderson, 2008 Olympian Pistol Dry Fire Training

1) Holding Drills: Holding drills help alignment is the primary goal. Make sure build your position and grip, critically im- that when you release the trigger there is no portant to the physical aspect of pistol shoot- movement in the front sight or its relation- ing. Holding drills help you develop a consis- ship to the rear sight notch. tent natural point of aim by building muscle 4) Reduced Target and Match Target: Dry memory. Effective holding drills occur when firing on a match target is firing on a real tar- you dry fire, then hold your follow-through get at the appropriate distance for the event for 30 to 130 seconds. During this time for which you are training. If you are unable your primary goal is to maintain consistency to train at the full distance, you can use a re- in your position and grip. Your sight align- duced target at a reduced distance. Training ment and the feel of your hand indicates your on a target allows you work on and perfect grip consistency. Your sight picture indicates your shot process, fundamentals and sight your position consistency. It is helpful, if picture. In Men’s Rapid Fire, target training not completely necessary, to have someone helps develop the muscle memory to move watch you to ensure that your body remains to each target. in the same position as you become fatigued. The key to success in competitive pistol You can also use smaller targets to help you Follow-through is incredibly important for shooting, as with any sport, is training. An ath- develop a smaller hold. Here is a holding drill both live fire and dry fire training. Dry fire lete’s training determines the rate and degree of routine that I use to build my position: training allows you to concentrate on follow- improvement. Too often shooters believe the Dry fire on a target, blank face, or a ver- through without the distraction and masking only way to improve is to spend more time at tical and horizontal line. Hold your follow- effect of recoil. Exaggerate your follow-though the range shooting bullets. Unfortunately, un- through for 60 seconds. During that time in training and maintain focus and continue the limited range time is a luxury that most of us keep your sights aligned and pointed at the application of the fundamentals for an extended cannot afford, and live firing alone seldom re- same spot. Keep every joint at exactly the period of time after the dry fire shot. The goal sults in maximum improvement. same angle. Don’t allow your position to is to keep your position exactly the same, your It’s common at training sessions and major change at all as you tire. Hold for 60 seconds grip perfectly constant and to continue aligning competitions to see elite pistol shooters per- then relax for 120 seconds. Do this six to the sights without interruption. This will polish forming holding drills and dry fire exercises, of- eight times, three to five times a week. your technique and correct most mistakes. This ten a dozen athletes sequestered in a designated 2) Eyes Closed: Dry firing with your eyes “polishing action” makes dry fire extremely im- hallway pointing at a wall. closed allows you to work on your trigger portant for pre-match warm-up. So if live shooting is not the key to improve- control without visual distractions. For your There are times that high volume training is ment, then what is? The answer is dry fire train- trigger control to be truly uninterrupted, it necessary to elevate your performance or to pre- ing. must be completely independent of sight pare for a long match. There is a certain point Training with real bullets, on a real target, alignment and sight picture. Dry firing with in training when shooting more bullets will just and at the full distance is an absolute necessity your eyes closed is the best way to work on damage your technique because recoil will cover for successful pistol shooting, but those ele- your trigger control because it isolates what up your mistakes, effectively turning your train- ments are just small pieces of the puzzle. Dry you see from what you feel and do. This ing into negative training. Before you reach this fire is a pistol shooter’s primary training tool. In exercise also allows you to zero in on your point, you should replace actual shooting with dry fire training there is no recoil to hide your grip, ensuring that it is absolutely consistent dry fire. Dry fire allows you to continue to train mistakes, which allows you to find them and throughout your shot-process. without developing bad habits as long as you correct them. 3) Blank Target: Dry firing on a blank tar- maintain your mental intensity and stay focused There are several types of dry fire training get is firing on a light colored background, on the fundamentals. With this type of smart and each type helps you focus on perfecting par- and not on an actual target. A white wall is training you can have both quantity and quality ticular fundamentals. Let’s discuss four types of a great example of a blank target. This exer- training. dry-fire training: cise forces you to focus on your sights. Sight

14 USA Shooting News Disciplines

Rifle

By Launi Meili, Olympic Gold Medalist Adding Imagery to Your Training Plan

In the first part of our practice it any time you can fit it in. Right before you sleep, how- discussion on motivation ever, your mind is open to suggestions and ideas, and it is a good and imagery, I offered some time to explore a wide variety of competition situations. It is also a suggestions and insights on good time to reinforce that personal belief that you have something the drive of a champion. special inside. Feed the drive. Clearly, you’ve got what it 4. Make imagery part of your shot plan. A shot plan is a list of takes to be a champion, and items you need to accomplish in order to shoot one successful shot. you are willing to do what- It covers the physical aspects of mounting the gun properly and ever it takes to achieve your feeling balanced, as well as correct head position and sight picture. goals. But like so many Advanced shooters have developed a fairly “automatic” shot plan. shooters, you might be ne- In fact, things may not come to their attention unless an element is glecting an important tool off, like cheek placement or tension somewhere in their body. Once that can really make the the element is corrected, the plan falls back into place and they difference in competition: produce what it takes to shoot a good shot almost automatically. Imagery. In my own com- What helps this become automatic is the use of imagery. If the last petitive shootings and with thing “loaded” into a shooter’s mind is anticipating or reacting to many of the athletes I have the perfect sight picture, there is nothing in the way of “letting” the Picture courtesy of the U.S. Air Force Academy coached, imagery—or im- perfect shot happen. They have controlled all the elements going aging—has played a critical role in the path to success. into the shot, and the last part is mentally getting and staying in the There are numerous imagery techniques you can adopt, and I sug- “10 ring” with imagery. Beginning and intermediate shooters will gest you try several. The tactics I explain here can be a good starting probably think about what the perfect sight picture should be, and point, but the most important concept is this: You can control your then squeeze the trigger once they see it. They are still in a stage thoughts and their positive outcomes; do not let negative thoughts where they need to “make” the correct things happen, and that is control you. perfectly fine. Advanced shooters have developed a better sense of timing and realize their hold is establishing the perfect sight picture Here are some imagery concepts for you to consider and try: earlier due to all the thousands of rounds down range. 1. Use relaxation in conjunction with mental training and im- 5. Imagine the task and the outcome. There is no doubt that it agery. Relaxation techniques train your body to respond to cues is a great feeling to be a champion. Thinking about accomplish- when facing tense situations and help you feel more in control. ing that feat can be the fuel to your motivation and drive for as They also set the stage for imagery to have a greater impact because long as you are in the sport. Do not let it be so addicting, however, you are calm and open for ideas. that you let go of what it takes to get you there. Shooting in tough 2. Rifle and pistol shooters should primarily use “internal” matches and situations can be challenging and uncomfortable, but imagery. This is where you are imagining what you want to see it is managing and getting through those situations that will make through the perspective of your own eyes, like looking through a you a champion and allow you to achieve the long-term goal you camera at your hold and sight picture. The other type is called ex- seek. So yes, it is nice to see yourself up there on the podium, but ternal imagery. This where the “camera” or view is turned on you, before you revel in all the glory, don’t forget to image yourself fac- where you see your whole body performing the task. This is effec- ing all the challenges that will come, how you are going to handle tive for shotgun shooters to imprint the perfect body movements them, and pay the dues that need to be paid so the championship from stance, mount, timing and follow-through. Rifle and pistol feels earned and deserved. shooters can imagine a perfect position, but since there is no physi- cal movement to perfect (except for some pistol events) there really Shooting is a great road to find out what you are made of. Just be is not enough information in looking at your position to really help sure to fuel the belief in yourself with the right words, thoughts, ac- become a better shooter under pressure. Information used to shoot tions and images of the shooter you want to become. When words or a good shot revolves around the sight picture, which means using thoughts are continuously negative and destructive, they will have an internal imagery. impact on your motivation. It is up to you to turn them around so they 3. Practice imagery before you go to sleep, but do not hesitate to are a positive force on your belief, drive and destiny.

www.usashooting.org 15 Disciplines

Shotgun

By Bret Erickson, Four-time Olympian Finding a Good Coach With the changing of the guard and Mark Weeks taking over the USA Shooting National Shotgun Coach position and appointing a new regime of assistant coaches under him, I thought I would talk a little bit about coaching in this article. There are an increasing number of coaches in our sport, which shows that our sport as a whole is growing, with more and more people wanting to get involved. This is a great time to be involved in international shooting with ample opportunity for coaching, sponsor- ships and media attention. When I started 25 years ago, none of these things were available. I strongly urge you to check into the background of any coaches you may want to use or hire. I have commented many times that a person does not have to be an Olympic or world champion to be a great coach, but I believe that any good coach must have some experience in his or her sport. It is tough to teach fundamentals if you have never shot the game. For instance, it is virtually impossible to explain to a student about the pressure you feel in international competitions if you have never been there. The assistant coaching staff Mark has chosen all have different experiences and a great amount of knowledge to bring to the sport. I tell all my students that no one person has all the answers, it is up to you to decide who the best person is to give you that piece of the puzzle to become the best shooter that you can be. As coaches we need to realize our limitations so that if we take a student to the high- est level we are capable of, we should all leave our egos behind and try to get that shooter to someone who can further their ability to excel.

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By Mark Weeks, National Shotgun Coach Tips for Selecting a Coach As National Coach I can’t be everywhere 4. Meet the coach before you take a lesson. the NSSA, ATA, NSCA, SCA, USSCA All- at once, so I rely on assistant coaches to help If you do not click with the coach, then American teams and is the only person to win pick up the slack. As Bret mentioned in his you will not be happy. You will not trust back-to-back national championships in trap article, I have chosen a group of assistant a coach if you don’t mesh well with them. and International Skeet. On the international coaches who offer all different types of coach- Trust is the key to any coach/shooter rela- scene, Dan holds an Olympic medal from the ing styles and experience. Because not ev- tionship. 1984 , won the gold medal eryone can readily adapt to one particular 5. Don’t expect your coach to work mir- at the Pan American Games in International coach or coaching style, I feel that it is crucial acles! While a good coach can help im- Trap and is an International Trap Team World to have a variety of coaching choices for my prove your skills, there is no replacement Champion. He is also the personal coach to shooters. Even though the experience and for hard work, dedication and shots down , 2008 Olympic Gold Medalist in coaching styles differ among each of my as- range. Double Trap. Website: www.shootsporting- sistant coaches, one thing we all agree upon In addition, I am always available to an- clays.com. is the importance of fundamentals. With ev- swer questions and give advice. Please do Dwayne Weger – Dwayne has 20 years of ery great shooter in the world comes great not hesitate to contact me at mark.weeks@ competition experience. He was a National fundamentals; it is the foundation of a good usashooting.org. You can also contact my as- Team member and is a USAS certified coach, shooting career. If you do not know the basics sistant coaches, listed below. I wish you good He was also the Team Leader for the 2008 U.S. and are unable to consistently repeat them, shooting and hope to see you on the competi- Olympic team for Shooting. Email: dweger@ then there is no reason for us to teach you ad- tion field in the future! coppellconst.com vanced shooting techniques. Bret Erickson – Bret has been on 25 Na- Joe Bernoflo – Joe also has 20 plus years of One of the things that has excited me most tional teams, 14 World Championship teams experience in shooting. He is a USAS certified since I started coaching is the number of new and four Olympic teams. He was assistant coach and has taught many Junior Olympic shooters entering the sport. While there is no coach and trap team leader for 22 years at Team camps. secret to reaching Olympic gold except for the U.S. Army Marks- lots of hard work, time, and dedication, good manship Unit in Fort coaching can be a big boost to a beginning Benning,Ga. He is cur- shooter. A few pointers for selecting a coach rently the manger of Wil- include: lawalla Creek Shooting 1. Make sure that you check the back- Center, Saint Jo, Texas (a ground of the coach you are looking to regional training center hire. For example, verify their experience for USA Shooting). Con- in the sport. It is imperative that a coach tact information: (706) has experience in actually competing in 577-1963, www.breter- the sport in order to understand what they ickson.com. are teaching. Dan Carlisle - Dan is 2. Find out who else the coach works with the only person to win and ask those people for their opinion on the USSCA, SCA and how well your coach teaches. NSCA National Cham- 3. Make sure you are comfortable with the pionships, the only per- price the coach plans to charge you. son to earn a position on Skeet shooter Caitlin Connor and Mark Weeks at the 2009 World Cup in . By Mary Beth Vorwerk Nationals Features

Rifle/Pistol Intense heat and humidity at the 2009 USA Shooting National Cham- Fifty-seven-year-old Callahan won the national title in Sport Pistol af- pionships for Rifle and Pistol June 13-20 made for very harsh shooting ter shooting 1144 points in the qualification, 200.4 in the final for a total conditions, but that did not stop the 300 plus athletes from shooting high score of 1344.4. Teresa Meyer (Dearborn, Mich.) finished second with scores and performing at an elite level in an exciting match at Ft. Benning’s an overall score of 1329.6 and 2008 Olympian Brenda Shinn (Riverside, International Shooting Complex, home of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Calif.) took third with 1326.9 points. Hannah Lewis (Colorado Springs, Unit (USAMU). This week-long event featured competition in all ten rifle Colo.) grabbed the national title for the junior women with 1086 points, and pistol Olympic events, as well as four non-Olympic shooting events. while Courtney Anthony (Lexington, Neb.) finished second with 1084 Men’s 50m Free Pistol was the first final contested at the 2009 Rifle/Pis- and Kelsey Imig (Westminster, Mass.) claimed the third spot with 1081. tol Nationals and three-time Olympian Daryl Szarenski (Saginaw, Mich.) Beyerle earned the top spot on the podium for the second time at the won the title for the second consecutive year. 2009 nationals when she finished first in Women’s 10m Air Rifle on the USAMU member Szarenski finished with a match score of 1098, a final fifth day of the match. Beyerle fired a qualification score of 791, a final of 96.3 for a total score of 1194.3 points. James Henderson (Columbus, of 103.4 for an overall score of 894.4. Amy Sowash (Richmond, Ky.) took Ga.), a USAMU Service Pistol shooter, took second place after firing a second place with 889.4 points, while two-time Olympian score of 1096 in the qualification, a final score of 97.4 for an overall score (Fairfield, Conn.) finished right behind Sowash in third place with 888.9. of 1193.4. John Zurek (Chandler, Ariz.) grabbed third place with a total Denise Martin (Chewelah, Wash.) won the title for the junior women with score of 1184.6 (1091+93.6) points. an overall score of 886.7. Samantha Trisdale (Aurora, Colo.) grabbed sec- The National Championship title in Junior Men’s Free Pistol went to ond place with 885.2 and Alivia Yeager (Louisville, Ky.) took third with Air Force shooter Alex Callage (Columbia, Md.) with 1033 points. Gary 881.4 points. Reburn (Kensington, Md.) took second with 1026 and Jack Dutoit (Ar- In the Men’s 50m 3 Position Rifle event, the shooters had to battle lington, Texas) finished in third place with 1000 points. extremely hot weather conditions as well as a delay in shooting, but the Jamie Beyerle (, Pa.), a 2008 Olympian, claimed the national USAMU came out and dominated, winning all three spots on the podi- title for the second year in a row in Women’s 50m 3 Position Rifle the um. Three-time Olympian Jason Parker (Omaha, Neb.) shot a qualifica- following day after firing a match score of 1152, a final of 97.8 for an over- tion score of 2344, a final of 96.2 for an overall score of 2440.2 to win the all score of 1249.8. Beyerle’s 2008 Olympic teammate Sandra Fong (New match easily by 16.4 points. Parker’s USAMU teammates Michael McPhail York, N.Y.) took second place with a total of 1247.5 points. Emily Hol- (Darlington, Wis.) and 1996 Olympian Eric Uptagrafft (Spokane, Wash) sopple (Wilcox, Pa.) finished right behind Fong in third place with 1246.4 took the second and third spots with overall scores of 2423.8 and 2416.5 points. Fong and Holsopple also grabbed the first and second spots re- respectively. spectively in Junior Women’s 3 Position and Caitlin Morrissey (Topeka, For the junior men, Brian Carstensen (Hoover, Ala.) claimed the title Kan.) claimed third place with 1243.1. with a total score of 2390.2 points, while Scherer captured second place In Men’s Air Rifle, West Virginia University rifle shooter Wallizer with 2388.1 points. Ethan Settlemires (Walnut, Miss.) grabbed the third claimed his first USA Shooting National Championship title with a match spot with 2378.4 points. score of 1185, a final of 103.4 for an overall score of 1288.4 points. Jona- Shinn won the national title in Women’s 10m Air Pistol by 20 points than Hall (Carrollton, Ga) finished second with 1285.6 and Matthew Wal- on the second to last day of competition, finishing with an overall score of lace (Fairbanks, Alaska) took third place with 1284.8 points. For the ju- 855.1. Kylie Gagnon (Bozeman, Mont.) took second place with 835.1 and niors, 2008 Olympian Stephen Scherer (Billerica, Mass.) finished on top Callahan earned another spot on the podium finishing in third place with with 1275.9, while Dempster Christenson (Sioux Falls, S.D.) took second 832.9. Gagnon also took the junior national title, while Lewis finished place with 1267.9 and Zachary Wells (Sharpsburg, Ga.) finished third with second with 827.5 and Anthony took third place with an overall score of an overall score of 1267.0. 825.1. Szarenski won his second title of the match on June 17 when he took In the Men’s 25m Rapid Fire Pistol event, Emil Milev (Tampa, Fla.) first place in the Men’s 10m Air Pistol event and four-time Olympian Libby won his first ever USA Shooting National Championship title with a to- Callahan (Columbia, S.C.) captured the title in Women’s 25m Sport Pistol. tal score of 1349.0 points. USAMU members Brad Balsley (Uniontown, Szarenski fired a match score of 1147 and a final of 101.1 for a total Pa.) and Sean Ragay (Buena Park, Calif.) finished in the second and third of 1248.1 points to finish in first place in Men’s Air Pistol. Szarenski’s spots with 1338.4 and 1315.6 points respectively. Christopher Nona USAMU teammate Thomas Rose (Columbus, Ga.) was tied with two-time (Richmond, Texas) finished first for the juniors with a score of 933, while Olympian and 2008 bronze medalist Jason Turner at 1244.8 after the final, Alexander Chichkov (Temple Terrace, Fla.) took second with 919 points. but then shot a 10.0 to Turner’s 9.9 in the shoot-off, taking second place, The USAMU dominated the podium once again on the final day of while Turner finished third. competition at the 2009 USA Shooting Rifle/Pistol National Champion- Callage won his second national title of the 2009 National Champion- ships with team members McPhail, Uptagrafft and Parker taking the top ships, taking first place in the Junior Men’s 10m Air Pistol event with a three spots in Men’s 50m Prone Rifle. McPhail finished in first place after total score of 1228.0. DuToit grabbed second place with 1210.4 points, firing 1194 points in the qualification and 104.5 points in the final to end while Reburn finished in third with an overall score of 1189.4. with 1298.5 points. In a tight race for the second and third spots, Upta-

20 USA Shooting News Features grafft ended up in second place with 1295.2 points and three-time Olym- Orleans, La.) finished third with 1282.8. pian Parker finished right behind him in third with 1295.1 For complete results from all of the events at the 2009 Rifle/Pistol Na- Christenson claimed the national title in the Junior Men’s Prone Rifle tional Championships, please visit the Competitions/Match Results page event after finishing with a total score of 1284.3 points. Samuel Muegge of USA Shooting’s website at www.usashooting.org. (Boling, Texas) took second place with 1283.3 and Michael Liuzza (New

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Shotgun The 16th Annual USA Shooting National USAMU member and 2008 Olympic gold first day of the match finished in second place Championships for Shotgun were held July 11- medalist Glenn Eller (Katy, Texas) took fourth overall with 263 total targets. Dunn is the first 18 at Ft. Carson’s International Shooting Park place with 336 targets, while Derek Haldeman woman to shoot 100 straight targets in a skeet where two hundred and fifty shooters from (Sunbury, Ohio) finished fifth with 330 targets event at a USA Shooting national competition. around the U.S. gathered to compete in the five and 2000 Olympian and USAMU member Bill Taking the third spot for the women was Olympic shotgun events. Keever (Rutherfordton, N.C.) claimed sixth 2009 Minsk World Cup silver medalist Caitlin Kicking off the competition was the Men’s place with 324 targets. Connor (Winnfield, La.), who also shot a perfect Double Trap event with Josh Richmond earning Crawford captured the top spot for the ju- final score of 25 targets to end with 261 total tar- the national title. niors with 337 total targets. Haldeman took gets. Amber English (Colorado Springs, Colo.) U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit (USAMU) second place with 327 targets, while Ian Rupert finished fourth with 258 targets, while Emily member Richmond (Hillsgrove, Pa.), who is the (Muncy, Pa.) grabbed third place with 300 hits. Blount (Tucson, Ariz.) took fifth with 252 hits 2009 World Cup gold medalist and San Abel Spire (Cushing, Okla.) finished fourth with and two-time Olympian Connie Smotek (Bryan, Marino World Cup bronze medalist, won the 283 hits, while Lindenwood University’s Kyle Texas) grabbed the sixth spot with 251 hits. title in an exciting three-way shoot-off with his Umgelder and Kelcey DePatis (Donovan, Ill.) Connor earned the national title for the Ju- USAMU teammate Jeff Holguin (Yorba Linda, took the fifth and sixth spots with 269 and 261 nior Skeet Women with a total of 260 hits. Eng- Calif.), a 2008 Olympian, and Billy Crawford targets respectively. lish took second with 259, and in a shoot-off (Johnstown, Ohio). The three shooters were Two Olympic medalists, , the for third place, Jaiden Grinnell (Port Angeles, tied at 341 out of 350 targets after the final and 2008 Olympic silver medalist, and 2008 Olym- Wash.) defeated Ali Chiang (Redwood Shores, in the shoot-off, Crawford missed the second pic gold medalist , earned the Calif.) two targets to one. Brandy Drozd (Bry- target on his second pair, taking third place national titles in the Skeet event on July 14. an, Texas) grabbed fifth place with 242 hits and overall. Richmond and Holguin battled it out Rhode (El Monte, Calif.) won her third con- Morgan Craft (Hughesville, Pa.) took sixth place until the 15th pair when Holguin missed his first secutive national title in Women’s Skeet finishing with 222. target, ending in second place with a total of 29 the event with a total of 267 targets after shoot- U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit (USAMU) hits in the shoot-off, while Richmond hit 30 tar- ing a perfect 25 targets in the final. Haley Dunn member Hancock (Eatonton, Ga.), who like gets to take the top spot. (Eddyville, Iowa), who shot a perfect 100 on the Dunn, also shot a perfect 100 on the first day of Features the match, finished in first place overall in Men’s ist Corey Cogdell earning national titles in the Calif.) grabbed the third spot with 245 total hits. Skeet after a shoot-off with his USAMU team- Trap event. Last year’s National Champion Miranda Wilder mate Shawn Dulohery (Lee’s Summit, Mo.). Mullins (Bremerton, Wash.) took the top (Diana, Texas) earned fourth place with 243 hits Both shooters ended the final tied at 268 targets spot for the men with 265 total targets. Jacob and 1996 Olympian and USAMU member The- and in the shoot-off, Hancock hit six targets to Turner (Richland, Wash) finished right behind resa DeWitt (Cincinnati, Ohio) defeated Caitlin Dulohery’s five to take the top spot, while Dulo- Mullins in second place with 264 targets and in Barney-Weinheimer (Ingram, Texas) in a shoot- hery, who was shooting his last National Cham- a shoot-off for third place, three-time Olympian off to finish in fifth place with 241 targets. pionship as a member of the USAMU finished and 1996 bronze medalist (Colo- Browning grabbed first place for the junior second. rado Springs, Colo.) shot five targets defeating women with 247 hits, while Wilder finished Frank Thompson (Alliance, Neb.) grabbed Richard Valdez (Canon City, Colo.), who shot second with 246 and Desso took third with 244. third place with 266 total hits. Sean McLelland four targets. Both shooters ended the final with Stacey Schroeder (Washington, Mo.) earned (Mission, Texas), a 2008 Olympian, finished 263 targets. U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit fourth place in a shoot-off with Barney-Wein- fourth with 265 targets, while Jon Michael Mc- (USAMU) member Ryan Hadden (Pendleton, heimer, who took the fifth spot, and 2009 Grath (Tulsa, Okla.) and BJ Blanchard (Vidor, Ore.), the 2009 World Cup Cairo and San Ma- World Cup bronze medalist Rachael Heiden Texas) took the fifth and sixth spots with 264 rino gold medalist, ended in fifth place with 262 (Clinton, Mich.) took sixth place with 240 tar- and 263 targets respectively. hits, while Max Jolliff (Fredericksburg, Texas) gets. In the Junior Men’s Skeet event, McGrath took the sixth spot with 259. New to the Shotgun National Champion- captured the top spot in a shoot-off against For the second year in a row, Turner also ships program this year was the first ever final Blanchard. At the conclusion of the final, Mc- finished in first place for the junior men with a held in the senior category of the Trap event. Grath and Blanchard were tied at 263 targets total of 263 hits. Jake Wallace (Castaic, Calif.) Dominic Grazioli (San Antonio, Texas), a 2008 and in the shoot-off, McGrath shot 12 targets, took second place with 258 after a two to one Olympian, took home the title with 256 hits. taking first place, while Blanchard shot 11 tar- shoot-off with Morgan Harbison (Farmersville, Mike Herman (Peyton, Colo.) finished right gets to finish second. Thomas Bayer (College Texas), who finished third. Shane Herman behind Grazioli in second place with 255 total Station, Texas) grabbed third place with 261 hits (Peyton, Colo.) ended in fourth place with 255 targets and DeWitt took third with 250. Guy and Nick Kimbrough (Atlanta, Ga.) finished hits, while Matthew Gossett (Springville, Ala.) Avedisian (Ocala, Fla.) grabbed fourth place fourth with 257 hits. Chris Haver (Clinton, earned fifth place after a shoot-off with Garrett with 248, while Maxey Brantley (New Braunfels, Mich.) finished in the fifth spot with 252 targets Walters (Burr Oak, Mich.). Texas) and Dick Lichtenberg (Bellevue, Wash.) and Granger DeWitt (Bryan, Texas) finished In the women’s competition Cogdell (Eagle finished fifth and sixth with 244 and 236 targets right behind him in sixth place with 251. River, Alaska) took home the National Champi- respectively. The 2009 USA Shooting National Shotgun onship after shooting a total of 250 targets. Kay- To view all of the results from the 2009 USA Championships came to a close on July 18 with le Browning (Wooster, Ark.) finished second Shooting National Championships for Shotgun, John Mullins and 2008 Olympic bronze medal- with 247 targets and Tamara Desso (Castaic, please visit www.usashooting.org.

World Cup Update By Mary Beth Vorwerk

The U.S. Secures Four More Medals on the 2009 World Cup Circuit

Photos by Wolfgang Schreiber, issf-sports.org Ryan Hadden loads ammo into his shotgun as he prepares to shoot for the World Cup gold in Features

Caitlin Connor Wins Silver in Skeet at Minsk World Cup, Richmond Finishes Fifth in Double Trap Caitlin Connor (Winnfield, La.) took winning the silver. Alshamsy was the first to miss, ending in sixth home her first ever ISSF World Cup medal Russian shooter Svetlana Demina shot a place with 188+3 targets. Richmond kept on on June 8 when she claimed the silver in the perfect 25-target final in spite of the windy shooting right to his fourth pair, when he Women’s Skeet event in Minsk, . conditions and won the gold medal with a dropped a target, finishing in fifth with 188+7 Eighteen-year-old Connor, who was the total score of 96 targets (71+25). The bronze targets. Dahlby took fourth place with 188+8 youngest of the Skeet finalists, earned the sil- medal went to Spada, who won the duel for targets. ver in very windy conditions after a three-way the podium against her teammate Vitali, fin- ’s Hu Binyuan won the gold in Dou- shoot-off at the conclusion of the final round. ishing third with a total score of 95 +1+2 tar- ble Trap and set a new World Record Final of Connor, Katiuscia Spada of and Cristina gets. 196 targets, shattering the previous record of Vitali, also of Italy, were all tied for second Josh Richmond (Hillsgrove, Pa.) finished 194, which was in existence since 1999. Ron- place with a total of 95 hits at the end of the in fifth place in the Men’s Double Trap event jan Sodhi of finished in second place final. Connor secured the silver by shooting on June 10, which was the highest finish for claiming the silver with a total score of 194 both the targets of her first shoot-off double, the U.S. in Double Trap. hits. ’s Vitaly Fokeev took home the ending up on the podium with a total score of U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit (USAMU) bronze with 190 hits. 95 (71+24) + 2 targets. Connor’s best finish in member Richmond, who won the gold in Richmond’s USAMU teammates Glenn an international competition prior to Minsk Double Trap at the 2009 World Cup in Mu- Eller (Katy, Texas), the 2008 Olympic gold was at the World Cup Cairo in May when she nich, went into the final in fourth place with medalist, and 2008 Olympian Jeff Holguin finished in sixth place. 141 out of 150 targets. Richmond shot 47 tar- (Yorba Linda, Calif.) finished in the eighth “I was feeling very confident in spite of gets in the final to end with 188 targets, which and 13th spots with 139 and 137 targets re- the weather conditions and I am very happy tied him with Hakan Dahlby of and spectively. about my first ISSF medal,” said Connor after Saif Alshamsy of the UAE. In the shoot-off, Josh Richmond, Minsk

Caitlin Connor, Minsk Caitlin Connor, Minsk

Combined Federal Campaign

USA Shooting is proud to once again be a part of the Com- bined Federal Campaign (CFC) program for the next year. Our campaign number is 11094 and we would ask that you consider USAS when making contributions or payroll deductions. We sincerely appreciate your donations to USA Shooting! Features

Josh Richmond, San Marino

Ryan Hadden, San Mariino Kim Rhode, San Marino U.S. Captures Three Medals in San Marino - Hadden Claims 2nd World Cup Gold The final leg of the 2009 ISSF World Cup Series for shotgun was won the shoot-off to claim the silver, while Brinker took the bronze. held in San Marino June 16-23 with the U.S. adding three more pieces The gold medal went to Italy’s , the 2008 Olympic gold of hardware to their 2009 World Cup medal tally. USAMU mem- medalist, who finished with a total of 95 hits. ber Ryan Hadden (Pendleton, Ore.) won his second gold medal of the “It was great to be back on the podium with Brinker and Cainero 2009 ISSF World Cup series in the Men’s Trap event in a rainy San like at the Games,” Rhode said following her match. “The qualification Marino on June 23. Hadden previously claimed the gold at the 2009 rounds were kind of difficult because of the rain, but I tried to focus on Cairo World Cup. each target. The final finished in a shoot-off, and shoot-offs are always Hadden entered the final tied with three other shooters for first unnerving, but I shot the best I could.” place with 121 out of 125 targets. Hadden and 2008 Olympic gold Rhode’s U.S. teammates Haley Dunn and Ali Chiang finished in medalist David Kostelecky of the each shot 23 targets seventh and eighth places with 64 and 63 targets respectively. in the final and ended the match with 144 total hits. In the shoot-off, Like Hadden and Rhode, Josh Richmond also won his second med- Hadden hit three targets to Kostelecky’s two targets to finish first and al of the 2009 ISSF World Cup Series in San Marino. Richmond fought take home the gold, leaving Kostelecky with the silver. through rainy and windy weather conditions in San Marino to earn “The qualification round was a little bit difficult because of the vis- the bronze in Double Trap. ibility, but I entered the final very confident and I felt confident go- Richmond entered the final in third place with a match score of ing into the shoot-off.” said Hadden right after receiving the last gold 142 out of 150 targets, but then missed both targets of his first pair medal of the San Marino World Cup. in the final and ended up with 48 out of 50 hits. Richmond finished Sergio Pinero of the Dominican Republic finished in third place with a total of 190 hits, taking third place overall. Junjie Mo of China with 143 targets to take home the bronze. captured the gold with 193 hits and Sweden’s Hakan Dahlby grabbed Four-time Olympian Kim Rhode (El Monte, Calif.) won her second the silver with 191 hits. medal of the 2009 ISSF World Cup Series when she claimed the silver Next up on the ISSF World Cup circuit will be the World Cup Final in Women’s Skeet in San Marino. for Rifle and Pistol October 24 – 29 in , China, followed by the Rhode, who is the 2008 Olympic silver medalist in Women’s Skeet, Shotgun World Cup Final October 29 - November 3 in Beijing, China. shot a qualification score of 65 out of 75 targets to enter the final in For complete ISSF World Cup results, please visit ISSF’s website at third place. At the end of the final, Rhode was tied with 2008 Olym- www.issf-sports.org pic bronze medalist Christine Brinker of at 88 targets and KIm Rhode, San Marino

Josh Richmond, San Marino Ryan Hadden, San Marino

Winchester Ammunition is a Proud Sponsor of the USA Shooting Shotgun Team: Winchester® Ammunition has been the exclusive ammunition sponsor and supplier of the USA Shooting Shot- gun Team since 1999. Members of the 2008 shotgun team brought home four medals from Beijing using Winchester AA International Target loads. Winchester is an industry leader in advancing and supporting con- servation, hunter education and our country’s proud shooting sports heritage. For more information about Winchester and its complete line of products, visit www.winchester.com.

www.usashooting.org 27 Around the Range

2009 Shotgun National Junior Olympic Championships By Mary Beth Vorwerk

Approximately 200 junior shooters participated in the Internation- Junior Women al Skeet, Double Trap and Trap events at the 2009 Shotgun National J2 First Place – Brandy Drozd, 106 Junior Olympic Championships July 25-August 1 at Ft. Carson’s In- J2 Second Place – Gayla Gregory, 88 ternational Shooting Park. Juniors qualified for the event by winning J2 Third Place – Olivia Ornouski, 84 their State Junior Olympic Championships, or by shooting a qualifying score. J3 First Place – Kaycee McNutt, 39 For the third consecutive year, USA Shooting and the Scho- lastic Clay Target Program (SCTP) teamed up to host the Na- The top SCTP individual finishers in Skeet include: tional Junior Olympic Championships, giving many more young shooters the High Male Overall opportunity to compete in the event. Tanner Brooks, 113

SKEET Men’s Senior Varsity The competition kicked off with the First Place – Brandon Skeet event with Olympic Training Cen- Belanger, 136 ter Resident Athletes BJ Blanchard (Vi- Second Place – Jimmy dor, Texas) and Amber English (Colo- Gibson, 131 rado Springs, Colo.) claiming the titles. Third Place - Luis (Taz) Blanchard finished in first place for Gloria, 131 the men, dropping only three targets in the match and earning a qualifica- Men’s Junior Varsity tion score of 122 out of 125 targets. First Place – Glenn Carl, In the final, Blanchard hit a perfect 110 25 targets to end with a total of 147 Second Place – Jakob hits. Rob Horton (Eatonton, Keldsen, 110 Ga.), who also shot 25 straight Third Place – Richard in the final, took second place Riddle, 108 with 144 targets and Jon Mi- chael McGrath (Tulsa, Okla.) Men’s Intermediate Ad- finished third with 143. vanced English earned the top spot First Place – Ryan Smi- for the women after an excit- thart, 88 ing shoot-off with Ali Chi- ang (Redwood Shores, Calif.). Men’s Intermediate Entry Both shooters were tied at 138 targets First Place – Aaron Vammer, at the conclusion of the final and in the 95 shoot-off, English shot five targets to Second Place – Brad Burch, Chiang’s four to take home the title. 90 Chiang took second place and third Third Place – Mitchell Rob- place went to Morgan Craft (Hughes- inson, 74 ville, Pa.) who finished with 133 total hits. High Female Overall Morgan Craft, 110 Other top finishers in the Skeet event include: Women’s Senior Varsity Junior Men First Place – Nicole Ellis, 45 J2 First Place – TJ Bayer, 118 J2 Second Place – Granger DeWitt, 118 Women’s Junior Varsity J2 Third Place – Nash Porter, 116 First Place – Olivia Ornouski, 84 Second Place – Jamie Ommert-English, 66 J3 First Place – Philip Jungman, 114 J3 Second Place – Luis (Taz) Gloria, 112 Women’s Intermediate Entry J3 Third Place – Roy Chavalittlekha, 110 First Place – Kaycee McNutt, 39

28 USA Shooting News Around the Range

DOUBLE TRAP J3 Second Place – Roy Chavalitlekha, 100 In the Men’s Double Trap event Ian Rupert (Muncy, Pa.), who fin- J3 Third Place – Daniel Mahaney, 98 ished third at the JOs last year, won the top spot easily by 15 targets this year, finishing with a match score of 137, a final of 42 for a total Junior Women of 179 targets. In a shoot-off for second place, Abel Spire (Cushing, J2 First Place – Brandi Hobbs, 107 Okla.) faced T.J. Bayer (College Station, Texas), who finished sixth in J2 Second Place – Miranda Wilder, 104 the skeet event earlier in the week, and hit two targets to Bayer’s one J2 Third Place – Rickelle Pimental, 101 target to earn second place, while Bayer took third. Both shooters ended the final with 164 total hits. J3 First Place – Jeni Clark, 99 J3 Second Place – Holly Hodge, 93 Other top finishers in Double Trap include: The top SCTP individual finishers in Trap include: J2 First Place – Trey Jones, 120 J2 Second Place – Robert Perez, 118 High Male Overall J2 Third Place – Chris Landfield, 109 Collin Wietfeldt, 121

J3 First Place – Roy Chavalitlekha, 106 Men’s Senior Varsity J3 Second Place – Nathaniel Lundie, 95 First Place – Kevin Bockerstett, 118 J3 Third Place – Braxton Jones, 86 Second Place – Garrett Walters, 116 Third Place – Zack Bollman, 116 TRAP The 2009 Shotgun National Junior Olympics came to a close on Men’s Junior Varsity August 1 with Collin Wietfeldt (Hemlock, Mich.) and Rachael Heiden First Place – Jess Harless, 111 (Clinton, Mich.) earning titles in the Trap event. Second Place – Spencer Ensley, 108 Wietfeldt shot 121 out of 125 targets in the match and shot 23 tar- Third Place – Nathan Bassett, 108 gets in the final to finish in first place with 144 total hits. Jake Turner (Richland, Wash.), who won the junior event at the 2009 USA Shoot- Men’s Intermediate Advanced ing Shotgun National Championships and came in second in the open First Place – Peter Fritz, 107 category, finished in second place with a total of 142 targets at the JOs. Second Place – Luis (Taz) Gloria, 95 Kevin Bockerstett (St. Charles, Mo.) finished right behind Turner in the third spot with 141 hits. Weitfeldt also won the High Male Overall Men’s Intermediate Entry SCTP honor. First Place – Nate Lundie, 88 Heiden, who is the bronze medalist from the 2009 ISSF World Cup in Cairo, won first place for the women easily by nine targets. Heiden High Female Overall shot a match score of 116, a final of 22 for a total of 138 targets. Jan- Ashley Carroll, 117 essa Beaman (Elbert, Colo.) and Ashley Carroll (Solvang, Calif.) were tied with 129 targets at the end of the final and Beaman earned second Women’s Senior Varsity place in a shoot-off hitting two targets to Carroll’s one target. Car- First Place – Rickelle Pimental, 101 roll finished in third place and also earned the SCTP’s High Female Overall award. Women’s Junior Varsity First Place – Erin Danhausen, 81 Other top finishers in the Trap event include: Women’s Intermediate Entry Junior Men First Place – Holly Hodge, 93 J2 First Place – Matthew Gossett, 118 J2 Second Place – Dustin Anderson, 117 Complete results from the 2009 Shotgun National Junior Olympic J2 Third Place –Garrett Walters, 116 Championships can be found at www.usashooting.org

J3 First Place – Austin Odom, 114 On The Complex 2010 Event Calendar By Robert Mitchell, Chief Executive Officer We all appreciate events that are scheduled well in advance. Pub- schools starting early August, the desirable competition window is lishing USA Shooting events early allows coaches and parents to plan short—approximately five weeks. time off and allows athletes to develop detailed training plans. Sched- Unfortunately, we can’t schedule all events during the summer uling events with more lead time also allows the allied shooting orga- school break; nor is it desirable since it is important to have a com- nizations to plan events withDirector fewer conflicts, which in turn promotes petitive season run through most of the year, thus providing regular participation and allows shooters more flexibility in selecting events in competition opportunities. Additionally, a number of events are de- which to compete. pendent upon availability of housing and meals at the Olympic Train- Not long ago, the annual event calendar was not finalized until ing Complex. Competition scheduling may also be dependent upon spring of that year! Athletes and event organizers alike struggled with range availability or seasonal travel cost considerations. frustrating date changes. The USAS competition schedule is driven by Another scheduling factor is consistency. We would love to estab- the ISSF calendar. It has been most helpful that the ISSF has pushed lish annual repeating dates for at least all of the national champion- World Cup organizers to coordinate and establish competition dates ships. Holding events the same dates each year allows for even more much earlier. World Cup and World Clay Target Championship or- advance planning and enhances participation. With the varying ISSF ganizers have been selected for 2011 and have been identified on a competition calendar, repetitive annual championship dates are not preliminary basis for 2012. Further advanced scheduling at the ISSF likely. However, we have been able to consistently hold the Rifle/Pistol level is headed in the right direction. Nationals in the mid-to-late June time frame, Junior Olympics for rifle Once the ISSF establishes its calendar, USAS can then set dates for and pistol in the later March and earlier April window and Shotgun national championships and selection competitions. Our first consid- Nationals over the span of late June through mid July. eration is to avoid conflicts with the ISSF and allow reasonable time There are many factors to be considered in establishing the annual between international and domestic events. We also attempt to avoid event calendar. It is impossible to accommodate everyone’s desires, but conflicts with allied organizations at the open and junior levels. It is it is our goal to establish a most workable annual event calendar at the extremely difficult to avoid overlaps during the busy summer months; earliest time possible. Events for 2010 have been set and programs will everyone tries to conduct competitions when school is out. With East be available on the USAS website as soon as they are finalized. Coast schools holding classes until late June and many West Coast

Paralympic Summer Recap By Bob Foth, National Paralympic Coach

This has been an incredible summer for Paralympic shooting sports in the U.S. After the great Europe trip I described last issue, I attended the Endeavor Games, a multi-sport event at the University of Central Oklahoma, and helped the NRA conduct airgun training sessions for doz- ens of athletes. Along with enjoying some great shooting, we laughed along with one athlete with a unique tattoo on his leg, just above where it had been amputated:Paralympics A small pair scissors and the words, “cut on dotted line” and the dotted line . . . . I flew from there to the USA Shooting National Championships for Rifle and Pistol. U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit (USAMU) soldier Josh Olson had a great first day and was in medal contention halfway through the match. Day two didn’t go as well, but he proved to everyone that he is capable of world-class scores. Flying from Georgia to Washington, D.C., I trained marksmanship instructors from Walter Reed Army Medical Center and Bethesda Naval Medical Center on using airguns in their rehab programs. Vanessa Warner and Marcus Raab from the NRA both helped with that training. Two weeks later, I ran the Progressive Position Air Pistol Junior Olympics for the NRA and USA Shooting at the Civilian Marksmanship Program’s (CMP) new range at Camp Perry, Ohio. Attendance was up to 100 and numerous shooters had great performances. National Pistol Coach, Sergey Luzov, was there to award spots on the National Junior Team to men’s and women’s champions Jay Raymond from Mississippi, and Kelsey Imig from Massachusetts. Complete results are available on CMP’s website at www.odcmp.com. I flew from there to the National Veterans’ Wheelchair Games in Spokane, Wash. Vanessa Warner directed an airgun match there serving nearly 300 athletes on 10 relays in two long days. Many of those athletes expressed some interest in getting more involved in competitive shooting sports in the future. Back at the Olympic Training Complex (OTC), we hosted the State Games of America, including 12 rifle and pistol events for about 80 athletes from all over the U.S., and American Legion’s National Championships for 30 3-Position Air Rifle junior shooters. Upcoming events for shooters with disabilities include the Alicante Cup in and the USAS Fall Selection match at Fort Benning. Information about Paralympic Shooting is available on the International Shooting Committee for the Disabled website at: http://shootonline.org/ The USAMU also has plans to grow their Paralympic program. Josh Olson currently trains there and is also part of the World Class Athlete Program. Numerous sources also provide training and support for disabled athletes interested in sport. Don’t assume you can’t afford shooting as you may be pleasantly surprised by the grants and other resources available. In October, USAS will host the National Coach College and Conference at the OTC in conjunction with NRA and CMP. Level 1 Coach Schools for rifle, pistol and shotgun, Level 3 schools for rifle and pistol, the American Sport Education Program’s (ASEP) Coaching Principles Class will all be offered leading up to the conference, which will feature numerous expert guest speakers and chances for coaches to interact. Registration is available on the USAS website for this event. If you are coaching or have any interest in doing so, this is a “must attend” event.

30 USA Shooting News On The Complex 53rd Annual SAAMI Meeting Fundraiser generates over $24,000 in team support By Buddy DuVall, Director of Marketing

The Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufactures’ Institute, Inc. (SAAMI®) held its 53rd annual meeting this year in Avon, Conn. SAAMI, estab- lished in 1926, is an association of the nation’s leading manufacturers of sporting firearms, ammunition and components. Since it inception, SAAMI has been actively involvedMarketing in the publication of industry standards, coordination of technical data and the promotion of safe and responsible firearms use. SAAMI currently publishes more than 700 voluntary standards related to quality and safety in the manufacturing, transportation and storage of firearms, ammunition and components. In addition to setting product standards for firearms and ammunition, SAAMI proposes legislative develop- ments at the state and federal level and is an accredited United Nations ECOSOC Non-Government Organization. At the conclusion of the meeting, SAAMI members participated in the annual “SAAMI Shoot” held at the nearby Hartford Gun Club, followed by an awards banquet and fundraiser. Event organizers of the 53rd Annual SAAMI Meeting and Shooting Tournament continued the tradition of raising money for organizations dedicated to promoting the shooting sports. For the ninth consecutive year, SAAMI selected USA Shooting as the beneficiary of the annual fundraising event. This year’s event raised over $24,000 and exceeded last year’s record effort of $18,000 which pushed SAAMI’s total amount of team funding over the $100,000 mark! USA Shooting appreciates the fantastic support from the many companies in the shooting industry that donated items for the fundraiser and helped make this event so successful. Thank you for your generous contributions and support! USA Shooting looks forward to welcoming SAAMI to Colorado Springs for next year’s SAAMI Meeting with the SAAMI Shoot taking place at the Olympic Shooting Center and Ft. Carson facilities. For more information on SAAMI, please visit www.saami.org.

Pictured left to right: Rick Patterson, SAAMI Managing Director; Jeffrey Reh, SAAMI Chairman of the Board; Doug Painter, SAAMI Past President; Sean McLelland 2008 Olympian; Corrie West, USAS Marketing Manager; Buddy DuVall, USAS Marketing Director

Ruger Contributes $10,000 to USA Shooting Team Ruger presented USA Shooting with a $10,000 check at the Shooting Industry Masters following the Academy of Excellence awards in Hartford, Conn. on July 24. Proceeds from the sales of a TALO Distributors exclusive limited edition Ruger Mark III .22 pistol generated this latest contribution to the shooting team. This is the fourth collaboration between TALO Distributors and Ruger on USA Shoot- ing Team projects. Since 2003, Ruger has produced two USA Shooting Team series Ruger 10/22 rifles and a Ruger Mark II pistol. Proceeds from these limited edition Ruger firearms have generated over $300,000 in funding for the USA Shooting Team. For more information on TALO exclusives please visit www.taloinc.com.

Michel Fifer, CEO of Ruger presented the check to 2008 Olympic bronze medalist Corey Cogdell and was joined by Chris Killoy, Executive Director of Sales for Ruger and USA Shooting Team members Sean McLelland and Haley Dunn. Tweet, Tweet! By Lindsay Brooke, Competitions Manager USA Shooting is constantly looking for ways to improve services to our cation with our members. Anytime we post newsworthy information to members. Two years ago we introduced online entry for our major com- our website, we update our Twitter mini-feed. The message is instantly petitions, last year we started publishing squadding in advance. This year relayed to our followers via cell phone text message or e-mail alerts. These we are introducing Twitter to our membership. Sure, you’ve heard about “tweets” keep you informed without the hassle and headache of locating it, Competitionsbut what can it do for you? information on our website. Do you always have your eyes peeled to our website, waiting for the In order to follow us on Twitter, you will have to create a simple profile latest results to be posted? Are you wondering how our team has done for yourself at www.twitter.com. From there, you can follow us at www. at a World Cup or curious about squadding for one of our events? No twitter.com/usashooting and connect with other shooting enthusiasts, longer do you need to be paranoid about missing the entry deadline for merchants and clubs. You’ve heard about it, now its time to try it for your- the Selection Matches or Nationals. Twitter is a social networking and self! Follow us today and we’ll remind you when to sign up for the Winter micro-blogging service that allows you to send and read messages known Airgun Championship and when the 2010 calendar has been published. as “tweets”. USA Shooting joined Twitter as a way to enhance communi- We love this free service and we know you will too!

www.usashooting.org 31 On The Complex

Hats Off to You, Haley! By Bill Roy, Director of Operations Her hat seemed to dance above Cheyenne Mountain; up then down, also. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to string together 100 back and forth, twirling an enchanting little pirouette with every blast straight? Only about five active International Skeet shooters have of the . I thought it might never hit the ground. done it, and most of them have only done it once or twice. But talk Skeet ace Haley Dunn had smashed 100 straight targets during the about toughness and you have got to talk about Caitlin Connor, who 2009 USA ShootingOperations National Championships, a feat never-before ac- three days prior to winning the Junior Women’s event spent an eve- complished by an American woman in registered International Skeet ning in the emergency room battling severe migraines. Oh, she also competition. It was a huge achievement, and as pure and powerful managed to suppress the pain of a broken finger, but nothing a little as the Colorado thunderstorms that rolled over the range during the ace bandage and pure grit wouldn’t fix. Just one target behind her Championships. Talk about a lightning strike—the flash and roar that was Amber English, who earlier this year had major surgery on her Haley caused was as awe-inspiring as any storm. cranium. I keep joking with her that she can be great with just half a Of course, we celebrated with the traditional hat shooting; 20-plus brain, and then she just goes out there and gives me twice the effort. fellow competitors doing their part to change the hat size and venti- Talk about tough—truth is, I couldn’t hold their hats . . . . lation qualities of Haley’s favorite visor. As that funny frisbee defied Of course there were many, many courageous stories of shooting gravity for about 20 seconds, I could only think, “Hats off to you, Hal- achievement at the Nationals, and the valiant efforts of all the shooters ey!” impressed me at every turn. In my role as High Performance Direc- Typically, lightning like that only strikes once during a match, or tor for USA Shooting, I could not be more pleased. The scores are up, even once during a season. But this is where the hat dance gets inter- morale is up, participation is up and I predict more and more hats will esting: Haley’s thunder was just one of a satisfying chorus of rumbling be . . . up. blasts that resonated against our souls. In fact, Haley wasn’t even the Debbie Harry, the 1970’s pop icon and lead vocalist for the rock high woman shooter in the match. group Blondie, used to belt out a That honor went to four-time tune called “The Hardest Part.” It Olympic medalist Kim Rhode, who was a song about armored cars, lead all shooters—men and wom- “twenty-five tons of hardened en—up until the final qualification steel.” My favorite line of her round. When the dust settled af- song: “The hardest part of the ter the qualification rounds, only armored car/ Is the man of steel three targets separated the top four behind the steering wheel.” Re- shooters . . . both men and women. minds me of our competitors. In fact, 2008 Olympic gold medal- The hardest part of International ist Vinny Hancock also needed to shooting isn’t the tempered steel hammer 100 straight to keep pace of the high-grade target guns; the with Haley and Kim, and second hardest part is the steely resolve place finisher Shawn Dulohery gut- of the tough-minded athletes ted out a strong 99 to stay in the who hit their targets and wear race. Lots and lots of great shoot- their hats. ing! Hard hats, that is. Lots and lots of tough shooting

For a complete schedule of events in your area visit www.usashooting.org Go to the competitions drop down and click on the Interactive Map Click on your state or surrounding states to find local competitions 32 USA Shooting News News & Events

1st Annual Mule Deer Foundation Banquet in Georgia

Mule Deer Foundation’s newest chapter – the Dixie Muley Chapter – held its first chapter banquet in Dawsonville, Ga on June 20. Pete Ward and his wife Gabby, along with a small group of dedicated committee members made an impressive showing for this inaugural event generating $10,000 for Mule Deer conservation. Making the trip to Georgia from MDF headquarters in Salt Lake City for this 1st annual event was MDF’s Chief Operating Officer Eric Tycksen, Regional Director Mike Laughter, Utah State Chair Wayne Windsor and Utah Key Volunteer Jeremy Zumwalt. “ The excitement in the room was very contagious, the attendees were there for the Pictured left to right: Wayne Windsor, Eric Tycksen, right reasons, to raise money for the only declining big game species in North America,” Buddy DuVall, Mike Laughter, Jeremy Zumwalt said Tycksen. Laughter concluded, “It is refreshing and revitalizing to come to a new place that does not have Mule Deer and feel the excitement they have for what MDF is accomplishing.” MDF will hold their 2009 board meeting September 11-12 in Colorado Springs, Colo. and USA Shooting will host the MDF directors and staff for a day of shooting with rifle, pistol and shotgun resident athletes at our Olympic training facilities. Look for USA Shooting to attend the MDF annual convention February 11-14, 2010 in Salt Lake City in support of our conservation partnership. For more information about MDF visit www.muledeer.org.

Shooting Industry Masters and Academy of Excellence Awards

The Shooting Industry Academy of Excellence presented its 2009 awards July 24th in Windsor, Conn., with J.B Hodgdon receiving the Shooting Industry Award; Smith & Wesson, Manufacturer of the Year; Ellett Brothers, Distributor of the Year; and Kimber, the Citizenship Award. Top product awards were also presented in several categories. Produced by FMG Publications, the Academy of Excellence Awards were held in con- junction with the Shooting Industry Masters. The 7th annual Masters three-gun event attracted some 200 competitors from more than 30 companies to the Hartford Gun Club in East Granby, Conn. Representing USA Shooting at the 7th annual “Masters” event were USA Shooting Team members Sean McLelland, Corey Cogdell and Haley Dunn. More than just a competition, the event was an opportunity for industry leaders to come together in support of the NSSF’s First Shots program, the ultra-successful program- Pictured left to right: Sean McLelland, Anne Hodg- providing an introduction to shooting for first timers. The fundraiser coordinated by don, J.B.Hodgdon, Corey Cogdell, CJ Buck (Buck FMG generated a record $25,000 for the First Shots program. Congratulations to all Knives) and Haley Dunn of the 2009 Shooting Industry Award winners and winners of the Masters competition. Next year’s Shooting Industry Masters will be at the Heartland Public Shooting Park in Grand Island, Neb., July 23-24, 2010. Visit www. shootingindustry.com for more information.

Bunker Club Update

The Bunker Club is a fundraising group that was formed in 1998 to pay for new trap machines at the USA Shooting shotgun range in Colorado Springs. Presently, the Bunker Club continues to donate money to help Olympic shooting and gets together for social gatherings. Members of the Bunker Club posed for a picture in May at the 74 Ranch, which is an hour south of San Antonio, after shooting sporting clays and attending a banquet for the yearly Bunker Club get together. Bunker Club leader Col. Dennis Behrens said, “My vision is to have the money to allow the staff and coaches to provide funds to individual shooters who need help, such as team members, develop- ment team members, or other worthy shooters in rifle, pistol or shotgun.” Bunker Club members pictured left to right: Dr Gene Bishop, Dr Rich Miles, The Bunker Club has raised over half a million dollars and has a strong commitment Colonel Loretta Behrens, Judy Trick, Captain Carl Kilhoffer, Colonel Den- nis Behrens, Mike Sloan, Bob Ziegler, Tim McGill (in sling), Dr Larry Trick, to helping our athletes. There are currently approximately 40 members of the Bunker Tom Holland, Mona Robinson, Bob Herold, Russ Arnold, Kinsey Robinson, Club and they are in need of more members to help raise their goal of $3 million for an Gail Jeffress, Steve Jeffress Athlete Endowment. The cost to join the Bunker Club is $3,000 and you get a lifetime membership to USA Shooting and get to be a part of the Bunker Club and their year’s social activities and get togethers to help fund USA Shoot- ing athletes in all three disciplines. You can also donate to the athlete endowment by sending a check for any amount that you are able to give to USA Shooting at 1 Olympic Plaza, Colorado Springs, CO 80909. Please make checks payable to USA Shooting. One hundred percent of your donation goes to the Athletes’ Endowment. If you are interested in joining the Bunker Club, please contact Col. Dennis Behrens at 210-735-2373 or USA Shooting Executive Director Bob Mitchell at [email protected] or 719-866-4899. www.usashooting.org 33 News & Events

2009 /Czech Junior Trip their surrounding is learning how to get around, so on Sunday after- By Marcus Raab noon we took trip to the city by bus. That required learning where and how to purchase bus tickets as well as how to read the sched- Before high school even finished classes for the year, a few of the ule and route maps. After a lunch of, what else, pizza, we wandered country’s top junior shooters were on a plane out of Washington, around the city center square shopping and seeing the most famous D.C. heading to Europe for a training camp and competition. Some of the city attractions. One of the unique features of Wroc_aw is the missed the last few days of classes and one even missed their gradua- famous collection of gnomes, small bronze figures scattered in vari- tion ceremony to spend ten days learning more about rifle shooting. ous and sometimes unusual locations throughout the square. It be- As part of National Rifle Coach David Johnson’s long-range plan came a challenge to find as many as possible. for junior shooters’ development, these training trips mirror the After the six-day camp, we traveled to Pilsen, in the Czech Re- camp and competition planned for next years 50th World Shooting public by bus with the Polish junior squad. It was a great opportunity Championships in Munich, Germany. to meet new friends on the seven-hour journey. Once in Pilsen for Those making the trip included Dempster Christenson (Sioux the 19th Meeting of the Shooting Hopes, it was all business on the Falls, S.D.), Thomas Kyanko (Wellsburg, West Virginia), Dustin Che- ranges with training on Thursday and competitions in 10, Air Rifle sebro (Laramie, Wyo.), Emily Quiner (Brooklyn Park, Minn.), Emily and 50m Prone and 3 Position Rifle for both men and women over Holsopple (Wilcox, Pa.), Sandra Fong (New York, N.Y.) and coaches the next three days. Janet and Marcus Raab of Fairfax, Va. In the men’s prone match, Thomas Kyanko tied for eighth spot in Long-distance travel to countries that do not speak English as a the final. Using the new ISSF rules for determining final participants, primary language is a fact of life for American shooters. In addition he had to fire a 5-shot shoulder-to-shoulder shoot-off with Sebastian to performing well in the competitions, the primary goal of the pro- Rabalski of Poland. Kyanko ended up on the short end of that shoot- gram is getting the athletes more comfortable in these foreign sur- off 51.0 to 51.5 finishing in ninth place but we all learned valuable roundings where food and accommodations may not be what the lessons that transferred to the rest of the team and coaches. Team athletes are accustomed to here in the United States. USA finished in third behind the Czech B and A squads. One of the athletes on the trip, Sandra Fong, is no stranger to in- In the men’s 3-position match Kyanko also was the high scoring ternational travel having been a veteran of multiple trips, most re- American firing an 1154 in the qualification round, this time easily cently representing the United States at the 2008 Beijing Olympic qualifying in fifth place. After final shots were recorded, he finished Games in the Women’s 50m 3 Position Rifle event. Having a highly in eighth. Thomas Mathis of earned the gold medal with an experienced athlete, even at the young age of 19, was a distinct asset 1168 and 95.9 in the final. for the other shooters. Dustin Chesebro was also involved in a three-way 5-shot shoot- The team arrived in Wroclaw, Poland (pronounced Vrets-wav) on off for the eighth position in the men’s air rifle final. He ended up in May 28 and went directly to the Polish National Shooting Center on tenth firing a 50.0 vs. a 51.2 by Nikola Pudev of Russia and 52.1 by the outskirts of the city. This was the first time an American shooting the eventual finalist from India, Chain Singh, but again learned valu- team had been to Poland in many years. Coordination for the trip able lessons for the future. began last November at a visit to the range complex during a family The highlight of the competition came on the last day when Fong trip by the Raab coaches. (581) and Holsopple (579) started the final for the women’s 3-posi- The weather was unusually cold and rainy for most of the camp tion event in first and second respectively. Fong had trouble early and like most places in Europe, they turn the heating system off and that let the consistently strong shooting of Holsopple overtake around the first of May. The rooms were quite chilly at night, but that her. Fong fought back in the end holding off the third place Russian, did not stop the shooters from working hard on the ranges during the Alina Ivacheva, but it was not enough to regain first. It was a 1-2 fin- day. Utilizing the facilities electronic ranges, we had the opportunity ish for the United States, continuing a string of success in this event to work on problem areas and do detail work on sights and grips. for the past three years. The U.S. women’s team also took home a It was a real honor to be the first to shoot air rifle on their brand silver medal behind the Czech A team. new indoor finals hall which had been converted from the no longer After a successful competition, the team had to get on the road used 50 meter running target ranges into a two bay fully electronic early (3:00 a.m.) the next morning to make a 7:00 a.m. flight from finals hall that looked remarkably like the finals hall in Munich. The Prague back to the United States. After a catnap on the overseas leg range staff had just completed installing the target systems, so they of the flight, most were making their final notes on their report to needed to test them and the display equipment, and the American National Rifle Coach Dave Johnson on what they learned on the trip shooters were more than happy to oblige. and how it will help them in the future. It was not all work on the range. Part of becoming comfortable in

34 USA Shooting News Left to Right: Kim Rhode, Vincent Hancock, Corey Cogdell & Glenn Eller

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Shooters from the 2009 California State Qualifier posed for a picture before the match on April 25 at Coon Creek Trap & Skeet in Lincoln, Calif. Over 30 trap and skeet competitors shot the weekend match and the Golden State turned on perfect weather with warm days, clear skies and light winds.