2023-24 Rifle Season

This season has been a real challenge for me. I lost 7 of my varsity to graduation last year and started this year with 5 experienced shooters that were ready for matches. One of them however was late getting her physical done and was unavailable for the first two weeks. Our first match of the year was a non-league match against what is like a JV team. We beat them but not with the best score, a 490 which is acceptable for early in the season, especially for an inexperienced team.

Our first league match was next and it was a horrid 482 loss. I think that was the lowest score one of my teams has ever shot. We lost the next four matches and then won a second non-league match vs the same "JV" team. Scores were bouncing around the high 480's low 490's during this time. Our first and only league win of the first half of the season was a 496, then we lost to the eventual league champion with a low 491 and they left that match wide open, had we shot a 496 against them, we would have won. But that's the way it goes.

Second half of the season I had 7 experienced shooters with 3 additional ones that were coming along and able to back up the others on an occasional basis. We started winning, against the better teams. Scores never got below 494 and we had two 498's and a 499.

We had the first of our two tournaments on the Saturday before our final match and I took three A-pairs, experienced shooters, and one B-pair, first year shooters or shooters who never competed in a match prior to this year. The pairs act as a team and they each shoot two targets for a total of four. They also use electronic scoring for this tournament which can mean a max of 10.9 for each shot.

Twenty-nine A-pairs, my teams finished 2nd, 5th and 18th and that team was made up of one A shooter and one B shooter because I didn't have enough A shooters to take. There were 15 B-pairs and my team finished 1st, actually finishing higher overall than my 5th place A-pair.

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Last match of the year was away at the eventual league champions. I told the kids they needed a 500 to beat them and they were ready to do that.

First relay, three girls, laughing, joking, chit chatting, driving me nuts but they settled down and each shot a 100, great start and I thought they were going to pull it off. Second relay not as good though, two 99's and a 98. Still a great score, 498 with three shooters to go. I have no idea what they had; I didn't really want to know. Third relay did even worse though two 98's and a 97 so we held firm on the 498. We are checking targets after they were officially scored, and we are tied at 498. Sixth shooter, tied, seventh shooter, tied, eighth shooter tied, ninth shooter TIED, 889 to 889. Neither of us could believe it. Center shots were next, and we had 6 to their 9 so they won on the 5th tiebreaker.

Their coach was actually choked up as he knew how we were struggling early in the season and what an incredible turn around they made. He congratulated them and we did a walk through handshake which we never do. It felt good but not as good as a win would have. We finished 8-8 overall and 6-8 in the league.

In the meantime, All Stars were determined after the last match. I had two make the All Stars, 8th and 10th, I only had one make it last season.

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Today was our final event, the cream of the crop competing against each other for bragging rights. Our Individuals tournament, two targets, max of 200 points. Top six shooters from each team in the league go, a total of 48 shooters.

I had three kids in the top 5, 2nd with 199 5 centers, third with 199 3 centers and fifth with 199 2 centers. We also won the team tournament championship which is the top 5 shooters with 990 and 15 centers, 2nd place had 989 and 11 centers, so it was very close. The league champions had two shooters choke really bad and weren't even close.

So, we came home today with a lot of hardware which is awesome considering how slowly they started.

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I'm trying to wind down, it's been a stressful season, this type of finish helps a lot. Now we have our family nights coming up, the kids get to take charge of their parents for a couple of hours a night and train them to shoot for a pairs tournament of our own at the end of the week.

Well done there is an unbelievable amount on the work of the coach to bring it all together countless hours behind the scenes, congrats to all.

Good to see shooting cultivated Steve, our country is trying so hard to demolish the sport completely. Happy faces of your shooters testify that there's nothing better than doing good scores...excellent work.

Impressive what a lot of hard work, dedication, and a sure hand at the tiller can accomplish. Well done!

Most excellent! Hard work pays off! Congrats!

First thing I noticed. Smiles, lots of smiles. I cannot imagine how rewarding that must be.

The tall boy with the medal and green ribbon is a first-year senior. I always get one or two signing up but usually they never show up and once I explain to them that this is a sport that requires development, they usually leave the team. This kid shot a 92 on his first target in practice, wasn't even signed up for the team yet but I talked him into it. Couldn't promise him anything and just asked him to give it two weeks to see if it was a fluke or not. He ended up getting into the 95 range which while not great was good enough for him to be the ninth shooter in the match. He ended up going to 13 of the 16 matches, earned his letter, won the pairs tournament and finished 5th in Individuals while helping the team win the tournament championship. His average all year in matches stayed around 96 until the last four matches when something clicked, and he started shooting 99's and 100's and took to double targets like a duck to water, something a lot of the kids have trouble mastering. Technically, he was the 8th shooter on the team, but number 6 got sick the last week, missed the final match she needed to qualify and then was sick the entire week after. The number 7 couldn't shoot double targets to save his life, so I had a shoot off between them for the final spot and the senior shot 200 and 2 centers to win it. Best the other kid ever shot was a 196 and he shot a 193 that day. I made him a team captain the last three matches of the season because he busted his butt and worked so hard with the younger kids helping them, he actually did more than the official team captains. He told me tonight he wished he had done this rather than swimming the previous years. I told him he had accomplished more in his one season than a lot do their entire careers. Individuals is really hard, top-notch shooters have trouble there because they psyche themselves out of contention. He was disappointed he didn't win.

He was a freshman the pandemic year. I could only take 15 kids that year. Equipment restrictions, space restrictions, etc. He tried out but wasn't one of the 15 I took. He always reminds me of that. But I remind him right back that I told all of them to come back the following year when the restrictions would be lifted, and he didn't come back.

The small girl with long dark hair and glasses I'm nominating as a saint at the banquet. She performed her second miracle this season. The first was last year, shooting in a match. They have 15 minutes to sight themselves in and shoot their 10 targets. She spent 13 minutes getting four targets shot. I gave her a warning to speed up and she spent a minute 3 seconds on target number 5. That left 57 seconds to shoot the remaining five targets. I was pretty much yelling instructions to her at this point, very simple instruction, RELOAD....SHOOT.... RELOAD...SHOOT. She finished the target with two seconds to spare. But that isn't the miracle. She shot a 100.

The second miracle came this season. We are away, she's in relay 2 out of 3. She comes in, is milling around, I'm not really paying close attention to her, this is pretty normal. But she finally says "Coach, where's my rifle?" I'm like it has to be here, you brought it didn't you. As they cost $1800, I'm pretty anal about how many I'm taking and I had counted them all in the safe, so I knew how many we had and how many were at home. I have a checklist before we leave, and RIFLE is at the top of the list. They all stand there and say yes after each item. A couple do share rifles, so we rarely have the same number of rifles as kids, it's usually 8 rifles 9 kids but about a third were 7 rifles 9 kids and we had 7 and I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. But we have the number we left with, the number back home is correct, and she doesn't have her rifle. So, I look at the others on the line and one has a rifle that looks just like hers and I tell her to go back to the waiting room and send the first-year senior up and I'll put her in relay 3 with the rifle that looks like hers. Relay 3 comes, and she comes in and I grab her shoulders, look her right in the eye and lie to her face that this rifle is identical to hers. It isn't, it's set up for the other girl. But she lays down and shoots a 100 with it. She actually pulled off a minor miracle in the final match of the season. Another away match, no sling. I'm really perturbed, which has become a favorite new word for the team but can't really say much because she needs to shoot and shoot well so again, I'm here's this sling, it's the same, which is sort of true but they each set them to different lengths which she could do if she remembered the length. She didn't exactly but I gave her a minute or two to figure it out and she went and shot another 100. I have her for one more year. Who knows what she'll do next year. Hopefully I'll still have my hair at the end of the season.

I do love it but I also enjoy it when the season is over and this was a great ending.

That is so wonderful to have so many great kids to work with. You have done an outstanding job. Congratulations

Absolutely fabulous! Well done to you and your team!