September/October 2011: Volume 19, Number 5 - USA Shooting

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FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR USA Shooting News is published six times a year. USA Shooting is the national governing body for Olympic Shooting sports in the United States. USA Shooting News is produced as a service to international shooters, coaches, ocials and media who cover Olympic-style shooting. Shooters featured in USA Shooting News magazine may be photographed without eye protection. ese 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 sta or its sponsors. 4 USA Shooting News MEMBERSHIP MATTERS By Robert Mitchell Membership is an important facet of any non-prot organization and USA Shooting is no exception. As a service organization, membership is paramount and it is the heart of our national governing body (NGB). USA Shooting is a small organization with less than 5,000 members. At this level the Membership department operates on a mostly break-even basis whereas larger organizations generate millions of membership dollars for services and overhead operations. More importantly, a lower membership results in a smaller athlete pool to develop our medal winning athletes. Building our athlete pool and development pipeline is a critical success factor. e shotgun discipline is growing. e rie group has been relatively stagnant and the pistol discipline has declined in participation and membership over the years. Many factors contribute to membership activity but the point is, USA Shooting needs to grow our support base, the athlete pool and promote the shooting sports. With a small sta of 15 individuals, including a one person Membership Department, our capabilities are limited. However, membership is everybody’s business. It is not just one sta member but rather for all to promote our sport: employees, volunteers, coaches, athletes and parents. Nichole Rae has instituted a Club Rewards program and added member benets to promote growth. Buddy DuVall, Corrie West and Katie Yergensen are creating more organizational visibility and seeking supporters via associations with conservation groups, industry partners and the public through personal contact and web-based eorts. A common statement we hear from many individuals we contact is that they are not active shooters or do not participate in the Olympic disciplines. Regardless, anyone with an interest in the shooting sports can, and in our thoughts should, follow and support your Olympic Shooting Team. Yet for our membership eort to have an impact, we need your help as well. It is our members that are familiar with your clubs and local shooting environment. We need your assistance to spread the word, tell the USA Shooting story and encourage others to be Olympic-style shooting competitors and/or supporters. At our recent national championships, a parent reported that a number of the shooters and clubs in his area did not know about Olympic shooting or USAS. He stated that USAS needs to do something. I agree but it is our members in the eld that know the local clubs and shooters that can enjoy and grow our sport. Bringing more people to USAS not only helps the organization but it also helps club growth but also builds the athlete pool resulting in more coaches, volunteers and shooters at your local and regional areas. Certainly the sta will continue eorts to grow our support base and are most pleased to assist you in doing so. Let’s all pull together to get more people involved and enjoying the Olympic shooting sports! USA SHOOTING 1 Olympic Plaza Colorado Springs, CO 80909 Phone: 719-866-4670 Administration Fax: 719-866-2200 Competitions Fax: 719-866-4884 PETE CARSON Competitions Coordinator 719-866-4882 pete.carson@usashooting.org BUDDY DUVALL Executive Director of USA Shooting Team Foundation 719-866-4880 buddy.duvall@usashooting.org BRET ERICKSON National Shotgun Coach 719-866-4682 bret.erickson@usashooting.org LISA ERICKSON Operations Manager 719-866-4682 lisa.erickson@usashooting.org BOB FOTH National Paralympic Coach 719-866-4881 bob.foth@usashooting.org TOM HARRIS tom.harris@usashooting.org DAVID JOHNSON 719-866-4630 david.johnson@usashooting.org NICOLE LEVINE Competitions Director 719-866-4885 nicole.levine@usashooting.org SERGEY LUZOV National Pistol Coach 719-866-4615 sergey.luzov@usashooting.org ROBERT MITCHELL 719-866-4899 robert.mitchell@usashooting.org NICHOLE RAE Membership & Merchandise Manager 719-866-4743 nichole.rae@usashooting.org MICHAEL THEIMER Youth Programs & Athlete Development Manager 719-866-4889 michael.theimer@usashooting.org CORRIE WEST Director, Marketing & Communications 719-866-4616 corrie.west@usashooting.org KARIE WRIGHT Controller 719-866-4887 KATIE YERGENSEN Media & Public Relations Manager 719-866-4896 katie.yergensen@usashooting.org Editor: Katie Yergensen Designer: Katie Yergensen Printing: Spectrum Publishing Cover Photo: Wolfgang Schreiber, ISSF Contributors: Michael Theimer Katie Yergensen Steve Faught Sergeant First Class Eric Uptagrafft Bret Erickson Robert Mitchell Sergeant George Norton Garrett Walters Lisa Markland Eric Pueppke Velda Duke
COLUMNS (Aim with AMU) Q & A WITH JASON PARKER By Sergeant George Norton Jason Parker has been a household name in the shooting sports for a long time. In addition to his countless National titles, world medals and world records, Parker also won the 2011 National Champion title in both Men’s 50m Rie Prone and Men’s 50m Rie ree Position events. Many USA Shooting News readers know of Sergeant 1st Class Parker’s extensive list of accolades, but they might not know the man behind the rie. In this month’s “AIM with AMU” column, Sgt. 1st Class Parker talks about his life, shooting and more. Q: How did you get started in competitive shooting? A: I was 13 years old when I started shooting competitively. For a starter rie my parents bought me a Daisy air rie that I practiced with in the basement of my house. Q: Did you compete in any other sports in your youth? A: I’ve always enjoyed sports, so I tried just about all of them. In addition to shooting, the sports that I spent the most time playing were soccer, golf and even a little bit of tennis. Q: Many know that you attended Xavier University, but what did you study while you were there? A: I attended Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio, from 1992-1996 and I majored in Psychology. Q: What was the highlight of your collegiate shooting career? A: While shooting in college I was a four year All-American, but the highlight of my collegiate shooting career was in 1996 during my senior year when our team won the Air Rie National Championship. Q: Aer graduation, what lead you to enlist with the U.S. Army and join the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit (USAMU)? A: When I was younger I shot many of the same competitions that the Soldiers from the USAMU were competing in. Because of their professionalism, I always looked up to them and wanted to be a part of their team. Q: Many know of the privileges of being a member of the USAMU, but what are some of your responsibilities o the ring line? A: In the shooting community people always see the U.S. Army Team competing, but one thing they might not know is that shooting is only the way we accomplish our missions, not our actual mission itself. Here at the USAMU we have three dierent aspects of our mission that we are always working to accomplish. ey are training Soldiers in basic and enhanced marksmanship skills to help them survive on the battleeld, enhancing the recruiting eort by forging positive images of the U.S. Army and conducting research and development to improve small arms weapons. Q: Some fans may not know that in 2009 you deployed to Afghanistan to support Operation Enduring Freedom. Could you give us some insight to your deployment? A: e soldiers of the USAMU were deployed to Afghanistan to improve the marksmanship skill of the Afghan National Army. ey needed to raise their level of marksmanship prociency so that they could ght with our American Soldiers and protect their own country. We worked with the Afghan basic trainees, but our focus was on the Afghan Instructors and Drill Sergeants so that they could continue to deliver the best marksmanship instructions by themselves indenitely. Q: As the reigning Men’s 50m Rie Prone and Men’s 50m Rie ree Position National Champion, you must train a lot. How many hours a week do you train and what things do you work on? A: How much I train and what I work on all depends on the time of year. Most of our matches are in the spring and early summer, so this is when I want to be at my peak performance levels. At this time of the year I am training exactly like I am going to shoot my matches. I focus on my pre-shot routines and shot execution and ensure that my energy levels are always where they need to be so that I shoot my best in competitions. During the late summer and early fall, I spend much of my time testing and evaluating any new equipment that I might want to try and also ensuring that the equipment that I have been using is in good condition. Q: Do you have any meals that are a part of your pre-match diet? A: A pre-match diet is very important to me, especially the dinner and breakfast before the match. ink of yourself as a nely tuned piece of equipment. You need the best fuel so that you can perform at your best. With that kind of strategy, any good nutritious food is what I look for. I stay away from food that is high in salt, fat or any kind of fast food. WWW.USASHOOTING.ORG 5
Page 2 and 3: www.eleyammunition.com British made
Page 6: Above: Parker takes a moment betwee
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Page 11 and 12: Common Mistakes of Junior Shooters
Page 13 and 14: e best rimre bench-rest shooters ha
Page 16 and 17: Meet the New National Champions 201
Page 18 and 19: L: e USAMU’s Sergeant Vincent Han
Page 20 and 21: L: Athlete Nick Mowrer won his rst
Page 22 and 23: USA Shooting is pleased to announce
Page 24 and 25: USA Shooting is pleased to announce
Page 26 and 27: CanterburyAutoTrench Canterbury Tra
Page 28: ISSF World Cup Munich: Milev’s Ma
Page 31 and 32: Photo, the ISSF © 2011 July: Emil
Page 33 and 34: Above: Connor Davis proudly display
Page 35 and 36: FROM YOUTH PROGRAMS & ATHLETE DEVEL
Page 37 and 38: It was mid-June in the Atlanta Inte
Page 39 and 40: The Choice of Champions. From trap

September/October 2011: Volume 19, Number 5 - USA Shooting

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