September/October 2009: Volume 17, Number 5 - USA Shooting

On The ComplexOperationsHer hat seemed to dance above Cheyenne Mountain; up then down,back and forth, twirling an enchanting little pirouette with every blastBy Bill Roy, Director of OperationsHats Off to You, Haley!of the shotguns. I thought it might never hit the ground.Skeet ace Haley Dunn had smashed 100 straight targets during the2009 USA Shooting National Championships, a feat never-before accomplishedby an American woman in registered International Skeetcompetition. It was a huge achievement, and as pure and powerfulas the Colorado thunderstorms that rolled over the range during theChampionships. Talk about a lightning strike—the flash and roar thatHaley caused was as awe-inspiring as any storm.Of course, we celebrated with the traditional hat shooting; 20-plusfellow competitors doing their part to change the hat size and ventilationqualities of Haley’s favorite visor. As that funny frisbee defiedgravity for about 20 seconds, I could only think, “Hats off to you, Haley!”Typically, lightning like that only strikes once during a match, oreven once during a season. But this is where the hat dance gets interesting:Haley’s thunder was just one of a satisfying chorus of rumblingblasts that resonated against our souls. In fact, Haley wasn’t even thehigh woman shooter in the match.That honor went to four-timeOlympic medalist Kim Rhode, wholead all shooters—men and women—upuntil the final qualificationround. When the dust settled afterthe qualification rounds, onlythree targets separated the top fourshooters . . . both men and women.In fact, 2008 Olympic gold medalistVinny Hancock also needed tohammer 100 straight to keep pacewith Haley and Kim, and secondplace finisher Shawn Dulohery guttedout a strong 99 to stay in therace. Lots and lots of great shooting!Lots and lots of tough shootingalso. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to string together 100straight? Only about five active International Skeet shooters havedone it, and most of them have only done it once or twice. But talkabout toughness and you have got to talk about Caitlin Connor, whothree days prior to winning the Junior Women’s event spent an eveningin the emergency room battling severe migraines. Oh, she alsomanaged to suppress the pain of a broken finger, but nothing a littleace bandage and pure grit wouldn’t fix. Just one target behind herwas Amber English, who earlier this year had major surgery on hercranium. I keep joking with her that she can be great with just half abrain, and then she just goes out there and gives me twice the effort.Talk about tough—truth is, I couldn’t hold their hats . . . .Of course there were many, many courageous stories of shootingachievement at the Nationals, and the valiant efforts of all the shootersimpressed me at every turn. In my role as High Performance Directorfor USA Shooting, I could not be more pleased. The scores are up,morale is up, participation is up and I predict more and more hats willbe . . . up.Debbie Harry, the 1970’s pop icon and lead vocalist for the rockgroup Blondie, used to belt out atune called “The Hardest Part.” Itwas a song about armored cars,“twenty-five tons of hardenedsteel.” My favorite line of hersong: “The hardest part of thearmored car/ Is the man of steelbehind the steering wheel.” Remindsme of our competitors.The hardest part of Internationalshooting isn’t the tempered steelof the high-grade target guns; thehardest part is the steely resolveof the tough-minded athleteswho hit their targets and weartheir hats.Hard hats, that is.32 USA Shooting NewsFor a complete schedule of events in your areavisitwww.usashooting.orgGo to the competitions drop down and click ontheInteractive MapClick on your state or surrounding states to findlocal competitions