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

More documents

Recommendations

Info

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
News & EventsPictured left to right: Wayne Windsor, Eric Tycksen,Buddy DuVall, Mike Laughter, Jeremy ZumwaltShooting Industry Masters and Academy of Excellence Awards1st Annual Mule Deer Foundation Banquet in GeorgiaMule Deer Foundation’s newest chapter – the Dixie Muley Chapter – held its firstchapter banquet in Dawsonville, Ga on June 20. Pete Ward and his wife Gabby, alongwith a small group of dedicated committee members made an impressive showing forthis inaugural event generating $10,000 for Mule Deer conservation. Making the trip toGeorgia from MDF headquarters in Salt Lake City for this 1st annual event was MDF’sChief Operating Officer Eric Tycksen, Regional Director Mike Laughter, Utah StateChair Wayne Windsor and Utah Key Volunteer Jeremy Zumwalt. “The excitement in the room was very contagious, the attendees were there for theright reasons, to raise money for the only declining big game species in North America,”said Tycksen. Laughter concluded, “It is refreshing and revitalizing to come to a newplace that does not have Mule Deer and feel the excitement they have for what MDF isaccomplishing.”MDF will hold their 2009 board meeting September 11-12 in Colorado Springs, Colo. and USA Shooting will host the MDF directors andstaff for a day of shooting with rifle, pistol and shotgun resident athletes at our Olympic training facilities. Look for USA Shooting to attend theMDF annual convention February 11-14, 2010 in Salt Lake City in support of our conservation partnership. For more information about MDFvisit www.muledeer.org.The Shooting Industry Academy of Excellence presented its 2009 awards July 24thin 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 conjunctionwith the Shooting Industry Masters. The 7th annual Masters three-gun eventattracted some 200 competitors from more than 30 companies to the Hartford Gun Clubin East Granby, Conn. Representing USA Shooting at the 7th annual “Masters” eventwere 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 cometogether in support of the NSSF’s First Shots program, the ultra-successful programprovidingan introduction to shooting for first timers. The fundraiser coordinated by don, J.B.Hodgdon, Corey Cogdell, CJ Buck (BuckPictured left to right: Sean McLelland, Anne Hodg-FMG generated a record $25,000 for the First Shots program. Congratulations to all Knives) and Haley Dunnof 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 members pictured left to right: Dr Gene Bishop, Dr Rich Miles,Colonel Loretta Behrens, Judy Trick, Captain Carl Kilhoffer, Colonel DennisBehrens, Mike Sloan, Bob Ziegler, Tim McGill (in sling), Dr Larry Trick,Tom Holland, Mona Robinson, Bob Herold, Russ Arnold, Kinsey Robinson,Gail Jeffress, Steve JeffressBunker Club UpdateThe Bunker Club is a fundraising group that was formed in 1998 to pay for newtrap machines at the USA Shooting shotgun range in Colorado Springs. Presently, theBunker Club continues to donate money to help Olympic shooting and gets togetherfor social gatherings. Members of the Bunker Club posed for a picture in May at the74 Ranch, which is an hour south of San Antonio, after shooting sporting clays andattending 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 toprovide funds to individual shooters who need help, such as team members, developmentteam members, or other worthy shooters in rifle, pistol or shotgun.”The Bunker Club has raised over half a million dollars and has a strong commitmentto helping our athletes. There are currently approximately 40 members of the BunkerClub and they are in need of more members to help raise their goal of $3 million for anAthlete Endowment. The cost to join the Bunker Club is $3,000 and you get a lifetimemembership 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 Shootingathletes in all three disciplines. You can also donate to the athlete endowment by sending a check for any amount that you are able to giveto 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 contactCol. Dennis Behrens at 210-735-2373 or USA Shooting Executive Director Bob Mitchell at robert.mitchell@usashooting.org or 719-866-4899.www.usashooting.org 33
Page 3: USAShootingNewsContentsSept/oct2009
Page 7 and 8: ColumnsFrom the Editor Aim with AMU
Page 9: Columnswhat I did to overcome the c
Page 12: ColumnsFrom the Editor Aim with AMU
Page 15 and 16: DisciplinesRifleBy Launi Meili, Oly
Page 17 and 18: DisciplinesBy Mark Weeks, National
Page 19 and 20: Nationals
Page 24 and 25: WorldCupUpdateBy Mary Beth VorwerkT
Page 26 and 27: FeaturesCaitlin Connor Wins Silver
Page 28 and 29: Around the Range2009 Shotgun Nation
Page 30 and 31: On The ComplexDirectorshort—appro
Page 34 and 35: News & Events2009 Poland/Czech Juni
Page 36: USA Shooting1 Olympic PlazaColorado

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

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?