- CONTRIBUTE
-
- Story Ideas
- Send Corrections
It was only a few months ago when Ontelaunee Jr. Rifle team members, Amy Fister, Kutztown High School, and Zach Strohl, Boyertown High School, signed letters of intent to participate as members of a college rifle team in exchange for a scholarship. Fister will be going to the University of Memphis and Strohl will be going to the University of Akron.
Strohl first started with the Boyertown Rod and Gun Club BB Gun Team and ended up at the National?s twice and earning the title National Champion. After he aged out of that division, he began to shoot small bore and now more recently, air rifle.
The kids are taught proper technique and use of equipment practicing anywhere from five to seven days a week. They become so disciplined that for those who like to hunt, it is not so simple as point and shoot.
?My cousins are all real big hunters and they always complain because I?m always making sure my shot?s perfect,? said Strohl, who had to laugh when he added, ?sometimes the deer runs away before you actually get to shoot.?
Strohl, Fister, Megan Waidelich, Williiam Dixon, and team alternative, Kerry Kerschner, will be heading to Alabama for the National 3Position Air Rifle Championship. From there, they will be heading to Ohio for the NRA National Small Bore Matches with three days of 3P and five days of prone.
Fister and Dixon will be going to England for its version of the National Matches while Strohl will go to Colorado Springs for a chance at a $2,500 scholarship. This match is by special invite only. Strohl had finished in the top 15 in the nation taking seventh place in the individual category. The match was sponsored by the American Legion. As a team, the Ontelaunee Rod and Gun Jr. Rifle Team finished in fourth for the top 30.
?I?d like to get on the Olympic development team,? said Strohl. ?If I place, they either take the top one or two at the match (Alabama) and then you get on the Olympic Development Team.?
Amy Fister has her sights set on winning her matches and has increased her training to include reading books.
?I?m starting to do air rifle at home; I have a range set up. I?ve been reading a couple of books for mental training and stuff,? said Fister.
Fister?s reading list included, Winning in Mind by Lanny Bassham. Her competition in England is August 3-13. In the week following her return, she joins up with her new team in Memphis.
Earlier this year Fister and team member, Dixon, competed in the Jr. Olympics in Colorado. While Fister, finished tenth place over all for the women?s 3x20 small bore, Dixon finished second intermediate junior for a silver medal in the 50 meter prone event. Dixon, senior in Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School, Kutztown, began shooting small bore for the club three years ago, but shot with a black powder muzzle loader even earlier.
?It?s just relaxing. You?re thinking about like everything. If your outdoors you?re waiting for the wind to be just right; you pull the trigger just right; you?re doing everything just right. It?s really cool,? said Dixon.
The youngest team member, Megan Waidelich, tenth grade, Kempton, is only in her first year of shooting. Waidelich is also on the Kutztown School District?s rifle team.
?My team is like my family so I guess it?s like my favorite part about it,? said Waidelich. Her smile and bubbly personality were physical proof.
It was Waidelich?s friendship with Fister that turned her interest from hunting to competition.
?I hunted and she was like, well, maybe you should try shooting so then I tried shooting and then she kind of like coached me on it and now I?m here,? said Waidlich.
Waidlich is working on her focus and getting in more practice time for her upcoming matches. She found she prefers air rifle because of the weight being lighter for her small frame. Although, according to her mother, Joann, her first time out hunting with her uncle, she was very successful.
?She went out, she shot an eight point buck and a turkey the first time she ever shot,? said Joann, ?but now that she?s started shooting this, she doesn?t hunt as well because she?s worried about her position. It takes time to get her position and they?re like, just shoot.?
Also from the Kutztown rifle team, Kerry Kerschner, eleventh grade, Krumsville, joined the Ontelaunee team approximately two years ago because he wanted to do more than the leagues which are held only during the school season.
?It was much better training,? said Kerschner.
Kerschner said there is more interaction between people from different places and being able to do the 3P?s: standing, kneeling, and prone. He also likes that there is a choice of air riffle as compared to small bore. Kerschner is the alternative member of the team going to Alabama. If someone were unable to shoot, Kerschner would then be able to step in.
?Being Amy just graduated, I?m one of the top shooters at Kutztown now,? said Kerschner.
Jeffrey Derr, coach for the Ontelaunee Jr. Rifle Team, said they have certain shooters that are better at some things versus others. This is how teams are created.
?We try to get as many to participate in each one that we can, but yes there are ones that we?ve been working this last year. We decided a year ago that we were going to push Megan for air rifle and we were going to put all our concentration into air rifle even though she still shoots small bore and it paid off; she came through for the team this year. She?s the youngest one on the team,? said Derr.
Derr said the kids in shooting are the best in their class.
?Their discipline is phenomenal. They continue to travel and still maintain their grades. They practice five to seven days a week and still finish top in their class,? said Derr.
The kids carry equipment for both disciplines, air rifle and small bore, in bags weighing anywhere from 75 to 100 pounds all the time as well as the gun cases weighing around 60 pounds. Following rules and regulations, the kids are able to travel for their competition bringing all their gear.
For more information, go to http://www.ontelaunee.org/.
marco scutaro Russell Means Taylor Swift Red Walking Dead Season 3 Episode 2 celiac disease san francisco giants Medal of Honor Warfighter
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.