Air Gun Home :: View topic - 2015-2016 5m BB getting underway in GA.

shawn706 · Member

I got demoted to head coach late last year. Same pay more responsibility. Had a good turnout, and if all the new kids stick with the program I should have 2 teams this year. First new shooter practice was good, no one missed the target box, and had a few with high 90s. This is of course on bench rest. I'll be teaching the prone and standing positions tonight, with sitting and kneeling to follow Thursday. I'll be combining them with the returning shooters in a few weeks. Only one aged out from last year so we look to be no less competitive. Wish me luck and as always any advise is welcome.

Slavia · Moderator

Somewhere I read about a strategy where you do benchrest first, to teach trigger pull. Then you do just a bit of offhand, because it's tough and the kids will get frustrated. Then you do prone, sitting, and kneeling. Compared to offhand those positions are pretty easy, so the kids are happy and catch on quickly. Then you come back to offhand. By this time the kids have accumulated enough skill that it seems easier than the first time, and the kids sail through it.

I was once a 4H shooting coach, and am now a hunter safety instructor. It's a heck of a lot of work and responsibility, and it makes me feel tired and energized at the same time. Be safe and don't forget to have fun.

shawn706 · Member

That's pretty spot on to how we start them. All new shooter get a 3 night trial before we ask for commitment to the team. First night bench rest, 2nd we teach prone, and standing at a reduced distance, and the third we do sitting an kneeling, also at a reduced distance. On commitment night we have the returning shooter shoot a couple of position while the new shooters and parents stand back and watch and ask question while my lead coaches point out important aspects of what the more experienced group is doing and why. The next couple of practices are new shooter only on one night, and returning on another. Had a good start last night.

Slavia · Moderator

What's your mix of girls and boys? Two years ago our hunter safety class was more girls for the first time. My feeling is that girls are easier to coach, because they don't come through the door with Rambo fantasies in their heads. They learn it correctly from the start.

shawn706 · Member

In the past it's been about 50/50. This season only one girl has came in. She did a good job and I hope she commits. She's an 8th grader so she'll only get to shoot with us for 1 year, but it will really do her a lot of good if she plans to join the air rifle team in 9th grade. Girls do catch on faster for the most part, and seem to complain less about the positions being uncomfortable. The lower heart rate helps also. My returning shooter are 4 girls and 3 boys.

Slavia · Moderator

Women have a lower center of gravity than men, which might be an advantage when shooting offhand. There's probably not that much difference between genders in your team's age group.

What kind of equipment do you shoot? We had the Daisy "club in a box" with 853's and 845's.

Where do you shoot? We used the 4H exhibit building at the fairgrounds. I had to go to the city council to get the law changed. It prohibited the discharge of BB guns within the city limits. Now it's legal for established groups, for instructional purposes, and in a place approved by the council. (They granted permission immediately after passing the revision.)

What does your parental release form look like?

What qualifications must your coaches have? We had to attend a weekend 4H seminar ("getting green") and pass a Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension background check (working with kids, you know.) They also offered the Minnesota DNR hunter safety instructor training on the Friday night before the 4H seminar, which is how I got into that.

shawn706 · Member

Slavia · Moderator

My kids are third generation 4H - I didn't go green until I volunteered to be a coach. I met my wife through her participation in a 4H program (in Guatemala, no less). There is a public perception that 4H is just for farm kids, but that's not true. I would encourage anyone reading this to check them out.

shawn706, I applaud you. Keep us posted on how the season progresses.

shawn706 · Member

Had our State Match this past Saturday. 98 teams, 579 shooters from 57 counties. We came in 5th. Very proud.

http://www.orionresults.com/team/MatchPage.aspx?MatchID=1.2307.652882709.1

AirGunEric · Site Admin

Slavia · Moderator

Congratulations! You must be doing something right. Was pizza involved afterwards?

Eric - We do have "royalty." In my county the dog and horse people would like to believe they are the master race. In the next county over it's rabbits. 4H isn't limited to those areas, however. If you want to do model rocketry or photography or any number of other non-agricultural things there is a place.

I was never in 4H as a kid. Then I married a 4H extension agent (a former pork princess, no less) and things changed.

AirGunEric · Site Admin

"Pork Princess"!

That is just wrong, in so many ways...

Mr. Green

shawn706 · Member

Ours is more land management type stuff. Forestry and wildlife management. We have animal judging too, but most of that gets handed over to FFA by middle school. The shooting sports, performing arts and just recently robotics has been the big draw to 4H.

Slavia · Moderator

In some states 4H is run through the public schools like FFA and FHA (now FCCLA); in other states it's completely separate.

One of the challenges to project diversity in 4H is finding volunteer mentors/judges for each project area. You wind up with the woodworking expert judging rocketry, for example.

"Pork Princess" is perhaps an unfortunate title, but it's an important position. They represent the Pork Producers' Association at fairs, parades, and conventions. Another unfortunate one was the "Porkettes." They have since become Women In Pork Production.

Anyway, back to shooting. shawn706, you should be commended for your work with youth programs. An obvious benefit is a new generation of trained, safe shooters. Another benefit is to the conservation of natural resources. For the last 100 years conservation efforts have been funded by user fees - hunting/fishing licenses, and a tax on hunting equipment that is returned to the states. (See the Pittman-Robertson Act of 1937). Now we have a generation of folks that would rather stay inside to play video games, and that funding model is in peril. Thanks for sharing your talents!

shawn706 · Member

We qualified for the Daisy Nationals. Looks like we'll be shooting in Rogers Arkansas on the 4th of July. Merica.