The Ohio National Guard Base, which plays home to the NRA National Rifle and Pistol Championships, attracts thousands of shooters to the town of Port Clinton, Ohio, who are hoping to grab a little something special.
Whether it's a chance at an NRA National Championship, or knocking off 10 straight X shots, there is motivation for achievement in every competitive shooting athlete. However, some take their motivation in a different route. There are people like Sgt. Michael Moore, a member of the United State Army Marksmanship Unit, who find days like July 22 to be a day of importance.
“It’s days like this that hold a special place for me,” said Moore. “It’s my time to pass that torch and to give back to the sport that has given me an entire career.”
Moore is referring to more than 100 junior shooters who joined more experienced marksmen for a day of competitive matches as well as a day of learning. Or, as Moore put it, “A day for the shooters out there, who have enjoyed the traditions of Camp Perry, to basically show a younger generation what makes these matches so special.”
Although it took place on a day that was intended to give competitors a break from competition, 51 teams of at least one junior shooter and one experienced shooter had registered for the match. Children paired up with parents, and grandparents paired up with grandchildren; but for the most part the young competitors chose to shoot with an adult role model.
Jordan Turiano asked Sgt. Moore that day to be his mentor. Turiano idolized Moore because of his success and involvement in competitive shooting. “I do look up to him. He’s on the Army Marksmanship Unit and I would like to do that someday,” said Turiano, a 15-year-old from Bridgewater, N.J.
During this match the mentor shooters help the junior shooters by emphasizing what they are doing correctly and incorrectly. The ever-changing amount of wind at Camp Perry presents is one of the more difficult conditions on the range. Thirteen-year-old Jeff Caron and his mentor Erik Hoskins primarily focused on this very aspect while shooting in the match.
“Jeffery can rely on me to count the wind for him, so all he has to worry about is his position and squeezing the shot,” said Erik. “He had a lot of success because of that.”
Jeffery is a resident of Bridgewater, Mass., and first became involved in the sport at the age of four. “It’s a great sport and there’s a lot of fun in it,” commented Jeffery at the end of the Mentor Match.
On July 22, junior competitors took over the range early in the morning and competed in the Whistler Boy Smallbore Team Match. The Whistler Match is comprised of a team of two junior competitors and an optional team coach and captain. Each individual fired 20 shots in each position (prone, standing and kneeling) with metallic sights at both 50 and 100 yards.
The two man team of 17-year-old Adam AuClair and 16-year-old Brian Jylkka finished in sixth place overall, receiving a combined score of 1835-39X. They are members of the Hudson Fish and Game Rifle Club located in Hudson, N.H.
“I’m shooting with all of my friends and we’re pretty much living together for the two weeks that we’re here,” said Adam. “We get to know each other pretty well and have a lot of fun.”
Adam’s father, Merle AuClair, is also a member of the club and spends the majority of his time coaching junior members. While he isn’t a competitor himself, he came to Camp Perry with anticipations of helping his team become more educated and experienced with competitive shooting.
“For the juniors, [The Whistler Boy Match] promotes sportsmanship and camaraderie. A lot of the kids that are here will become friends and then they may not see each other for a while,” Merle said. “But when they come back to Camp Perry they already know one another and help each other out.”
Merle said that the Mentor Match is another great opportunity for junior shooters to gain a different insight in the shooting sports. The Mentor Match was designed to do exactly that.
Hudson Fish and Game Rifle Club after the Smallbore Whistler Boy Team Trophy Match at Camp Perry
The mentoring isn’t only subjected to just one day. About one week later the Whistler Boy High Power Trophy Team Match fired off at dawn on the range of Camp Perry on an overcast rainy morning -- a typical weather forecast in northwest Ohio. It’s also typical to see a large amount of juniors come out for this match.
The High Power Whistler Boy Match featured about 144 competitors, who were once again dispersed into teams of two. The matches were different in many aspects that could only be witnessed first-hand.
The rifles, and people, in the high power match were much louder than the smallbore match. The BANG of the high power rifle was usually followed by words of encouragement that a coach was shouting to their competitor over the sound of others’ rifles in the air. Although the match lasted longer into the day, the match moved at a faster pace since competitors on each team shared a timed shooting course.
The process of scoring and replacing targets was also very different. In the smallbore match, time was designated for competitors to approach and replace their own target. However, in the high power match, each team was required to assign a target puller who stayed in "the pit" during the entire match, which lasted from 7:30 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. The pit is a term used to describe the protective bunker that the target pullers stay in. It is located in the back of the range, behind and underneath each target.
Every time a shot was fired, the person in the pit would pull down and score and mark a specified target. Towards the end of the match, the sun was shining brightly, and competitors began to pack their equipment and cross their fingers that their team rose above the rest.
In the High Power Whistler Boy Trophy Team Match, every competitor shot in each position at 200, 300 and 600 yards. Even though the Whistler Boy Matches featured different competitors loaded with different firearms, they each aim towards one goal: the future of junior competitive shooting.
Brad Palmer is a coach from the Connecticut State Rifle and Revolver Association. He traveled to Camp Perry with multiple junior shooters and coached Amanda Elsenboss and Ryan Castonguay in the High Power Whistler Boy Match. Brad was proud of how Amanda and Ryan were shooting that day, but he was even more proud of how much the sport of shooting has improved for juniors since he began coaching in 1988.
“Brad’s been coaching for a very long time,” said Amanda. “He knows what he’s doing and is very reliable.”
Coach Brad Palmer (top-middle), Amanda Elsenboss (bottom-left), and Ryan Castonguay (bottom-right) after the High Power Whistler Boy Match
Amanda shot a personal best score of 494 at Camp Perry under the supervision of Brad. In 2006 she and another female junior shooter were champions of the High Power Whistler Boy Match.
Amanda began shooting high power rifles five years ago with Brad as her coach as well. She will be a sophomore in college this fall, where she may pursue competing with smallbore rifles. As a team, Ryan and Amanda finished in ninth place overall with a score of 945-20X.
It’s safe to say that the future of competitive shooting relies on the focused attention towards current junior participants. Mentors and coaches alike are donating their advice, time, and expertise to these younger shooters with the intent of showing them how the sport has reflected positively on their own lives.
Even though some adults have retired from shooting competitively, they see it as their duty to motivate juniors while sharing a passion for the sport. The matches at Camp Perry have given this option to the coaches and mentors as well as junior competitors.
Without the increased consideration to this area of the sport, what’s special about Camp Perry would eventually become extinct.
Here is a photo album that I took at the Smallbore and High Power Whistler Boy Matches.
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