Scoping out the competition

By NATE HUBBARD
The Wytheville Enterprise
Published: April 7, 2008

Close sporting matches often are declared to be games decided by mere inches.

That’s a blowout in the precise world of competitive air rifle shooting.

Wythe County JROTC’s air rifle team hit the proverbial bull’s-eye during last month’s American Legion of Virginia Western Region Junior Three Positions Air Rifle Tournament, finishing in first place and qualifying for the May 3 statewide competition.

“The team has done well,” said Maj. Randel Matney, the coach of the team for six years. “In the state of Virginia, I feel like there’s no doubt that we are the number two team.”
Jon Archer, a junior at George Wythe High School, took overall individual first-place honors at the competition held on March 8 at the Chatham National Guard Armory. He also claimed first place in the standing position category and third place in the prone shooting position.

“It was my goal, but I didn’t know if I could pull it off,” Jon said about his stellar showing.

Other team members from GWHS were Amber Smith, Nike Williams and Chelsea Stone. Stone’s performance earned her third place in the kneeling position category.
Travis Walk of Fort Chiswell High School was the team’s fifth member for the regional competition.

Last month’s tournament consisted of each competitor shooting 30 rounds (10 each from the standing, kneeling and prone positions) fired from a 10-meter distance.
The maximum score for each shot is 10 points, adding up to a total of 300 possible points for each shooter. The top four individual scores out of the five-person team are counted and added together for the team’s final score.

Matney said most shooters start out scoring in the mid-100s with it usually taking about a year to work up consistently scoring in the low 200s. A benchmark goal is a score of 240 for an experienced shooter, Matney added.

With the margin for error already so small, Matney said improving your score just gets harder and harder as you get better and better, comparing the task to a distance runner trying to shave off seconds when he’s already running a mile in under 5 minutes.

“It’s like golf,” Matney said in making another cross-sport comparison, emphasizing the mental fortitude needed for both a rifle shot and a golf swing. “A lot of it is just sound fundamentals.”

Although Matney connected the air rifle competition with other sports, Nike said there’s no comparison between her mindset when she’s shooting and when she’s competing on the soccer field.

“Soccer’s more physical and everything, this is like the mental half,” she said of the different benefits she gets from each sport.

Starting in the fall, the Wythe County team generally practices twice a week after school, with daily practices in the week leading up to a competition.

On Friday afternoons before weekend events, shooters have to earn their place on the competition squad by placing high in an intra-squad shoot-off.

Matney said the nature of shooting competitions leaves no room for any griping about favoritism or unfair judging.

“It’s not debatable,” he said, pointing to the miniscule dot on the paper target that must be struck to earn a full 10 points for a shot.

Although the best equipment still takes the touch of a skilled shooter to be effective, Matney added that the team has been able to boost its competitiveness in recent years by using higher-level rifles.

He pointed to a number of grants he has been able to obtain from the Friends of the National Rifle Association that have allowed the team to purchase more precise air rifles.

Despite the improved gear, Matney said a variety of factors can make a big difference in a sport of millimeters. Since the rifles fire by using compressed air, air pressure in the guns and weather can cause slight, but crucial, accuracy alterations.

“The biggest thing is consistency,” he said.

Jon and Nike said they try to keep their routine the same each time they shoot in an attempt to achieve that elusive consistency. Although listening to music isn’t allowed during competition, both of them said they try to keep a rhythm going in their minds.

“If you got a good tune in your head that helps you relax and loosen up,” Jon said.

Nike also said she likes to chew gum to calm her nerves.

While scores eventually are compared at the end of a competition, Nike said that when she stares down her target she is concerned only with beating her own best scores.

“It is a competition with yourself – and I like that,” she said. “It’s really a big mind game. You have to learn how to control yourself.”

Nate Hubbard can be reached at 228-6611 or .