Pull For The Team

Breaking Clay The Aim Of Shiloh Trap Shooters

Jim and Elisa Daniel show two Merriam's species of wild turkey they killed in Texas in 2011 when Elisa was 14.
Jim and Elisa Daniel show two Merriam's species of wild turkey they killed in Texas in 2011 when Elisa was 14.

HOGEYE - The spark of an idea by a Shiloh Christian School senior has grown into one of the region’s most popular shooting programs.

When Steven Simon was a student at the Springdale school, he hoped at least five students would show up for a meeting he helped organize to gauge interest in a shooting program at Shiloh.

“We hoped for five because that’s the minimum number for one squad,” Simon said. He was amazed when 70 students showed up. The Shiloh Christian trap shooting team was born.

Now, 58 students from grades six through high school are part of the shooting team that formed in 2011. Squads of student trap shooters compete in events around the state, including several that are part of the Arkansas Youth Shooting Sports program.

About 6,000 young shooters take part in the program sponsored by the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission.

These days Simon attends college at Baylor University, but was on hand at the team’s Saturday morning shooting practice at a private range near Hogeye. Cliff Slinkard built the range for the team on his land along the Illinois River. He and Simon watched an impressive show of shooting by the team on Saturday morning.

“Every year we get about 14 who have never held a firearm,” Slinkard said. “And sometimes they turn out to be the best shooters,” Simon added.

PULL OF THE SPORT

Shotguns popped and flying clay targets shattered at the trigger fingers of team members in the junior and senior divisions. Shooters in grades 6-8 are juniors. Grades 9-12 are the senior shotgunners. Juniors shoot at 25 targets per round. Senior division members fire at 50.

A platoon of volunteer coaches mentor the students and takes care of a long list of details necessary to field the trap shooting team. Students come from all areas of interest, said Jewelleta Gambill, one of the coaches.

“We’ve got kids from the band, from the football team and baseball team,” Gambill said. She watched as Coach Roy Cordell eyeballed the shooting form of five shooters breaking targets.

“For some of the kids, this is their only sport,” said Cordell, who’s an experienced competitive trap shooter.

Like any team sport, the players want to win. That’s all fine and good, but Cordell said safety is the No. 1 emphasis among the team and coaches. All wear protective glasses and hearing protection. There’s never been an accident, Cordell said. Range safety rules are followed to the letter.

Then students get to shoot. All fire 12-gauge shotguns, Gambill said. Students using the same gauge prevents, say, a 12-gauge shooter accidentally placing a 20-gauge shell in his or her gun.

The Arkansas Game & Fish Commission provides a quantity of shells to each team in the state. They’ll loan a limited number of shotguns and a trap. That’s the machine that launches the clay targets.

There’s a $250 fee per member per season to cover the team’s expenses.

Shooters on Saturday near Hogeye put on a show. Not many clay birds landed unscathed in the soft green grass. Cordell compared trap shooting with golf in that it starts with the feet. A shooter needs a good foundation to break targets consistently.

Students learn the proper way to mount the shotgun, follow a flying target and squeeze the trigger at the right time.

“The number one mistake people make is raising their head when they pull thet rigger. You’re going to shoot over the bird every time,” Cordell said.

On Saturday he strolled behind team members on the firing line to check their form. “You shot over that one,” he coached one student who missed.

“Most of the time there’s no need to tell them what they did wrong. They already know,” Cordell said later.

Once a student has the fundamentals down, “it’s practice, practice practice shooting hundreds of targets,” Cordell said.

COMBINED EFFORT

It’s a team sport, so scores are figured together. Five shooters make up a squad.If a squad wins, it’s a shared victory, not an individual one. So it’s important to shoot well for the good of the squad, Cordell noted. “That one missed bird can mean the difference in moving on in a competition or not.”

Trap shooting isn’t a sport only for guys. Madeline Medina will be a Shiloh senior next year. She shot so much she injured her shoulder and had to miss some playing time, but she’s back with the team.

“I like it because it’s something I can do in college and after,” she said.

Natalie Akers will be a sophomore next school year. She likes the social aspect and camaraderie of the team.

Outdoor, Pages 7 on 05/23/2013

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