BB shooters train sights on Rogers

Emma Tichy, a competitor from North Dakota, practices her marksmanship Friday with her coach, Dan Geurts in Rogers. Sixty-eight teams representing 18 states are gunning for glory in the 50th annual BB Gun Championship Match at the John Q. Hammons Center.
Emma Tichy, a competitor from North Dakota, practices her marksmanship Friday with her coach, Dan Geurts in Rogers. Sixty-eight teams representing 18 states are gunning for glory in the 50th annual BB Gun Championship Match at the John Q. Hammons Center.

ROGERS -- The last time coach Frank Pulli and his team from Palmyra, Pa., came to town for the annual Daisy National BB Gun Championship Match, they left as champions.

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NWA Democrat-Gazette

John Holland (right), a competitor from Georgia, looks Friday at his target sheet with his coach, Brian Johnston, during practice.

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NWA Democrat-Gazette

Jarrett Botkin from Kansas practices his shooting Friday with his coach Mark Witherspoon. At right is Devon Brown, who is also competing in the BB gun championships.

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NWA Democrat-Gazette

Jacob Tyburski with the Hawg Wild BB gun team from Bentonville uses a spotting scope to look at targets during practice.

That was 2013. The Palmyra team, after opting to skip last year's event, is back this year competing for a place on the winners podium again.

Commemorative gun

Daisy Outdoor Products, based in Rogers, has created a special Model 499 commemorative BB gun with a 50th annual match medallion inset into the stock. One gun will be given to each team at this year’s Championship Match.

Also at this year’s match, athletes have the opportunity to build their own special Daisy Model 1938 BB gun, laser-engraved with the 50th annual match logo, as a gift from Daisy.

Source: Daisy Outdoor Products

"We're hoping to do well," Pulli said. "If I can get five kids to click and do well, that's all I ask."

Palmyra is one of 68 teams representing 18 states gunning for glory in the 50th annual BB Gun Championship Match at the John Q. Hammons Center.

The match was held at various cities across the nation before it found a regular home in Rogers in 2010, when it was held at the Rogers High School fieldhouse. The convention center has hosted the event every year since then.

This year's 68 teams is a record number for the event. Last year's match attracted 51 teams. About 2,000 people -- including team members, coaches and parents -- were expected to attend Friday night's opening ceremony, said Joe Miflin, vice president of public relations for Daisy Outdoor Products.

"Most of the people coming here will make this trip a family vacation," Miflin said.

Each team consists of seven players, including two alternates, between the ages of 8 and 15. They shoot at a paper target from 5 meters away in one of four positions: standing, sitting, kneeling and prone. Targets have a bull's-eye and nine rings; the bull's-eye counts for 10 points.

Team members also take a written test, the results of which count toward their overall score.

Matches are scheduled to begin today and continue Sunday. The award ceremony is scheduled for 6 p.m. Sunday.

Teams had a chance to practice their shooting Friday in Grand Ballroom Six at the convention center. They had to place either first, second or third place at a state match to qualify for the national competition.

"These kids are the top of the top, the best of the best," Miflin said. "They've been working all year to get to this point."

The Palmyra team took first at this year's Pennsylvania state match. It took the team -- seven kids and 11 adults -- about two days and 1,100 miles to reach Rogers this week in a van and two cars, Pulli said.

Pulli has coached about 1,200 kids during the 31 years he's been in charge of the team, he said. He and his team have been to the national match seven times.

"It's neat seeing the kids do well and improve every year," he said.

Palmyra team member Matthew Weaver, 15, is one of the few hundred kids competing this weekend. It's his third time at the national event. He was part of the 2013 national championship team.

Matthew has been shooting for seven years.

"It teaches patience," he said, when asked why he enjoys the sport. "And I'm a competitive person."

McKenna Logan, 13, of Palmyra is in her first year on the team. She said she got started in her backyard shooting at a target with her father's BB gun. She shot a 94.8 average at the Pennsylvania state match.

"I like almost everything about (the sport)," McKenna said. "I like the people you meet, too. It's been fun."

The kneeling position is her favorite, she said.

"It's just the difficulty of it. I like the difficulty factor," she said.

Also competing this weekend is the Washington Shooting Team of Washington, Mo., just west of St. Louis. The team members on Friday wore matching blue and pink T-shirts they had designed themselves.

Dave Roetheli has coached the Washington team for 26 years and taken them to the national competition each of those years, he said. The team won the championship in 2006, when the event was held in Bowling Green, Ky.

Members of the 2006 team and this year's team got together two weeks ago, Roetheli said. The 2006 team members talked about their experience and put on a shooting display for the 2015 team.

"Their biggest point was just to have fun," Roetheli said.

Both Roetheli and Jim Miller, one of the team's assistant coaches, said the team is as much about family and camaraderie as it is about competition.

"I still hear from some of these kids on Father's Day," Miller said.

"I've been invited to so many school plays and baseball games," Roetheli added.

Several past team members have taken their shooting skills to the military. One joined a shooting team in college, Roetheli said.

The shooting competitions are part of Daisy's marketing program. It's a way of introducing kids to shooting that emphasizes gun safety and responsibility. Daisy guns have become a part of the nation's culture, Miflin said.

"We're known as everyone's first gun," he said.

NW News on 07/04/2015

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