Shooting can pay off...

HMP

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I might have hinted at this a bit back when the news started to break, but Ive tried to keep my mouth shut till it was all finalized.

So last year me and another teacher started a shotgun team at our school, shooting trap, mostly.
One young man, a junior at the time, came out and joined. New to the sport, he quickly gained an interest in it, practicing all of the time and getting better and better.

Now, I must say, this young man is smart and very personable.
He's very polite, well spoken, and mature for his age.

Anyway, back to the title about shooting paying off
First time I heard about this I was in a state of confusion and shock.
"Alabama"
me - THE Alabama?
"Roll Tide"
me - He's going to THE Alabama on shooting clays? Roll dang Tide Alabama?
"Roll dang Tide"
me - Holy crap that's awesome.

This young man has received scholarship money to go shoot for the Alabama shooting team - HOW FREAKING COOL IS THAT!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!!!!


If you got a youngster that likes shooting clays, keep em in it, might be able to go to a great school for very little money, if paying at all.
 
That’s fantastic
 
Well done working with kids exposing them to another sport/activity.
 
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Can you say what school you teach at? If not, you can PM me (I hope it's near us in DC). That is very cool!
 
That's very cool. Congrats to him and you.

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I might have hinted at this a bit back when the news started to break, but Ive tried to keep my mouth shut till it was all finalized.

So last year me and another teacher started a shotgun team at our school, shooting trap, mostly.
One young man, a junior at the time, came out and joined. New to the sport, he quickly gained an interest in it, practicing all of the time and getting better and better.

Now, I must say, this young man is smart and very personable.
He's very polite, well spoken, and mature for his age.

Anyway, back to the title about shooting paying off
First time I heard about this I was in a state of confusion and shock.
"Alabama"
me - THE Alabama?
"Roll Tide"
me - He's going to THE Alabama on shooting clays? Roll dang Tide Alabama?
"Roll dang Tide"
me - Holy crap that's awesome.

This young man has received scholarship money to go shoot for the Alabama shooting team - HOW FREAKING COOL IS THAT!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!!!!


If you got a youngster that likes shooting clays, keep em in it, might be able to go to a great school for very little money, if paying at all.
Back in the 90's I was in the mass national guard. A group of us were asked to participate in a program intended to improve marksmanship. We assembled in an auditorium for our first meeting.
An E-8 took the podium and related to us a story about a young man that started shooting rifles, which led to shooting competitively. He shot in the Pan-American games and eventually was offered, and attended Texas A&M on a shooting scholarship. The young shooter was the NCO's son.
 
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@HMP - congratulations to your pupil - that's Awesome and a wonderful that he turned an interest into a skill set that's taking him further in life - especially doing so in 2 years.

But I want to say congratulations to you and your fellow teacher - you guys are not only helping to normalize gun culture in about the most challenging place to do so in today's America, Hut planting the seeds of Liberty that one day may be key in preserving the Rights of the next generation.

My hat is off to you, man. Great work!
 
Awesome job to all.[emoji122][emoji122][emoji122][emoji122][emoji122][emoji122][emoji122][emoji122][emoji122][emoji122][emoji122][emoji122][emoji122][emoji122][emoji122][emoji122][emoji122][emoji122][emoji122][emoji122][emoji122][emoji122][emoji122]

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It's great to hear of this type of success story.

In our shooting org- North South Skirmish Association, we've just started a program to work with the Boy Scouts of America (I know, forget their recent misteps) in their muzzleloading programs. There is a major, critical shortage of qualified adults to work with youth in the shooting sports in Scouts, but not just the Scouts, but youth programs in general that have the shooting sports as part of their program. There is an obvious chokepoint in the throughput for that very reason in these very popular progams. Far too many adults are going out and playing and not giving back to the youth. If you don't teach them young, it's far harder to reach them after they've attended an indocrination center of "higher learning". In our program to be able to work with the Scouts, we had to become NRA certified instructors, take the NRA muzzleloading course (walkover for a competitive muzzleloading group) and take the Muzzleloading Instructor course. Then we had to pass a background check to work with youth (common across all programs dealing with youth). The instructor courses are aimed at teaching you HOW to teach, and they're quite good along those lines. Other youth organizations have similar requirements. They aren't hard, but do require a bit of dedication. Remember when dealing with youth, many have never been properly taught gun safety and handling. Start with basics, work up from there. Back to our pilot program, we secured donor guns, corp support for parts, corp support for powder and caps, and financial support from our Association for expenses. No we aren't getting paid to do this, but the supplies are the major expense involved and they are covered. Now no excuse NOT to move forward.

So I'd like to throw down the gauntlet to this community- What are YOU doing to help guide youth in the shooting sports? Doesn't matter if it's clays, bullseye, Appleseed, black powder, just GET involved! Become an instructor. Help with support. Help secure donors. Help with positive press. Share success stories like the OP. This is an investment in both their futures and in ours.
 
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Awesome work! Thank you @HMP and your fellow teacher for investing in our culture and future!
 
One of our kids got a full ride to Arizona State IIRC, something like that. She also shot with a team outside us, and won a couple state and world championships. So she was well on her way before she shot with us. But that stuff is out there.

There is an archery program called S3DA that issues a BUNCH of scholarships. Mostly out of state. I talked to the local rep and she said she was trying to give away $180K in scholarships to archers. She had schools calling her looking for kids.
 
Can you say what school you teach at? If not, you can PM me (I hope it's near us in DC). That is very cool!
Id rather not, but it is in this county, yes.


Im at a rural/suburban school - we got the same sports everyone else has (minus lacrosse), but we still got a lot of good ole boys and girls that dont care about playing ball sports but do love hunting and shooting.
So we gave them an outlet.
Im glad this young man has found something he likes and excels in.
I wish him all the best in the future, I know he'll do great things in life.
 
What are YOU doing to help guide youth in the shooting sports?

I can't say that I do much, but I do have a "molon labe" sign outside my office and a photo of my AR somewhat visible near my desk. Each semester, I get maybe a couple of students who will inquire and lead to a discussion about firearms etc. They universally seem to welcome the "safe space" and enjoy finding faculty who support them. They are quite aware of the environment in which we find ourselves - especially on a university campus.

I've even worn my Knifeman CFF and Front Line Defense swag on occasion.

And State has an accomplished rifle team: https://gopack.com/index.aspx?path=rifle
 
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