Georgia Magazine - April 2017 - 25
JIM JE S S IN GR OL CAR ER Sydney Cook, a .22-caliber Rimfire Sporter competitor from Bartow County, shoots at the 2016 nationals in Nebraska. Bobby Stinchcomb, head coach for the Paulding County 4-H shotgun team, advises Megan Harper as she shoots sporting clays. Island, Neb., in 2014 and won first place, setting a national record. He was the first to shoot a 600, a perfect score. After high school, Payne wants to attend Jacksonville State University in Jacksonville, Ala., and join the shooting team. "And then, go to the Olympics," he adds. Three teams from Bartow County have been to the nationals in Nebraska, so Payne is not the only talented shooter in Bartow County 4-H. One of Payne's teammates, 15-year-old Emily Lovett, of Cartersville, is a good shot, too. She and Payne both attended the Rimfire Sporter nationals in 2015. She has competed in BB and Sporter Air Rifle as well, but she likes the Precision Air Rifle the best. (Precision Air Rifle uses a different kind of rifle than Sporter Air Rifle.) "Shooting takes a lot of focus," she says. "You need to learn to block things out when you are shooting. You have to stay focused, because you don't want to mess up." In January, Lovett, who has been shooting for five years, shot her best score in Precision Air Rifle for three positions (prone/lying on your belly, standing and kneeling) at a competition in Griffin. She also wants to shoot on a team in college and hopes to attend the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Miss. The third team member at the practice is Sydney Cook, 15, of Fair- mount. Cook went to the nationals in 2016 for .22 but is focusing on perfecting her air rifle skills now. She has learned that successful shooting takes a lot of practice. "You have to know to keep working at it, and eventually you'll get those results," she says. On a cloudy Sunday afternoon in late January, a couple dozen 4-H shotgunners from Douglas and Paulding counties met at a trap and skeet range near Douglasville to practice. Bobby Stinchcomb, the veteran head coach for the Paulding County 4-H shotgun team, explains the different shotgun games or disciplines. All involve clay targets in motion. Skeet is played on a half-moon field, he says, with clays launched from inside shed-sized buildings, one on each side of the field. The shooter must shoot from eight locations across the field. In 16-yard trap, the target is launched from a low concrete block building, or bunker, in the middle of the field. The launching machine oscillates from left to right across the field. Competitors shoot from five different positions behind the bunker and can see the target only after it emerges from the bunker. Sporting clays is the most difficult contest, as the targets can be launched from any angle into the air or even along the ground as a bouncing or rolling target. April 2017 More online at www.georgiamagazine.org It takes practice and skill to become a good shot and a lot of work to become a champion. Austin Taylor, of Lithia Springs, is a three-time state winner in 4-H shotgun competitions. Before he graduated from high school, Taylor, who shot with Douglas County 4-H, achieved the highest combined scores for skeet and trap shooting in 2011, 2012 and 2014 and came in second in 2013. He recently became certified as a shooting coach. Taylor says teamwork is an important component of Project S.A.F.E. In shooting competitions, he says, "it's about what we can do together." Another Paulding County shotgun coach at the practice is Terry Harper, of Dallas, whose 16-year-old daughter, Megan, has competed at the Rock Eagle 4-H Center near Eatonton and in Savannah. "[Project S.A.F.E.] gets them up off the couch and outside," he says. "About half of them here, before they did this, didn't know anything about guns or how they work. Most of these [kids] out here now are really dedicated." Denny Kuhr, a 20-year veteran shotgun coach from Peachtree City and one of three statewide S.A.F.E. instructors, trains other 4-H shooting coaches. "When we put on our coach's certification [training], we let them know, in the beginning, that our primary goal is youth development," he says. "A big part of that is developing skills that [the youths] will use throughout their lifetime. They learn how to handle disappointment, how to handle achievement, teamwork, responsibility. Things like that are crucial in life. We do that through our shooting sports program. "Learning to shoot safely is a must, but that's just a small part of it." Jim Jess is an associate editor at GEORGIA Magazine. For more information on Georgia 4-H's Project S.A.F.E. program, call (706) 542-4444 or visit georgia4h.org/safe. 25