The Next Generation of Competitive Shooters

Studentofthegun

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Want to read something encouraging about the next generation of competitive shooters? This thread is for you.

Some weeks back I discovered the (redacted)

I went to one of their events and observed 35-40 students shooting guns (many for the first time) at the Wake Country range in Holly Springs. I’d brought some pistols for them to try out and provided some ammo. They seemed to enjoy shooting my race guns. I had a conversation with their leadership and they weren’t sure they would be able to have another range trip this semester due to lack of funding. When I heard that, I thought to myself “Not if I can help it”.

The intial plan was to take 5 at a time to my local range. Maybe come up with a sign up sheet or something to eventually get them all out there so they could at least get another trip in this semester. Even if it would be in a smaller group.

Now, while all this is going on I’m also talking to Parrish Ketchmark (most know him as Parry) who runs SFE Shooters. He’s roped me into running a 2 gun Rimfire match on a monthly basis at Freedom Gun Club. The subject of the (redacted) comes up. And that’s when Parry got involved.

SFE stands for Safe, Fun, Educational. Their mission is to get people interested in various competitions. Parry runs a ton of matches and keeps adding more. It’s mind boggling to me that he’s able to keep up with all that.

Parry proposed that we use Freedom Gun Club and have a special event that introduces the students to all sorts of different competitions. So we planned to have a 2 gun Rimfire stage, Heroes over Terrorists stage (USPSA lite sort of), IDPA, a shotgun stage, rifle stage, and a Steel Challenge stage. This gave those students a sampling of different kinds of matches ao they could see what they’re all about.

So we gather volunteers and plan this thing out. Parry, the saint that he is, provided the vast majority of ammo out of his own pocket. Many of the volunteers bring loaner guns. And Freedom Gun Club let us have the event there for free because they also believed in the mission.

Believe it or not, 30 shooters showed up (they carpooled to get there) and as far as I can tell they had a really great time. We gave away some cheesy prizes too. The results are on Practiscore and you can see that Parry made multiple matches for each type of competition. Search for (redacted) and you’ll see them from last Sunday.

@parrishbrian deserves a lot of credit for pulling this off. He put in the most effort and funds to make this happen. He also brought a number of volunteers. I brought a few of my buddies and feel they should get lots of credit for taking a Sunday to spend time with these young people.

@Chilly636
@NKD
@Average Joe
@Slacker
Chris Moore
Jennie Moore
Paul Hancock
Stan Lee
Anthony (Raj)
Evan Lee
Darren Kirts

And Parry you’ll have to help me out on the rest. I definitely don’t want to leave anyone out. I also wasn’t sure about how to give credit to the owners of Freedom Gun Club by name.

Best news of all? I’ve already been contacted by a couple of students who want to sign up for future matches.

Folks can yell at the television. Wrote letters to elected officials. They can put a bumper sticker on their car. But the best way to encourage people and educate them about the shooting sports is to simply interact with them. And I don’t mean on Facebook. Sure, there’s a cost associated with it but I assure you it’s worth it.

I have to say I was very impressed with these students. They were polite, positive, asked questions, and were grateful for our efforts. And let me tell you, some of them might be new to firearms but we discovered some natural talent. It was quite impressive.

Take a kid to the range. I promise you’ll get as much out of it as they will.

Edit:
Pictures redacted.

(Some schools have been suspending students who have posted pictures of them at the range. As such, I’ve taken the precaution of removing the photos from public view. The name of the student organization has also been redacted)
 
Folks can yell at the television. Wrote letters to elected officials. They can put a bumper sticker on their car. But the best way to encourage people and educate them about the shooting sports is to simply interact with them. And I don’t mean on Facebook. Sure, there’s a cost associated with it but I assure you it’s worth it.

So. Much. This.

You can spew this $%&^ from your keyboard all day long, and it won't be make a hill o' beans of difference. Have an actual conversation with someone. Offer to take them shooting - and you pay for it. That's how change is made.

PS - I'm only a little salty you didn't ask me to help :p
 
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So. Much. This.

You can spew this $%&^ from your keyboard all day long, and it won't be make a hill o' beans of difference. Have an actual conversation with someone. Offer to take them shooting - and you pay for it. That's how change is made.

PS - I'm only a little salty you didn't ask me to help :p

That’s because I’m going to need your help else where. Now that we got so many of them fired up, I need you to lead a squad and let some of them use your equipment. :)
 
That’s because I’m going to need your help else where. Now that we got so many of them fired up, I need you to lead a squad and let some of them use your equipment. :)
I'll try to make as many of those matches as I can. We usually have plans Sunday night, so just depends on how long we end up shooting. Def be there for the first one though.
 
@Studentofthegun it was a honor to help out and thank you for asking me. I had so much fun watching their faces and hearing them cheer on each other at the 2 Gun Rimfire stage. I’m glad a lot of them are really interested now and I look forward to seeing them at upcoming matches.


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I have worked with those kids for years now. Love them! (So that was you @Studentofthegun?)

I truly hope to be able to work with them again.

Maybe so. Was that at the Wake County range a few weeks ago? I showed up with a couple rimfire pistols and an STI Edge. And the kids promptly shot up all the 9mm reloads I brought with me. ;)
 
@Sas quatch

Thanks for your help setting up and running the scattergun stage.
You and @NKD did most of the legwork!
I just stood around looking pretty in my shootie duds.
(Someone had to do it!)

;)

Actually, Sas quatch did most of the leg work! I just stood there loading shells. Thumb still sore, haha.
 
Student of the gun is way to kind. He convinced an army of friends to come help, friends also supplied ammo and guns, and we all worked our butts off. I'm still tired! But this is what it's about to me, and I expect the volunteers that came out to help; sharing a passion, having fun, and encouraging firearms proficiency. Huge thanks to Aaron and Eric at Patriot Shooting in Youngsville, whom also own Freedom Gun Club. Without their vision and willingness to allow us to do this, putting on a event like this at no charge to the young men and women that came out would have been more difficult. Can't thank you guys enough for having the willingness to pay it forward!
 
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