ACCREDITED RIFLE COACH PROGRAM
Submitted By
Bob Edwards
In September 2006, two of our members, Mike
Ohlmann and I, went to
the United States
Army Marksmanship Training
Facility located
at Camp Perry, Port Clinton,
Ohio, for Advanced
Rifle Coach Training.
We were trained and certified as Appointed
Coaches for National Rifle Association Competitive
Shooting Teams, USA Shooting (Olympic) Shooting
Teams, and Civilian Marksmanship Program
Shooting Teams. There are less than 2200
such coaches in the World today. The Programs
National Director commented that we "were
the first SCI members known to participate
in the program in its fourteen year existence".
So to date our SCI Chapter is the first to
participate in formal shooting coach training.
Mike and I believe the
training we received,
and the resultant contacts
and relationships
with the premier shooting
organizations such
as the National Rifle Association,
and USA
Shooting, will create a
wide variety of opportunities
for our organization.
We can now greatly enhance
the existing training
we do for youth and beginners,
with vastly
improved techniques. We
are now, in some
cases, able to make our
CMP shooting events
NRA Sanctioned, meaning
the participants
are shooting for score,
and if the are NRA
members, they will receive
scorecards based
upon those shoots. Consequently
our youth
shooters can begin building
a shooting track
record that could aid them
in earning a place
on Collegiate Shooting
Teams.
We can now interact with
schools to create
rifle teams within the
local schools, with
long term goals of students
getting scholarships,
while creating a positive
image of the shooting
sports, and guns.
We are already talking
with Oldham County
Schools about a rim fire
team. We are working
with FFA and 4H groups
there who currently
have fantastic shooting
events, they just
don't have any that count
for official score,
and so they don't currently
have any lasting
benefit for the student
shooters. They also
suffered from a lack of
qualified and certified
coaches.
We are in touch with the
Jefferson County
Schools, where 12 schools
now have an ROTC
air rifle team in place.
We are trying to
determine if they can have
a rim fire team
and then how to facilitate
them.
We are also offering assistance
to them in
starting Air gun PISTOL
competitions. We
are likewise in contact
with the US Navy;
as they are trying to start
a series of teams
in the Jefferson County
and surrounding schools,
exploring ways to assist
them.
An important part of what
we wanted to accomplish
with becoming accredited,
and becoming affiliate
members of NRA and USA
Shooting, is our ability
to apply for grants to
fund these endeavors.
CMP committee member, Ivan
Schell is currently
using our qualifications
and what we learned
to apply for a number of
substantial grants.
Like all of our chapters
endeavors this training
and it's many benefits
exemplify our efforts
to be "first for Hunting"
and justify
our continued status as;
SCI chapter of the
year!
Kent Cooper, Mike Maddox, Rick Davis, Jim
Dicken, Mike Ohlmann
and Bob Edwards Walleye
Fishing with Megabytes
Charters
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And finally; as our chapter
is prone to do,
when the business was done,
we created a
fun outing. Since we were
already on beautiful,
"calm and sunny"
Lake Erie, members,
Kent Cooper, Mike Maddox,
Jim Dicken, and
Rick Davis drove up and
we spent the day
fishing for Walleye with
Megabytes Charters,
up the road in Vermillion
Bay.
We boated twenty-one nice walleye. The seas
grew and swelled to five foot, accompanied
by occasional rain by the time we reached
the fish, 14 miles off shore. In spite of
Mother Nature this was a great, fun way to
spend a day.
If you get the chance to go, it's advisable
to get your doctor to prescribe those seasick
patches that go behind your ear. From first
hand experience, you really, really want
to have them on hand!
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