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After five days of intensive
instruction, CMP camp participants are on the firing line for a full dress
"end-of-camp" competition. Some participants showed over a hundred point
improvement from their scores on the first day of camp.
Sending the Kids
to Camp--CMP Style
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Last
month, The First Shot visited a CMP Three Position Air Rifle Camp in Winchester,
Virginia. Each year, the CMP sponsors a series of camps for juniors and
their adult leaders in locations across the country. The camp showed some
impressive results--from a baseline shoot on day one to the competition
held on day five, participants demonstrated an average improvement of 30
points in a 600 point match.
In between shooting and one-on-one instruction, both shooters and adults
received classroom instruction, much of which was led by Dr. Dan Durben,
a member of the 1988 U. S. Olympic Shooting Team and the National Rifle
Coach from 1994 through 2000. Durben is on the faculty at Black Hills State
Univ. (SD).
Durben, who has been coaching and shooting for 20 years, has seen a number
of changes in junior marksmanship over this period. He noted that "the biggest
change is that there are so many more women involved in the sport." In fact,
of the 48 teens registered for the camp, 15 were female. Furthermore, five
of the nine assistant coaches at the camp were women. Durben attributed
this shift to strong college shooting programs with a tradition of supporting
female shooters, a growing number of female role models, and shooting being
perceived as more of an "equal opportunity" sport.
On Tuesday, campers began arriving for registration. Admittedly, the accommodations
were a little Spartan for the adults, but the teens appeared to love staying
in a dormitory at Shenandoah University. As the on-site supervisor of the
event (along with 2000 Olympian Jayme Dickman), Durben was prepared for
youthful chaos, and was pleasantly surprised when university staff told
him that the group was the best behaved bunch they had seen in quite some
time. "Either they're really good, or they're getting better and better
at me not knowing," said Durben.
Each morning, Durben met with adult advisors to discuss any issues from
the day before. These short discussions would include coaching, facilities,
seeing that the cafeteria at the university opened on time, and even coffee.
"I forgot to get coffee for the coaches." The next day the coaches had coffee.
The university also provided the food service. Of note, watching teens eat
can be an trying experience. During Saturday's lunch, Josh Reams had four
plates of food in front of him, including three slices of pizza. "I've had
pizza four straight days." That evening for dinner, the camp held--what
else--a pizza party.
The week held a number of surprises. One of them was the apparent emergence
of Dan Pearce, who had switched from a sporter to a precision air rifle
just weeks before, and still lacked the standard attire. Coach Bob Inness
and dad Fred Pearce had helped Daniel purchase a used jacket from the U.S.
Naval Academy at Annapolis, but they still didn't have the stiff canvas
pants that most precision shooters wear. So Daniel wore blue jeans, which
as Coach Inness noted, allowed him "to walk like a human being" (precision
shooters tend to waddle around in what they call the "robot walk" because
their pants intentionally restrict motion). In Sunday's competition, shooting
with an unfamiliar air rifle and wearing his Navy jacket, Daniel Pearce
scored a 550 to make the cut (the top eight) for the precision class final.
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An early morning session
with coach Dan.
A catnapping coach before
the next round of shooting.
Camper Jennifer Deming
during a weaker moment.
Camper
Daniel Pearce with his "Navy" shooting jacket. |
End-of-Camp Competition precision
winners Jared Rinker, Matt Hanak and Emily Nash. |
Winner's in the sporter
competition: Jennifer Derning, LaToya Peters (displaying her amazing arm
strength) and Marcus Anthony. |
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