I am embarking on a very new expedition.
I am becoming an assistant coach for my old high school rifle team.
The rifle team at my Alma mater is more than just a sport to me, it’s a family dynasty. My mom is the head coach of the team and has built up a great program in the last 7 years. We started the team my freshman year of high school when my friends and I noticed that there was a spot for .22 caliber indoor rifle on the sport physical form. We were all involved in 4-H during middle school, shooting air rifles and pistols at the local indoor range, so it just seemed like the natural thing to do. We had a lot of parental support, and slowly we learned by trial and error how to run the team the best way possible. Now we’ve got it down to a science.
For a quick overview of the sport, here’s the basics: Rifle is a co-ed sport. Ten shooters make up a team, and all ten shoot one target (ten bulleyes, with 1 shot in each bull, along with a “sighter” bull that helps you get your sights aligned and doesn’t count for record). The students have 15 minutes to complete 10 record shots and as many sighters as they want. Each bulleye is worth from 5 to 10 points, increasing in point value as the rings get smaller. The ten ring is about the size of a pencil eraser and a perfect score is 100. We shoot at an indoor range in the prone (lying down) position at a target 50 feet away.  We also have a lot of gear and equipment, and rather than explain all that I’ll just say it looks like this.

When I started shooting as a freshman the scores on our team were awful. Scores of 98-100 are generally the only ones that will win matches, it’s definitely a sport of perfectionism. That first year it took us until January (practice begins in November) to get anyone to shoot a hundred. Now we have kids shooting 100’s during the first two weeks of tryouts. Really, as a team we’ve come a long way. We’re the youngest team in the school and probably have one of the best records. We’ve won districts every year except 1 since we’ve been eligible to compete and have made it to states as a team as individual shooters numerous times. Twice we’ve had the top shooter in the league.

I have a lot of pride in the team, it’s something I helped create, that I’ve watched grow. However, it’s going to be difficult for me to change gears from shooter to coach. And even more difficult to reach the right balance of tenacity and kindness. I have high expectations for the team because I know what they can achieve. My senior year I shot a perfect season, not dropping a single point over 10 regular season matches, (that means I shot 100 every single time, for you number freaks), and because of which, I hold a  school and league record that has yet to be broken. In fact, that year I was 2nd in the state by less than 1 point.

Making the transition from doing to instructing will be hard for me. I’ve always been on the shooting line, not behind the scope. Coaches in riflery function as the shooters eyes. We have to instruct the shooter where the shot went and we have to decide when to adjust their sights and when to tell them to move on to their record shots. It requires a lot of knowledge about the individual shooters and their equipment, some kids may always take 5 sighter shots, while other may only want 2 or 3 at the most. Some rifle sights take 2 “clicks” to move from the 9 ring to the 10 ring, others may take 10 clicks. It’s a lot of information to figure out and remember. And it’s stressful. Couple that with the fact that I’ll also be coaching my younger brother, and well, it’ll make for an interesting season.
We’ll start matches in December, and I’ll be posting the progress of the team as we go.
Keep checking back for more of my adventures in coaching!