The McKenzie High School
girls trapshooting team was surprised to find themselves on
the back cover of the Scholastic Clay Target Program's
educational DVD.
A new wind is blowing across West Tennessee as refreshing
and down to earth as the country in which it breeds, as basic
as the Second Amendment rights that are the roots of its
existence.
Last year marked a first in McKenzie as Mayor Walter
Winchester and members of the City Council rewarded young
shooters with resolutions honoring their state and national
accomplishments in the first year of the Scholastic Clay
Target Program's existence in the town. The program is also
backed by area legislators including state senator and
sportsman Roy Herron and state Representative Mark Maddox,
according to Rider.
The West Tennessee SCTP has taken the region as well as the
nation by storm despite being new on the scene. Along with the
impressive records accumulated by teams in McKenzie and Henry
County, the program has won instant fame owing to McKenzie's
all-girl team. The blonde beauties, right down to coach and
high school teacher Paula Doster, have created a furor in the
field of guns sports, their intrigue a combination of
outdoorsy appeal and skill that has won them respect as well
as admiration. They're the only all-girl team in the nation,
according to Lance Rider, educational coordinator for the West
Tennessee TWRA and local and state program director for the
SCTP.
"They're so friendly and outgoing, they're first class young
ladies," he says. "Wherever we would go, other teams would
say, 'Look at those girls, aww, they're just old girls.' Not
after they got through shooting, though, they didn't. They can
hold their own."
The girls are featured on the back cover of a DVD explaining
the Scholastic Clay Target Program, information that can be
perused online at http://www.nssf.org/sctp.
They are also featured in the December 2004 edition of
"America's First Freedom", a publication of the National Rifle
Association, in an article entitled "Sharp Shooters" with a
cover-lead reading, "Tennessee High School Shooting Beauties".
They're on the cover of the September/October 2004 issue of
"West Tennessee Outdoors Magazine" and are featured in a story
in the September 2004 issue of "Tennessee Valley Outdoors".
"NSSF Reports", a regular report to members and associates of
the National Shooting Sports Foundation, took notice. "Talk
about a story with legs," it reads, regarding the tremendous
publicity generated by the girls' team and citing other
stories in "Gun Week", "Women & Guns", and numerous newspaper
articles in Tennessee and beyond. And, the girls' team will
soon be featured on the outdoor adventure television show,
"Tennessee's Wild Side."
"They're all taking it in stride; it hasn't gone to their
heads," says Rider.
During state competition, Meredith McKinney won the Senior
Ladies' Novice Division with a score of 181 of 200. Rachel
Chandler came in second at 155, Rachael Clark was fourth at
139, and Samantha Doster fifth at 139. Other members of the
high school girls' team were Brittani Bright and Amber King.
In the Junior Ladies' Novice Division, Elizabeth Russell won
top state honors with a score of 167 while Lacey Lane was
fourth at 132.
Among boys' teams, McKenzie Middle School No. 1 became state
champions in the Junior Novice division with Travis Russell
lead scorer, breaking 184 targets in 200 tries. Other members
of the team coached by Mark Anderson were Luke Anderson,
Andrew Doster, Alex Rider and Brandon Sellers. Other middle
school coaches are Dennis Sellers and Warren Hartz.
The McKenzie Middle School 2 team placed third in the Junior
Novice division with members Jake Johnson, John Johnson, Lacey
Lane, Austin McKinney and Elizabeth Russell. McKinney was top
shooter in the squad with a score of 184.
In the Senior Novice division, McKenzie High School placed
third. Team members were Michael King, Will Merrick, Harold
Russell, Kendall Smith and Carson Rider, who led the team,
breaking 193 of 200 targets.
The McKenzie program was one of five in an expanded pilot
program that last year also included Henry County, Milan,
Ripley, and Henderson County. While not an official sport of
the local school systems, Rider says the program garnered the
cooperation of principals and was buttressed by school
sponsors, who at McKenzie High School are Doster and Coach
Larry Joe Smith and at the middle school are Betty Highfil and
George Ognibene. In addition to McKenzie, programs for middle
school-aged children also debuted in Henry County, Ripley, and
Henderson County.
At the national championships in Vandalia, Ohio, in which
teams from 31 states competed, the Henry County High School
Eliminators, who had taken first place in the state
championships in June, received bronze medals and $100
scholarship savings bonds with a combined score of 1,052 out
of 1,125. In the Junior Novice Division, McKenzie Middle
School No. 1 earned a third-place finish with a combined score
of 1,018 out of 1,125. Members of the award winning McKenzie
team received bronze medals and $100 scholarship savings bonds
in their first year of shooting.
The original pilot program in Rutherford County, where trap
shooting is now a letter sport, started with 16 members and
this year boasts more than 1,000 shooters, says Rider of the
teams that represent their schools as varsity athletes.
Currently, Tennessee is the only state in the nation where
students can letter in trap shooting, he says.
In the new year, he continues, West Tennessee will add 24 new
communities to the program, among those Huntingdon, West
Carroll, Clarksburg, Dresden, Gleason, and Union City.
"It's one of the best programs I've been involved in since
Hunter's Education for youth development," says Rider. "It's a
team concept but it's really one-on-one--you and the
target--and that's it. It's sort of like golf: if you have a
bad day and shoot a bad round, there are four other teammates
who will hopefully pull you up."
The sport fills a comfortable niche for individuals who are
not necessarily the biggest, strongest or fastest among their
peers as well as for those who are. In fact, with no cuts and
no tryouts, the only limiting factors are attention to
academics--requiring that students maintain a 2.5 grade point
average--and the number of volunteer coaches involved locally,
with a one-to-ten ratio required to ensure safety.
"It's such a positive thing; these kids are held to such high
standards. Ninety percent of the kids are honor students,"
says Rider, who notes successful completion of the Hunter's
Education course is also required. He says the sport is among
the safest of any. "We have a safety officer on the range
while practicing and there is no horseplay during practice;
we're very safety conscious."
So popular has the program become that, coming into its second
year in McKenzie, Rider says, two weeks ago 52 middle school
students signed up and 12 at the high school level, where
participation is more likely to compete with after-school jobs
and other activities. That's in addition to the 20 shooters
already involved in the program.
"Eighty shooters in schools with a population of 600; that's a
pretty good percentage that want to be involved in it,"
marvels Rider.
The practice schedule is designed so as to not interfere with
school-sponsored sports such as football, basketball and
cheerleading. In fact, some participants leave traditional
sports practices and head for CABA Farms, just ten miles away
in Henry, where Rider has created a haven for teams.
Previously, shooters had to travel all the way to Lavinia,
adding at least an hour to their practice day.
On Rider's CABA Farms--named after his and wife Hollye's
children, Carson, Alex, Braxton, and Anders--the practice area
includes an elevated shooting deck, built like an
amphitheatre, from which the action can be viewed.
"This year we're going to build a club house for them," says
Rider.
The program has expanded into what he calls a "trapshooting
family" in which the kids work hard together while building
strong friendships.
"And parents, too," he adds. "It's hard for parents to be
involved in the football or basketball team but, in this, the
parents can get right in there and shoot along with them."
Four moms liked the sport so well that they bought shotguns
for their own use. And grandparents and other family members
have also become involved, he says. In fact, the McKenzie
teams have so great a following that, at shoots or practices,
there may be as many as two to three hundred followers.
"It looks like the Clampetts have come to town when we go to a
shoot," he laughs. "They all build lot of good friendships,
and there are so many opportunities created for them besides
shooting. There are so many avenues open to them--people they
meet, job opportunities--they're going to meet the who's who
in the shooting industry and they're having a good time doing
it."
In a neat twist, middle school shooter Lacey Lane has found
added fame as a published author at the age of 14. Her
articles have appeared in the December 2004/January 2005 issue
of "HunTeen" as well as the October 2004 edition of
"Sportsmen's Digest."
"The Scholastic Clay Target Program is getting started hot and
heavy across Tennessee," she writes in the "HunTeen" story.
"You don't really need to know a lot about the sport (to
join), you just have to want to shoot."
She also reveals that Rider is himself a former state champion
and lauds both his support and expertise in the sport that,
she writes, in one short season "made us quarter champs, state
champs and national champs."
Like many sports, one drawback to the sport is the expense
involved, though grants are available to help offset the
financial commitment, according to Rider. Last year, some
$2,000 per shooter was incurred, and amount Rider says is
similar to the $1,500 to $1,600 per student cost of the golf
team.
"We're trying to help offset expenses," he says, citing loaner
guns as one way to help.
And, he said, "the community has been outstanding, helping to
raise $15,000 for the national championship."
Because "you can only go to the well so many times," says
Rider, the teams last year worked hard with "chicken cooking"
and a lot of other fund raisers. But they found their pot of
goal in the "fun shoots" organized by parents Joe Neisler and
Bill Lane.
One weekend event, in fact, can bring in as much as 12 to 15
hundred dollars with entry fees per round as little as one to
five dollars. Each round has a prize, which could be a ham or
a duck hunting trip, for instance, with entry fees based on
the value of the prize. Individual rounds throughout the event
may be "mamas only", "kids only", and other categories, adding
fun and equity to the games.
The fun shoots, or "turkey shoots" as they are called by Joe
and Bill, have allowed the McKenzie SCTP to become a community
affair. The open trap shoots are planned as often as once per
month this year beginning in February.
"They have a ball, it's a big thing," says Rider.
Another lucrative fundraiser involves students operating as
official scorers in trap shooting competitions. They'll earn
$2,000 per day in the three-day Gamaliel Cup championship in
March and are also slated to work as scorers in the Ducks
Unlimited event in which they earned $4,000 last year.
With only two seniors, Amber King and Justin Taylor, leaving
the team after its first year, Rider says, "They're only going
to get better."
In a meeting held before Christmas, he says proudly, when he
asked if the teams wanted to advance to the next level, they
all said "yes." That commitment will place last season's teams
in the experienced division while newcomers will compete in
the novice division.
"It's a lot tougher, there's more competition," says Rider,
"but they're also eligible for scholarship money."
He said Rachael Clark, captain of the girls' team, has applied
for a "really nice scholarship." Lee Russell is captain of the
high school-level boys' team. With middle school top scorer
Travis Russell advancing to the high school level, Rider says,
"he's going to make a difference, too."
He ponders with pride the strides made by the hard working
students in their first season: "Nobody had ever shot at
registered targets before March last year. It takes a lot of
commitment, a lot of practice.
"They've shot a lot of trap," he continues, citing every-day
practice in the weeks before state competition. "From June
through November, we threw 51,000 targets. It's so rewarding
to see them--kids getting frustrated--to where they are now."
At their first shoot, he recalls, "Some students broke only
four or five targets out of 25--some shot none--but they
didn't give up, and now they're state champs."
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