Junior shooters

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ErnieJ

Guest
As discussed many times we are all concerned about the dwindling participation in our sport.Kent Owens(Blueridge/Wilkesboro) and myself(Alleghany/Sparta) decided yesterday
that all junior shooters(under 17) will only pay half price to participate in a match.We hope other range masters will join us in our attempt to encourage the younger generation to participate.Also this should lighten the financial burden on the youngsters parents/grandparents and create more incentive to include them in their sport.
 
Juniors at Wabash Wildlife and Sportsman's Association's ARA matches shoot for free. I haven't had a single one in a while. They're too interested in chasing girls, driving cars and playing video games. Darn shame. If I had it to do all over, I'd spend those Saturdays and Sundays at the match's with my dad.

John M. Carper
 
Thanks Kent and Ernie

I hope me and Joe can make it up your way for a match this summer.


Robert & Joe
 
When you give those young folks a break

You can hold on to the target fee. I wouldn't be too far out a limb to say I'm speaking for all rimfire organizations.
 
A differet way . . .

I suspect our club is doing better than average, when it comes to attracting Junior Shooters. We made some changes in our course of fire 7 years ago. We gave up on shooting sanctioned matches. We shoot the USBR target and even gave up on the USBR rules.

Last Sunday we had 20 shooters and 5 of them were Juniors. Over the last several years our Junior attendance has been close to 25%. How have we managed to do this?

We changed our course of fire in a way that allows the Juniors to shoot without making the Dad double, triple or quadtruple the cost of ammunition for the match. That could be like a miniature Obama hidden tax program, if you want the kids to shoot all summer.

As some of you know, our club uses the RFC rifle classification system. It allows the kids to shoot with a factory sporter rifle and with low cost ammuition. But some of our juniors also shoot our Unlimited class.

The KEY to our success with the Juniors is use of Re-Entry Matches. All our matches are Re-Entry. Each shooter is allowed to shoot up to 4 times in each class at each range (25 & 50 yards) We use each shooter's best score at each range. Dad can allow his little darling to shoot once, or twice, but the Junior is not required to shoot a whole course of 3, 4 or 5 targets.

Shooting in the Factory Sporter class everyone must shot low cost ammo: Nothing more expensive than Wolf Match Extra or SK Match.

To keep the cost down we don't give out trophies or plaques anymore. All the winners get are bragging rights. We charge $2.00 per target, and "everyone" gets a souvienir awards badge. We have raffles for shooting related prizes.

We have a few other "secrets" we use, that has increased our attendance. We average 2 to 3 times as many shooters at our matches as the average sanctioned match. We are willing to share what we have leaned, with any club willing to try being different

Joe Haller (Mr. Frosty)
 
Here at Air Capitol Gun Club we have never charged juniors for ARA. Other disciplines at our club either don't charge or charge 1/2 price. When grandpa brings his grandson or granddaughter, the cost of additional ammo is enough that to add the junior is a bunch to ask. For a six target match, the ammo for one runs $50, add a junior and that goes to over $100. Don't want grandpa leaving that junior at home. In past years juniors have been hit and miss. This year we have had two juniors at our matches. I still make a small profit for the club.
 
U. P. here at the north end of the 1-75 Inter-State Highway .

Don't want grandpa leaving that junior at home.[/QUOTE]

Last Sunday we had 20 shooters: 5 were Juniors. The kids pay the same match fees as everyone else. Two Bucks per target.

We gave everyone award badges, which were donated by one of the club members. The winners got bragging rights, but no plaques or trophies.

We made a profit for the club of $130.00. When you make money on your matches, you can make improvements on your range. This year we are putting $20,000 worth of improvements on our range.

Joe Haller (Mr. Frosty)
 
Joe very innovative real-world approach to getting kids involved. They may not swallow the bait like a Carp, but the exposure to precision shooting and competition is like a seed planted. Seymour Fish
 
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