2019-10-13 Weekly Happenings
Hi Everyone!
I hope that each and every one of you enjoyed the first snow of the season. I also want to wish everyone a belated happy 10.9 day! This year's 10.9 day was especially celebratory for the team because the majority of the issues with the team having a coach and off-campus members at the range were worked out! With those issues being mostly resolved, we can finally kick off the 2019-2020 Rifle Season! I apologize for the length of this email, but this is the first edition of the season so there's a bit more information than usual.
Due to issues beyond the scope of this message, we are starting our season about a 1.5 months later than we normally would. This means a few things:
- If you're interested in joining but haven't because you think it's too late - there's still time, and now is a great time to join as you really didn't miss out on much.
- The first few weeks will be a rush to get everyone up to speed on competition.
We will need to cram about 2 months of instruction & practice into the next 2-3 weeks so that we can be ready for our first competition. The best way to help yourself get up to speed would be to show up on both Monday & Tuesday for 2-3 hours for the next few weeks. However don't feel like you are required to show up both days - you're not; it's just a suggestion. Regardless of how much practice you get in the next few weeks I guarantee that this will feel rushed (Because it will be), training will feel incomplete (It will be a cut down curriculum we will backfill later) and come time for the first competition you won't be performing as well as you think you should be. Don't let this intimidate you! Everyone needs to start somewhere and I promise you this: As long as you regularly show up to practice and put in an honest effort. You will see improvement and throughout the season you will improve. Most of the success you'll find in life is started by just showing up with a positive attitude. And while you might not get an award for the best overall score this season; our league also has awards for the most improved shooters.
For everyone new on the list a bit of housekeeping is in order.
- The "Rifle Team Weekly Happenings" email this is a weekly news brief intended on cutting down on the number of messages sent to the list by outlining what's going on with the team, deadlines, meetings, and most importantly - what we'll be working on at the range this week.
- If you have something to add to a news brief, please submit it to me (zdsimpso@mtu.edu) no later than 2100 EST.
- Detailed notices regarding upcoming competitions will be sent separately from these messages.
- When sending a message to the list, or responding to messages from the list please do the following:
- Know the difference between "reply" and "reply to all"
- Verify that you intend to send a message to our list.
- Verify that the scope of the message is rifle team related, cannot be put into the news brief, and that it is an appropriate message for the list.
- Advertisements, Jokes, Threatening & Abusive Content, and Political messages (rifle related or not) are NEVER appropriate.
- Wait 5 minutes.
- Double check the scope of the message and re-verify that the message needs to goto all 400+ people on our list and not just a few people.
- If it passes both of these checks, it can be sent to the list.
- This listserv is a google group. Please don't email the entire list asking to be removed. You'll be messaging 400+ people who have no ability to assist you. There's only 7 people who can remove you from this ist. 1 - Yourself. 2 - A member of the Executive Board. 3 - Coaching Staff.
To remove yourself from this list yourself simply goto http://groups.google.com, login, select this group, and click "Leave Group"
With that being said, let's get down to business.
For those of you who don't 10.9 day is - 10.9 day is a "holiday" celebrated by the Olympic shooting community (Clubs such as ours) and is celebrated on October 9th. The reason for celebration on October 9th is that a value of "10.9" is the highest possible score per bull on the international targets. It is part of a "perfect" shot; a mark of perfection, and a result of hard work. The purpose of 10.9 day is to recognize the pursuit of and achievement of that excellence; not just on the range but in our daily lives as well. But this day shouldn't just be celebrated on October 9th, or even just for shooting. It's purpose is to encourage everyone to "shoot for excellence in everything that you do." For more information, read a (slightly old) USA Shooting news article here -> http://www.usashooting.org/news/882
Items this week:- Homework Assignment (5min) - Please read this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thinking_(poem)#Poem
- We will be briefly discussing it at the range as part of a larger item that we'll start covering after our first postal competition at the end of the month.
- We will be properly introducing everyone to Air Rifle:
- Not to say that what you've been doing has been improper. I just want to go over it to make sure something wasn't missed.
- We will be working through the technical aspects of the position and some real basic skills.
- I can't stress enough the importance of Air Rifle. In the typical NCAA / NRA Collegiate competition, AirRifle is 50% of the total score; And the Standing Position is 2/3rds of the total score.
- My goal is that by the end of the week everyone will be sized up for a shooting jacket, and will have shot at least 20 shots Air Rifle while wearing the shooting jacket.
- For any team member whose completed Air Rifle with a shooting jacket, we will be covering Smallbore - Prone. For details on this see "Upcoming Items"
- The only way to do Smallbore - Prone this week is to show up and do Air Rifle on Monday, then Smallbore on Tuesday.
- If you are interested in joining and are unsure, come down to the range and try us out! It's never too late to start!
Upcoming Items:- Next week we will begin shooting Smallbore - Prone for any team member whose gotten to the point of shooting Air Rifle with a jacket a few times.
- We will be going over the position basics, slowly adding equipment, and by the end of the evening you'll be shooting prone with full equipment and a jacket.
- I know there will still be a few of you who won't be to the point of Air Rifle with a jacket and that's perfectly fine. Not everyone advances at the same pace and we can work on it until you get to that point.
- For Smallbore you will need to either bring your own .22LR ammunition, or you can purchase it from the team. We sell Federal 711b: 50 rounds for $2.50, and 500 rounds for $22.
- A note on ammunition if you do choose to bring your own: Please make sure that what you are bringing is a plain lead bullet (It does not have any type of jacketing), and check with me or a team range officer before using it in the team's rifles. Our rifles are manufactured for precision competition, and are designed quite differently from your standard plinking rifle. The wrong ammunition through them can quickly strip out the rifling, resulting in a very expensive trip back to Germany for repair.
- Because we purchase the ammunition we sell through special programs at extreme discounts; Any ammunition you purchased through the team must be stored in team storage and used exclusively for team related practice & competition.
- Failure to comply with this puts the club at risk of being disqualified from future discount purchase programs.
- At the moment this ammunition retails for about $35 per 500 rounds.
- We will be starting our first postal competition at the end of October or beginning of November. Look for more details in a separate email that will be sent out in the next few days.
- We will have a few travel opportunities coming up sometime in November & December. More details will be released when I finalize some plans with the other coaches.
Once again, I apologize for the length of this message. But there was a lot to cover. Thank you for your attention, and have a great week!
GO HUSKIES!
- Zach