Mood:  happy

Some of you may not know it, but our family is very involved in shooting sports. In particular competition BB gun shooting. Competition BB guns aren't your run of the mill BB guns that you buy at Wal-Mart ~ they cost $100 or more ~ and, you don't shoot at tin cans, you shoot at competition targets. You may think that shooting BB guns competitively is nothing big, but many of the Olympic shooters began their career by shooting BB guns.

We are very fortunate to have one of the top teams, the Bend of the River Possums just miles from our home. Yes, I said "Possums", but they are nothing to shake a stick at. The team is regularly ranked in the top 20 in the nation and have produced some fine shooters. Just last year one of our shooters was 4th nationally in the sitting position and a few years ago another one of our shooters won a gold medal at the nationals. John Allen has gone to nationals twice and is on par to go again this year as one of the top shooters on the team.

When you shoot competitively you shoot four positions, prone (on your stomach), sitting, kneeling and standing. You also have a test that you take on rules, guns, ammunition and gun safety. You can get up to 100 points for each position and the test, so a perfect score would be 500. As far as I know, no one in the history of BB gun shooting has scored a perfect 500 at nationals. Last year's all around winner won with a 486.

Well, the first practice for the possums was last Saturday. We will be practicing every Saturday from now until the pre-state and state match in April, and then the shooters that are selected to go to nationals will continue shooting practicing until the competition in July in Rogers, Arkansas. Of course, since we homeschool, we are able to go for extra practice during the week. Our goal this year is to practice on Monday and Wednesdays and, of course on Saturdays. This is John Allen's last year of shooting BB's so we are working hard to go out with a bang. Next year he will be moving up to air rifle but Joshua will continue shooting BB's with Jacob joining him in a couple of years. Below are some pictures of our first practice. If you want to know more about Competition BB shooting, click here.  

Subscribe to Families Again