Junior Shooters

Posted by Junior Shooters

By Rob Larson

When I applied for this competition, I had no idea what it would become.

Our normal Skeet competition here in Tucson usually has about 12 to 18 competitors from all around Arizona, but mostly from Tucson, Sierra Vista and Yuma.

I started to receive commitments to attend from all the usual athletes, Matt O. & Matt L. from Sierra Vista, Wes and Brad B., John G., Cody and Kaycee M. from Yuma, Josh H., Clay H. and Jacob R. from Tucson. Then something happened, Jill H. and Chase H. both tired of just watching their brothers shoot decided to enter, “Great” I thought we might be starting a trend here.                                                                               (Kaycee McNutt)

(left to Right – John, Rob, Gene, Matt L, Matt O, Kaycee, Peter, Wes, Kim Rhode, Brad, Chase, Jill, Josh, Cody , Clay)

Then I received a phone call one night after leaving range from a gentleman who called himself Richard Rhode. Mr Rhode said his daughter was thinking about coming to our little competition. He didn’t have to say who his daughter was, because I know there is only one Rhode in USA Shooting and that is Kim Rhode. My heart fluttered and the doubts started to come up “could I throw a shoot that was worthy of someone like Kim”. Well, I guess all I could do was try to do my best. Then a couple of days later I received another call, the man identified himself as Dan Reeves I joked and said “like the football coach” But I knew who Dan was from reading about the sport in the 80’s and 90’s when Dan was a member of the National team, I was also told that if I ever wanted a good coach to come to Tucson for a clinic Dan Reeves would be a very good choice.   (Cody McNutt Left)

Anyhow Dan said he had a student (Peter K.) that would like to compete but this young man had never competed before and in fact had only been shooting since September. I told Dan that there were going to be several athletes shooting their first match and Peter would be more than welcome to attend.

Kim, her husband Mike and Kim’s parents along with Dan Reeves and Peter showed up about 4pm on Thursday afternoon, I was able to open a field and they ended up shooting quite a few targets before they decided they had better check in to their hotel and get something to eat, But before they left a strange thing happened.

 
(Kim Rhode, Matt L and Matt’s sister)

(Brad, Cody, Matt L., Kim Rhode, Kaycee, unidentified,  Clay)

Now I don’t know if all Four Time Olympic Medal winners pick up their own hulls, but I do know that Kim Rhode does and not only that, after the field was cleaned, she went to a motor home where an retired couple that was staying there for the Spring Grand and offered them the “Once Fired Winchester AA Hulls”. Needless to say she only had to ask once. (I think Kim made a friend for life of that couple)

The next day Kim and Peter were able to train while I was at my real job and by that afternoon when I made it back to the range they were gone. But sitting on a bench was another box of double A’s waiting for someone who needed them.

We held an unofficial practice Friday afternoon and evening and a young man who is shooting with our local SCTP club saw what was happening and asked if he could try a round. Gene K. broke a 14 in his first round of Olympic Skeet and he was hooked.

Gene entered the competition on Saturday morning. So now I have four competitors who have never shot in a USA Shooting International Skeet Competition.
(Rob Larson, Chase)

The next morning before the match, we held a short competitors meeting and introduced the new shooters to everyone else. I asked Kim if she had any advice for the athletes.

Kim smiled and said “Shoot in as many competitions as you can, don’t worry about the scores until the end of the match, have fun and most important Never Give Up” I am sure I have said those things 100 times to our athletes , but I am also sure that coming from Kim it meant a whole lot more.

Well the match on Saturday went well and I was surprised at the scores from two of our newcomers, Peter was tied for second place overall with Matt L. (Of course Kim was in first place. But she had already asked to be excluded from any medal consideration, because she did not want to take a medal from a youth) and Gene was also in the running for a medal in the J2 division.  (Kaycee McNutt Left)

We had a potluck dinner on Saturday night and Kim, Mike and her parents came. (Dan wasn’t feeling too well it seems he had just had a hip replaced a few weeks before – The man is tough)

Once again Kim and her family spent time with all of us and helped us with advice on everything from fund raising to coaching our youth. Kim also was able to find some very old books at an antique store that she was very proud of.

Sunday rolled around and it was a great day, the weather was warm, there was no wind and it wasn’t too long before targets were hitting the ground in pieces (Or just big ink dots in the sky in Kim’s case)                                      (Peter K.) 

				1ST	2ND	3RD	4TH	5TH	125
Pos	Last	First							Total
1	Rhode	Kim	Open	25	23	24	21	24	117
2	Lainhart	Matt	age 19	20	20	21	22	21	104
3	Kronish	Peter	age 16	21	21	19	20	19	100
4	Ojerio	Matt	age 20	17	19	16	25	19	96
5	McNutt	Cody	age 18	14	21	22	20	18	95
6	Gross	John	senior	17	17	19	17	19	89
7	Knepper	Gene	age15	15	14	18	15	17	79
8	Burch	Wes	Open	15	16	14	17	12	74
9	Burch	Brad	age 15	10	17	12	17	17	73
10	Hawes	Josh	age15	11	15	14	13	17	70
11	Roussard	Jacob	age 16	15	15	13	11	11	65
12	Hernandez	Clay	age 15	15	11	13	8	13	60
13	McNutt	Kaycee	age 15	12	7	10	7	11	47
14	Hernandez	Chase	age 13	7	10	7	10	11	45
15	Hawes	Jill	age 14	5	4	8	8	6	31

It seemed that everyone at the range knew that Kim was shooting and it wasn’t long before we had quite a crowd, Kim handled it great and seemed to always have time to talk to someone or answer a question between her rounds and her flanking duties (Yes she did flank also) Kim’s husband Mike and I talked (we both work in the air conditioning trade) and her parents seemed to get cornered by someone almost every time they turned around. But they were gracious enough to put up with all the hoopla.

After the award ceremony Kim once again could be found signing autographs and giving advice to our young shooters and then came the time that they had to go (it’s a long drive back to California) They said goodbye to everyone and off they went with a promise to return as often as time would permit.  (Matt Lainhart)

I am sure that there are 13 USA Shooting athletes here in Arizona who will long remember the weekend they spent shooting with Kim Rhode, I know I will.

I would also like to thank Kim, Mike and her Parents along with Dan Reeves and Peter for not only showing up to compete at our little competition, But also for showing us that no matter who you are or what you have accomplished in life, you can still be Gracious, Humble, and Kind.

Thank You Kim.

              (Clay Hernandez )

( unidentified & Kim Rhode four time Olympian on right)

Kim Rhode won her first Olympic gold medal in Atlanta in 1996 just two days after turning 17. Since that time, Kim has added a bronze medal in Sydney in 2000, another gold medal in Athens in 2004 and a silver medal in Beijing in 2008. Kim is now attempting to become the first individual Olympian in U.S. history to earn an Olympic medal in five consecutive Olympic Games. Rhode recently qualified for the 2010 USA Shooting Team and with her first 2010 World Cup win, she has begun accumulating points for the right to represent the U.S. in London in 2012

Tucson Trap & Skeet Club: www.tucsontrapandskeet.com

Copyright & Published Junior Shooters & Junior Sports Magazines Inc. Feb 2010

Categories: Clubs & Teams, Events, Shotgun Sports
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