Hamilton Reef
02-19-2005, 09:19 PM
Bently skeet shooting club gears for action
Fledging team eyes first competition
http://www.mlive.com/outdoors/fljournal/index.ssf?/base/sports-1/110865727338490.xml
BURTON, THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION, Thursday, February 17, 2005,
By David V. Graham, dgraham@flintjournal.com • 810.766.6306
BURTON - The Bentley School District has given its approval for a student skeet shooting club to compete in state and national competitions.
Organizers say they believe this is the first time in decades a Michigan school district has authorized a student shooting club, although it is common in the South, where some districts have varsity shooting teams.
Several youth shooting teams in the area are affiliated with local sportsmen's clubs, including the Genesee Sportsmen's Club and the Durand Sportsmen's Club.
Bentley's first competition is tentatively set for April 9 against Walled Lake Central High School and its middle school.
Fourteen Bentley middle school and high school students ranging in age from 12-17 are practicing Saturday mornings at Williams Gun Sight & Outfitters in Davison Township.
The students are being coached by Middle School Principal Folke A. Boman and parent Jeff Andersen, who came up with the idea in November and received school board approval in December.
"State organizers of the scholastic skeet shoot are really tickled about this (school club) because most school districts are afraid of the 'g' word," Andersen said, referring to guns.
Robert Ballard, chairman of the Tri-County Friends of the National Rifle Association, said he is pleased to hear about a local skeet club for students.
"I remember when nearly all rural school districts had school gun clubs, back when I was growing up in the 1940s," he said. "This is great because there has been so much negative publicity about guns, which is really unfair.
"So many people focus on the gun (in crime) when they should be focusing on the misuse of guns."
Boman will coach the middle school team, while Andersen will coach the high school team. Andersen's two youngest sons, Tom and Andy, are club members.
Both men are experienced target shooters and hunters.
Andersen and Boman said they don't anticipate much opposition from Bentley parents to the idea of a shooting club.
"This is a blue-collar school district with a lot of deer and duck hunters," Boman said. "I suspect we will see a more positive relationship with our parents in the future because they will see school officials don't have an anti-gun or anti-hunting attitude."
Boman said he tried four years ago to see if there was any interest in starting a network of Genesee County school districts interested in fielding club teams for interschool competitions.
He said there was a positive reaction from several athletic directors across the county, but he had to drop the idea when he became busy with his new job as the middle school principal.
Student members are required to provide their own shotguns and buy their own shells.
Team members are required to complete a hunter safety class before they can join the club.
No school funds are being used to support the club, and the students are not allowed to bring their shotguns onto school property, Boman said. He said gun safety is the club's first priority, and students who violate safety rules will be suspended from practice.
The students intend to compete in the Michigan Scholastic Clay Target competition in June at a skeet range in a yet-to-be announced location. In July, club shooters hope to compete in the national competition at the Detroit Gun Club in Walled Lake.
The middle school team consists of Tom Andersen, Josh Beam, Ryan Miller, Brittany and Samantha Pilarski, Jamie Reid, Matthew Savage and Tyler Whalen. On the high school team are Andy Andersen, D.J. Andritsis, Garrett Csirke, Ryan Evans, Michael Stemm and Mike Thorpe.
Brittany Pilarski, 13, an eighth-grader in the middle school, said she joined the club because she wants to become a better duck hunter, a sport she enjoys with her father.
"If I shoot 25 out of 25, my dad has promised me some kind of gift," she said.
Freshman Mike Stemm, 14, said he hopes to improve his pheasant hunting success ratio. "Skeet shooting is good practice for pheasant hunting," he said.
Jamie Reid, 13, said his mother was a little nervous about the shooting club idea at first, but his father changed her mind.
"He reminded her that's why I took a hunter safety class," said the eighth-grader.
Fledging team eyes first competition
http://www.mlive.com/outdoors/fljournal/index.ssf?/base/sports-1/110865727338490.xml
BURTON, THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION, Thursday, February 17, 2005,
By David V. Graham, dgraham@flintjournal.com • 810.766.6306
BURTON - The Bentley School District has given its approval for a student skeet shooting club to compete in state and national competitions.
Organizers say they believe this is the first time in decades a Michigan school district has authorized a student shooting club, although it is common in the South, where some districts have varsity shooting teams.
Several youth shooting teams in the area are affiliated with local sportsmen's clubs, including the Genesee Sportsmen's Club and the Durand Sportsmen's Club.
Bentley's first competition is tentatively set for April 9 against Walled Lake Central High School and its middle school.
Fourteen Bentley middle school and high school students ranging in age from 12-17 are practicing Saturday mornings at Williams Gun Sight & Outfitters in Davison Township.
The students are being coached by Middle School Principal Folke A. Boman and parent Jeff Andersen, who came up with the idea in November and received school board approval in December.
"State organizers of the scholastic skeet shoot are really tickled about this (school club) because most school districts are afraid of the 'g' word," Andersen said, referring to guns.
Robert Ballard, chairman of the Tri-County Friends of the National Rifle Association, said he is pleased to hear about a local skeet club for students.
"I remember when nearly all rural school districts had school gun clubs, back when I was growing up in the 1940s," he said. "This is great because there has been so much negative publicity about guns, which is really unfair.
"So many people focus on the gun (in crime) when they should be focusing on the misuse of guns."
Boman will coach the middle school team, while Andersen will coach the high school team. Andersen's two youngest sons, Tom and Andy, are club members.
Both men are experienced target shooters and hunters.
Andersen and Boman said they don't anticipate much opposition from Bentley parents to the idea of a shooting club.
"This is a blue-collar school district with a lot of deer and duck hunters," Boman said. "I suspect we will see a more positive relationship with our parents in the future because they will see school officials don't have an anti-gun or anti-hunting attitude."
Boman said he tried four years ago to see if there was any interest in starting a network of Genesee County school districts interested in fielding club teams for interschool competitions.
He said there was a positive reaction from several athletic directors across the county, but he had to drop the idea when he became busy with his new job as the middle school principal.
Student members are required to provide their own shotguns and buy their own shells.
Team members are required to complete a hunter safety class before they can join the club.
No school funds are being used to support the club, and the students are not allowed to bring their shotguns onto school property, Boman said. He said gun safety is the club's first priority, and students who violate safety rules will be suspended from practice.
The students intend to compete in the Michigan Scholastic Clay Target competition in June at a skeet range in a yet-to-be announced location. In July, club shooters hope to compete in the national competition at the Detroit Gun Club in Walled Lake.
The middle school team consists of Tom Andersen, Josh Beam, Ryan Miller, Brittany and Samantha Pilarski, Jamie Reid, Matthew Savage and Tyler Whalen. On the high school team are Andy Andersen, D.J. Andritsis, Garrett Csirke, Ryan Evans, Michael Stemm and Mike Thorpe.
Brittany Pilarski, 13, an eighth-grader in the middle school, said she joined the club because she wants to become a better duck hunter, a sport she enjoys with her father.
"If I shoot 25 out of 25, my dad has promised me some kind of gift," she said.
Freshman Mike Stemm, 14, said he hopes to improve his pheasant hunting success ratio. "Skeet shooting is good practice for pheasant hunting," he said.
Jamie Reid, 13, said his mother was a little nervous about the shooting club idea at first, but his father changed her mind.
"He reminded her that's why I took a hunter safety class," said the eighth-grader.