3.13.2011

Being A BB Coach

Morning guys!  Ok, so not the typical post for me, but like I always say, I want you to know me......not just the artist me.  Because in the end, the real life stuff is what inspires the art.  So yesterday was my Birthday.  (Yipee!!)  A person only gets so many birthdays that fall on a Saturday.  Right?  Instead of spending the day pampering myself, or better yet, spending money at Scott's Flea market, I spent the day with this amazing little 11 year old boy:

Our county has a very active 4-H Program.  You may have heard of it and think it's ALL about livestock.  Not true.   The 4-H extension in our county runs a wonderful school program for 5th grade during school hours.  That's part of the project achievement program.  There is an entire other tier to 4-H though called "Special Interest Groups".  That's when the horse and pony club, the chicken club, the goat club, cattle club, etc....come into play.  Those groups are all run by volunteers.  Yep.  Parents.  In the fall William brought home a flyer for the 4-H BB Team tryouts.  Cool right?  We went to the information night and found out that Coweta has a HUGE sport shooting program and that kids have earned FULL college scholarships to places as far as West Point for their shooting.  WOW.  I know. So here's what we had to do to get on the team:
1-  6 week gun safety course
2-  6 weeks of practice target shooting with the Daisy BB gun 
3-  at the end of that we had to both take a written NRA gun safety test and William had to shoot the Daisy BB target board
4-  the scores were added for the 4 positions shooting (prone, standing, sitting and kneeling) and the test.  The top 15 kids in the group made the team.  I think 30 tried out? 
5-got the call we made the team and team practices started at Christmas  

Yesterday was our first match.  In shooting you have a shooter and a coach.  And the coach  for BB is a parent.  And since Billy's life during legislative session is a bit overwhelming I chose to be the parent.  I LOVE IT!  Basically I cock and load the gun, sight the gun and try to keep my comments to a minimum when he shoots outside the black.  I wanted to take pics during shooting but since no one else was didn't.  I'll have Mailey take some during practice this week so you can see how it all works.  Really cool.  The day started at 7am....with the written test at 8:30 (Yes, gun safety is important!), and shooting starting at 9:30.  With 150 shooters it took all day.  So during down time we literally all hung out in lawn chairs enjoying the beautiful day.  Somehow the time seemed to fly.  Our next match is the end of March.  Now that he's gotten a taste, he has a goal:  shoot a 350 to earn the award vest.  Since he shot a 329 we are not too far off.  I am such a proud BB MOM!!

Anyhoo....so how did you guys spend your Saturday?

4 comments:

Barbara said...

You are a wonderful Mom with wonderful children! We enjoyed spending your Birthday with you and our special grandson at such fun and interesting sporting event!
Love you,
Paw Paw and B

mama bleu said...

when our kids were young we spent a lot of time as team parents or event coordinators. investing that time in our kids is never wasted!!

yesterday i spent most of it doing a "mock up" of my booth for next weekend. getting nervous and excited at the same time.

i also made a print of my "lawn chair" watercolor sketch. it looks so much different with a frame around it!

Unknown said...

Oooo let me know when I can buy one!!

Alicia said...

This is so cool, I had no idea 4H offered this. By coincidence my husband helped my son shoot a BB gun for the first time this weekend, but his arms aren't quite long enough (he is six). We will have to look into this when he gets older. I think one can never have too many skills, the more diverse the better; you rock as a mom!

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