2004 NRA JUNIOR ADVANCED SHOTGUN CAMP

AUGUST 2004


Lester L. Greevy, Jr.

We had a great camp this year and great kids. They came from all over, from
Texas, Alaska, New York, New Jersey, Alabama, Virginia, Idaho and Pennsylvania
and could they shoot.

The camp I am talking about is the National Rifle Association Advanced Junior
Shotgun Camp. It is jointly sponsored by the NRA and the Youth Development
Shotgun Team and is supported by USA Shooting.

The purpose of the camp is to identify promising young American Trap and Skeet
shooters and introduce them to the Olympic Clay Target games of Trap, Double
Trap and Skeet and to prepare them for Junior Olympic Camp and Competition at
the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.

The camp is held at the North Mountain Sportsman's Association Range in Muncy
Valley, Pennsylvania typically Monday through Thursday during the third week in
January. This is an excellent location as North Mountain has both an Olympic
Bunker for Trap and Double Trap and an Olympic Skeet field.

Lloyd Woodhouse, the National Olympic coach, was head coach at the camp. His
executive officer was Assistant National Olympic coach B. J. McDaniels. There
isn't any better shotgun coaching in the country than this pair.

The price of the camp to the shooter is $285.00, which includes lodging and
meals, targets and shells, as well as range use, transportation and coaching.
The actual cost of operating the camp is closer to $750.00 per shooter. The
lower price is only possible through the generosity of several groups and
people.

White Flier donated two pallets of International targets for our use. They also
provided us 15 cases of their new prototype International targets (5 each of 3
different compositions). The new targets are intended to give more dramatic
breaks with more smoke than the current target. They also have a new paint job
which makes the target much more visible, especially in that transition stage
from trees to sky. Brian Skeuse and Tim Guinther of White Flier came to watch
the targets being shot and were very pleased as were the kids with both the
targets visibility and the very good breaks the targets gave at Trap and Skeet.

Kent Cartridge USA provided the ammunition with a large portion of it being
donated. This was their International load of 24 grams (about 7/8 oz.) of their
excellent diamond shot at 1350 fps in 9's for Skeet and 7-½'s for Trap. These
high speed 9's and the new White Flier targets combined to produce spectacular
smoke balls at Skeet with Smokey Breaks at Trap & Double Trap even on the second
shot.

Jim Black of Black's Wing and Clay sent each shooter a copy of his encyclopedic
shotgunner's guide.

Gerry Swanger from Beretta attended with 4 new DT 10 shotguns for the kids to
try along with promotional gifts. Of the promotional items, the Beretta blue
logo temporary tattoo was the big hit and on match day, every kid who shot a
Beretta and even some who didn't was wearing new Beretta body art.

Morgan Optical sent blinders and in the week prior to camp, at the Pennsylvania
State ATA Shoot, provided several of the campers with the new Randolf Ranger CMT
target lens. It really lights up the target, especially the new White Fliers.

Also at the Pennsylvania State Shoot Top Line ported several of the kid's guns.
Porting had just been made legal for International Trap and Double Trap last
year. The kids that I coach have used the Top Line system now for a year and
swear by its ability to reduce muzzle jump.

But the greatest benefactor of the camp is a gracious and wonderful lady from
Virginia named Laura Revitz. She also shoots a pretty mean shotgun having been
an International Skeet shooter in her youth. Through the NRA Foundation, Mrs.
Revitz pledged adequate funds to permanently endow this youth camp in the East
and in the future others around the country to teach young American shooters the
Olympic Clay Target games.

In her own words, "I decided to make a personal endowment commitment through the
Foundation with the understanding that it would be used for a program of my own
interest?youngsters and shotgunners. I wanted to find a way to encourage young
boys and girls who are interested in shotgun sports to try out for the US
Shooting Development Team. From past experience, I know how difficult it often
is to get the training necessary to achieve the ultimate goal of winning a Gold
medal in World competition on a USA Shooting Team."

This was a serious and substantial undertaking on Mrs. Revitz's part and was the
single act that made this camp possible. After that, working out the details
between my group, NRA and USA Shooting was easy.

As I said in the beginning, this was a great camp, our second, the goal at the
camp is to help young shooters establish an unshakable, positive, comfident
attitude. If we can do that, once we teach them the basics, most everything else
will take care of itself.

The kids shot about 1,000 rounds each and the camp ended with an International
Match in Trap, Double Trap, and Skeet held just the same way the matches are
held at the Olympic Training Center and overseas.

The high and second scoring shooter in each discipline will receive an
invitation to the Junior Olympic National Championships in Colorado Springs in
August. The matches were close, with shoot-offs in both Trap and Skeet.

In men's Skeet, Carlos Valdez, age 18, of Laredo, Texas took the Gold medal and
Charlie Zeigler, also 18, of Hanover, Pennsylvania, shot off with Matt Hughes,
15 years old from Anchorage, Alaska for Silver and Bronze with Zeigler, who
trains at North Mountain, taking the Silver. Desirae Edmunds, another Alaskan
took Women's Gold.

Karl Lander (age 15) of Rochester, New York, fresh from a Sub Junior open win in
the Pennsylvania State Singles match took the Gold in Trap, also in a shoot off
over Cameron Fiddes, age 14 of New Jersey. Both Karl and Cameron regularly
travel to the North Mountain Bunker to train. Blake Henniger (age 14) traveled
all the way from Idaho to win Bronze after a shoot off with Dustin Woehrmyer
(age 18) from New Bremen, Ohio. Sarah Hughes, age 15, of Anchorage took Women's
Gold.

Karl Lander also dominated Double Trap, shooting a very nice and consistent
score for Gold with Dustin Woehrmyer taking Silver and Pennsylvania's Sam Lutz
(age 16) winning Bronze.

The kids all shot well and they all learned a lot. Some had attended the Texas
camp at College Station the week prior and some will attend the US Olympic
Training Center Junior Olympic Camp in Colorado Springs in later July and early
August. But it became obvious that those who were able to train in the Olympic
disciplines scored better than those who did not, and this was so regardless of
age.

Camps, such as ours, the Texas camp and the JO camp are great to introduce youth
to the Olympic Clay Target games, but to really produce Olympic shooters more is
needed.

Bruce Matthews, formerly of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, a few years
ago identified the five elements necessary to recruit new participants into any
activity or sport, especially the shooting sports.

They are:

An enjoyable threshold experience. For many, the camps provide this experience.

A place to shoot. This is a hard one for Trap and Double Trap. Bunkers are
expensive, but Trap can be learned on a Wobble Trap and Double Trap needs only a
3-Trap Bunker 12 feet wide rather than the standard 62 foot 15-Trap Bunker.
Skeet is easier as it is shot on the same field as American Skeet. A detailed
instruction as to how to set a Wobble Trap for International targets (officially
named Automatic Trap) can be found on the web at
<http://www.internationalshotgun.com/>

Proper equipment. Standard Over/Under American Trap guns work just fine for Trap
and Double Trap and American Skeet Guns, Over/Under or gas operated, work just
fine for Skeet.

A mentor. USA Shooting is expanding its International Shotgun Coach program. For
more information, please contact Martin Edmondson, head of Youth Development, at
the Olympic Training Center, ph 719-866-4881.

Support from family, friends and community. This is the big one. The shotgun
sports are expensive and the Olympic disciplines are even more so than the
American ones. Commitment, absolute commitment, is required. Many choices will
have to be made, many of them will be difficult. For a young person to become an
elite shooter, absolute support from family, friends and community is required.

As I said, it was a great camp. It was a lot of work, but the satisfaction is
immense. I would like to thank all of those that put in so much effort to make
it all happen, including the young shooters on the Youth Development Team and
their parents. We couldn't do it without them.

We will begin to announce the 2005 NRA Junior Advanced Shotgun Camp about
January. Hopefully - same time - same place. If you have any questions, please
feel free to contact me.

Thanks all, Les