2004 JUNIOR OLYMPIC NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS


NOVEMBER 2004


Lester L. Greevy, Jr.


The Junior Olympic National Clay Target Championships were held at the United
States Olympic Shooting Complex at Fort Carson near Colorado Springs, August 23
-29. The match was a little different then in the past years when it was
immediately preceded by the Junior Olympic Shooting Camp and room and board was
provided to the competitors at the Olympic Training Center by the U.S. Olympic
Committee. This year the match was conducted in the same fashion as the USA
Shooting National match and the Selection matches in that shooters had to
provide their own lodging and meals. That, however, did not reduce the number
of participants

61 Junior men and 8 Junior women shot Trap. Conditions were very difficult with
high and irregular winds and scores were not as high as last year. Max Jolliff
(TX) shot a very consistent match, only 2 targets off the J2 National record,
and held on in the final to win Gold by two targets over Brian Burrows (CA) and
Vincent Griffing (TX) for Bronze. Griffing is a co-holder of the J2 National
record.

Max has been shooting very well this year and in May traveled to Americana
Brazil to shoot in World Cup competition. He has worked hard and certainly
deserves the win.

All 3 of the top men shooters were in the J2 age group (15-17) as were 8 of the
top ten finishers. Five of the top ten were also from Texas. It is quite
apparent that there is some very successful recruiting and development of young
shooters going on especially in Texas. The College Station group has new Bunker
in operation and Steve Musser and the other coaches there continue to produce
shooters year after year.

In J2 competition, Richard Valdez and Calvin Smiley, both from Texas, won Gold
and Silver, Daniel Waite from Ohio took Bronze.

In the J3 age group (up to 15), Alex Ames (CO) got Gold, Blake Bragg (TX)
Silver, and Casey (Jake) Wallace (CA) won the Bronze medal.

In Women’s Trap, Amanda Dorman (CO) shot a beautiful final to win the Gold medal
in her last year of Junior Olympic Competition. Silver went to Emma Simpson
(GA) who convincingly demonstrated that she has recovered from a devastating
broken back suffered in a car accident just a year ago. Her local club in
Georgia is building a new bunker so watch for Emma to continue to improve.

The top J-2 shooter and Bronze medalist was Lynsey Arnold (PA) one of my
shooters and a converted Double Trap shooter. Lynsey had switched guns since
the National match in July. She had it fitted by Jack Concannon, the Maryland
gunsmith at the Grand American Handicap only about two weeks prior to the JO
shoot. It looks like Jack got it right.

The sweetheart of the match was Samantha Bragg (TX) age 10. It was her first
major competition and she stood right up there with the big girls and shot her
targets and shot them very well. She is going to have a great future in this
sport.

On competition day for Double Trap, the wind conditions were terrible. Winds
were high, gusting and irregular and the shooters could not find consistent hold
points. Target flight was unpredictable. There was no groove. That’s when
experience and proper technique came to the fore.

The Men’s National Championship went to Matt Drexler (MO) by seven targets over
Corey Sidorek (PA). Greg Patton (PA) made his first appearance on the podium
for the Bronze medal. In the Women’s Trap, Lynsey Arnold (PA) won Gold.

I am very proud of those four fine young shooters because I trained them. While
most International Shotgun Youth Programs shoot Trap as the primary game and
Double Trap only as an after thought. In the Youth Development Shotgun Team, we
train specifically for Double Trap and use some training techniques that are not
used by others. The results prove the program.

In the Men’s J2, Micah McMillan (GA) won the J2 Gold, Travis Iksic (WA) got
silver, and John Mullins (WA) took Bronze.

Young Texan Blake Bragg (Sam’s brother) took the J3 Gold.

In the Women’s Double Trap, 10 year old Samantha Bragg won Silver and Kara
Hellard took also of TX took Bronze.

I don’t know why Double Trap is not more popular. Because you only need 3 traps
rather than 15, the range costs are much less than a full bunker. In the Youth
Development Shotgun Team, we started our program on a 3 trap bunker. Matt
Drexler also trains on a three trap bunker. Matt incidently works for
Pro-matic, the trap manufacturer. He can really set up and tune traps.

Not only are Double Trap facilities easier and cheaper to build, there are a lot
fewer people to shoot through to get to the podium in National matches. Only 19
men shot the Double Trap match. That’s less than 1/3 the number that shot the
Trap competition.

If you really want to start an International Trap program, but can’t afford the
cost of a full bunker, you can use a 3 trap bunker with a wobble trap in the
center.

With that set up, you can qualify young shooters for the Junior Olympic
Competitions on the wobble trap (automatic trap) and you can train Double Trap.
It is the way my group started and it works.

The movement towards Youth Development seems to be reaching critical mass. In
late September I taught a course of 12 International Shotgun Coaches in
Tennessee where John Jackson is building a 3 trap bunker. In February, I’ll
teach a course of SCTP coaches in Ohio. They have a bunker available to them at
the Fairfield Sportsmen Club near Cincinnati.

Travis Jackson, in Georgia, is opening a new bunker near Atlanta. He too is
interested in Youth Development.

Especially with the potential for 2012 Olympics to be held in New York City and
I believe as a result of the limited but popular coverage of the Olympic Clay
Target Sports from Athens and the September USA Shooting clinic for SCTP Trap
shooters and coaches I think we are beginning to see a ground swell of support
for the game and an increase in new shooters and the coaching and the mentorship
and facilities needed to develop those new shooters. I believe it will continue
to grow.