Too Much Of a Good Thing....

[Dave McCracken]

is a bad thing. Or maybe not.

Here's the deal. And we can use some help.

The Junior Shooter Program at PGC( My local range) has been ongoing for a while. It started with 5 kids, and has grown.

Boy, has it grown!

The program is on Saturday morns. The kids get 50 shells, use of a shotgun if they didn't bring one, and reasonable good instruction. Rental shotguns are Berettas, both autos and O/Us. Personal shotguns run strong on 20 gauge pumpguns, some of which actually fit the users.

Skeet, Trap or Sporting Clays?

Yes. All of them, though it's run heavy on SC stations while the trap and skeet ranges there are renovated.


The kids, Bless them, are from 10 to 17 years in age and vary as much in size. A couple of the pre-pubescents are pixies.

Bob Willard runs the show, and I help a little along with one of the Dads. His name is Gerry and deserves a medal. Bob deserves a marble statue in a public place.

At the present time, all new kids go through a one day Learn To Shoot class run by a certified NSCA Level II instructor, a nice guy named Rhys Arthur. That gets things started and then we get them.

Last week we started with 18 kids. Then, the management added five more, brand new from the LTS program.

We had split the group already, with Bob taking one group while Gerry and I the other. When the five showed up, they had an employee along to keep things safe. While a shooter, he's not an instructor.

We're unpaid, though there are benefits. The rush I get when observing 80 lbs of determination holding a bargain bin pump gun while watching where the clay will appear with the look of a good barn cat watching a hot mousehole is a very good feeling.

And seeing her powder a gnarly pair many adults would cuss over is as much fun as doing it myself.

Anyway, this is what I want to throw out for discussion.

Any of us have much experience with teaching kids to shoot?

How do we handle large groups?

Thanks.....

 

[Gunfighter123]

Hello Dave,
First off --- CONGRATS for getting involved with the kids. For a number of years , I was involved with a "youth shoot" under a grant from the NRA and one of our local gun clubs. Two to four times a year we would have between 40/80 kids.
They would be allowed to shoot .22 rifles, rimfire and pistol cal. autos and revolvers , shotguns , black powder and archery.
I always ran one of the handgun ranges as I felt that was where it could be the most danger for the kids.
After a hour indoor safety class , the kids would filter to the shooting ranges. I liked to line some of them up and ask them to look at the person on either side of them. Then I would put a Qt. can of tomato juice on a stand and shoot it with a .44 mag. ----- then I'd explain how that could be the person at their side if they got careless. A little dramatic but from the looks on the kids face , I knew my point was well made.
As to large groups , we had a RO for every two shooters , the RO would be between them both and watch for muzzle control etc. With the kids , I learned to joke with them a BUNCH . They already got a bad case of nerves and to be a hard asse just makes them worse.

 

[BullfrogKen]

I have experience working with groups. A little with the hunters-ed. Some with other new shooter events, but not kids. I have a few ideas, but probably ought to be discussed over a phone call.

Wanna talk?

 

[Dave McCracken]

Thanks, folks.

GF, my instruction style with kids is quite supportive, not the Parris Island DI imitation I used with Rookie COs back in the day.

These kids LOVE to shoot. And they're competitive, so little rivalries do happen and the pressure builds. We work to keep that down.

When a kid does poorly at a station, we say, "You'll get it next time" or "You just haven't learned to hit that one yet".

Each kid shooting has an adult behind them, within arm's reach. After a good station we high five or knuckle bump. Good hits are mentioned, lots of positive reinforcement.

Ken, check your PMs.

 

[redfireftr]

That sounds like a lot of fun. Thats awesome you are getting kids involved at a young age. That would have been something I would have been interested in if there was something like that around my parents house growing up. Congrats!

 

[Dave McCracken]

Thanks, Red. One thing to remember, some of these kids will be able to vote in the next presidential elections, darn near all of them the one after that.

Creating a thousand points of light one shell at a time....

 

[Fred Fuller]

Once again, Dave- good work! And many thanks for doing it. It's great to be able to work, and enjoy doing it.

lpl

 

[Dave McCracken]

Thanks, Lee. While it can be a hassle, I have as much fun as the kids do.

 

[mgregg85]

I wish I could shoot clays once a week.

 

[Larry Ashcraft]

I have as much fun as the kids do.

Yep. Worth every minute.

 

[Dave McCracken]

m, my days off tend to be conformed around clays. Fridays I shoot with the Geezers, Saturday I belong to the kids.

Larry, that's how it started with me. Pop, Mom, a pasture, some clays and a shotgun.

 

[Al Thompson]

Dave, what sort of stuff do you guys need? Anything we could send?

 

[Dave McCracken]

Thanks, Al. It's the measure of a man when he can think of others when in the middle of a war zone.

We need manpower when we do SC. Splitting up the kids helps keep things moving enough to keep their interest, but then we have trouble covering the bases.

 

[mswestfall]

Dave,

Out club started a Youth Rifle Program this past June. I am 1 of 6 of the founders/board members/instructors that run the program at our indoor range We have 22 Athletes signed up but have never had more than 9 show on a given Friday evening. We usually have 2-3 instructors and 5-7 Athletes. So we don't have the manpower issues.

We tried to set up the system to have built in succession planning. We started with 6 instructors, 5 member advisor's (wanted 6) and parents. We use the member advisor's to assist when necessary. They can also step up to take over if an instructor needs to be replaced. The parents run out for snacks and all but one stay with their children.

To your point... I think it is our succession plan that makes us successful. We always have member advisor's in the wings ready to step up. Currently we only allow children and grandchildren of members to participate. This is going to change around the beginning of 2009 when we allow non-member Athletes to participate. This will probably create the same problem you currently experience.

We also have a very active Range Safety Officer program at our club. We have 800 members and 72 certified RSO's. They and general members always step up to help with shooting programs. In October our Shotgun Range supported the third annual Cystic Fibrosis "Shoot for the Cure" event. We had 35 shooters and 15 member volunteers. (raised over $30,000 for CF).

So, succession planning and member volunteers are what make our programs work.

Hope this helps!

Mark

 

[Dave McCracken]

Thanks, Mark, there's food for thought there.