Jump to content

A little love for the Rifle team?


Zipsrifle

Recommended Posts

OK, I am the first one to shy away from additional spending, so I am not advocating more money spent right now....this is more of an observation. From the time I was on the team until now, there have been minimal upgrades for the rifle range. When I was there we had some repairs to stop water leaking into the range from the parking lot above, and we also got a new backstop. After I left they got new carriers and dividers, but I think that is about it. Newt has been able to at least keep the equipment near a level the top teams in the county have have, but that is just about it. I know we aren't a money sport, or even a sport people follow (except for us alum), but it seems that all the other teams are getting lounges and meeting rooms. Heck, the rifle team doesn't even have it's own dedicated facility! It is an academic facility first (Police Academy) and then the Rifle team gets the open slots. I can remember getting up at 4:00 AM to practice around the police academy schedule back in my day. I know that Newt and Brian have tried to get new facilities with all of the building going on in the past decade (Student Center, Field House, Football Stadium), but no luck. I hope that in the future, if there is another athletic facility expansion, or even a new academic building that the Rifle team gets some consideration. They have been steadily improving year after year and last year had an individual breakthrough with Jenna's National Championship. I understand that the team will get benefit from the new facilities, and the Athletic Dept has been great in working with the team to help them improve, but it would be nice to tack on an extra 3000 sq feet or so in the basement of the next new building for the team. P.S. Believe me, if I somehow come into a lot of money, this won't be an issue....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I might argue for the range first just cause it would help not only the team but also the poice academy and ROTC
Sorry, but the possibilitty of having a team National champion is more compelling than returning an individual nat'l champ. Also, from what I understand, the rifle coach is a local guy. He won't leave if we don't get better facilities soon.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

What would such facilities require?
The biggest hurdle is the number of firing points you want to include and what caliber you would want to allow. Can't remember how many are in Schrank...maybe 10? Obviously it would be concrete block or some other inpenetrable substance surrounding the range A walk in gun safe, probably climate controlled to minimze the chance of the chance of corrosion to the equipment.. The HVAC system needs to be really good to remove the smoke in the air from shooting. There are several variants of backstop you could use, and I imagine the caliber of gun you would shoot would dictate what you would need. You need target carriers and dividers. To really do it right, I believe they now have electronic scoring systems and I believe they automatically feed the targets so you don't need to shoot around your target. Obviously the more points you have, the more the cost is. Back in my day they some equipment you could hook up to your gun and track where your gun was moving before and after your shot. It was very accurate and could even pick up your heartbeat. I bet this is more advanced today and it would be really cool to have this available to each shooter every practice. I'm sure I'm missing a bunch of stuff....I haven't shot competitively in about 10 years.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The thing is, all Newt really needs is a skeleton of a building with the basics (plumbing, electricity, ventilation) in the dimensions he wants and he can get a few million from the NRA and other shooting groups to put the rest of the stuff in. Ideally, it would be two floors with an air range upstairs, and the down stairs smallbore range would be large enough to shoot 50m lengthwise and 50ft width wise. Of course all electronic targets complete with live feed scoreboards, a couple of changing rooms, a team lounge/kitchen, and a storage/gun room. With a range that size, UA could and would hold national and international shooting events. Newt has already proved he can host a national event when the NRA 3-p junior air rifle match was shot in the field house a couple years back....but Newt can't even get paid a full time coach's salary for his efforts, so I don't see anything happening soon.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...