CMP Conducts Junior Air Rifle Clinic for American High Schools in Germany
Written by Sommer Wood, CMP Program Manager
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To accommodate the large clinic, a temporary range was set-up in the gym at Hohenfels HS. Participants were required to shoot the prone and kneeling positions on table in order to have the correct target heights in the makeshift range. |
The CMP Three-Position Junior Air Rifle Camp and Clinic programs are always expanding in attempts to reach more juniors across the country, but on 22-24 November 2008, this concept was taken to the extreme when CMP instructors Brad and Vicki Donoho traveled to Germany to work with American high school student-athletes stationed with their families on U.S. Military bases. This is the first time that the CMP has carried its camp program outside of the United States and only the second time that a CMP junior camp has been held outside of the lower 48 states.
Schools that participated in the clinic are part of the DoDDS-E (Department of Defense Dependant Schools-Europe). The athletes are Americans who attend high school on military bases where their families are stationed. The November clinic was held at Hohenfels High School located at Hohenfels US Army Training Area, 40 miles east of Nurnberg, Germany in the southeastern portion of the country.
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In the DoDDS-E Shooting Conference all competitors use pneumatic precision air rifles, which require the shooter to charge the rifle with a cocking lever for each shot. |
The rifle conference that the teams compete in is comprised of eight American high schools in Germany and one in Italy. Rifle is a varsity sport in DoDDS-E schools, although it is conducted through the JROTC departments at the respective schools. The competition season runs from mid-November through early February of each school year. Of the nine schools in the conference, five were able to attend the clinic.
The CMP clinic was formatted to help the teams jumpstart their 2008-09 season with a condensed version of the Three-Position Junior Air Rifle Camp curriculum. The 34 shooters in attendance split time between the classroom and the range where they covered topics such as building inner and outer shooting positions, shot process and qualities of a champion.
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Jessica Walloch of Hohenfels HS shot a 10 on her tie breaking shot to win the clinic match, she is being presented a medal by Hohenfels coach Bruce Andrews. Walloch qualified as an individual for the Army JROTC Service Championship, which will be held at Camp Perry, OH in February. |
The clinic concluded with a 3x10 practice match plus final, where multiple tiebreaker shots were needed to break a three-way tie for first. Jessica Walloch of Hohenfels High School shot a 10 on her tie breaking shot to win the clinic match. The extra finals training may come in handy for her in February when she travels to Camp Perry, Ohio to compete as an individual in the JROTC Army Service Championship. Patch High School, which also participated in the CMP clinic, qualified as a team for the JROTC Army Service Championships and will join Walloch at Camp Perry.
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Patch HS traveled from Heidelberg, Germany to attend the CMP Clinic. They where one of five schools that attended the clinic held for Department of Defense Dependent Schools-Europe at Hohenfels US Army Training area in Germany. In February, Patch HS will be traveling to Camp Perry, OH to shoot in the JROTC Army Service Championship. |
Coach Jack Wayne of Patch High School had this to say about the clinic, “You have no idea how much we appreciate having the Civilian Marksmanship Program conduct this shooting clinic at Hohenfels High School, Germany. The coaches and shooters had a great time and learned a great deal. Since the first time I came in contact with CMP in 2003, I have been extremely impressed with the organization. CMP has a very positive effect on our young shooters.”
To learn more about DoDDS-E schools visit, www.eu.dodea.edu. For more information about the CMP Summer Camps, or the JROTC Service Championships visit the CMP homepage at
www.odcmp.com.
