The Eastern Junior Highpower Clinic and Championship took place at Camp Butner, North Carolina, on 22-27 June. Sixty-four junior highpower shooters attended this years’ clinic - doubling the number of juniors who attended in 2007.

For most of us, our adventure started at 4:30am on Sunday morning. A few had started their long drives to Camp Butner on Saturday. Ours was an 11-hour ride. Check in was very informal, stop at Camp Butner, find a bunk and get ready for the clinic and classroom instruction the next morning.

The group of 64 juniors was broken down into two groups for the first day of the clinic. The experienced shooters headed to the range and newer shooters broke into small groups with USMC instructors to work on fundamentals and shooting positions.

After a quick lunch, SSgt Aaron Bosch gave a class on wind reading and the range was smoked at 500, 300, 200 yards and in the pits. It proved very interesting to see the smoke at 500 yards going left and at the 300-yard line going right. The juniors learned a lot by examining the wind reading demonstration through their scopes.

After we finished on the range, it was back to the barracks area for a great meal from our cook John Mendyka. He can do wonders with his Volcano Grill. Our cook came through with an outstanding meal - spaghetti and all the trimmings.

On Tuesday, it was up with the sun and at the 200 yard line at 7:30am for Team Match day! The Billy Atkins Team Match is a two person team with coaches from the USMC Rifle Team and a few junior coaches. The teams are purposely selected to provide an experienced junior and a new junior to shoot together to enhance the learning process. Teams also select their team names. The Billy Atkins Team Match was won by the “Seeing Eye Dogs” with a 949-19x followed by the “Odd Couple” 933-10x and 3rd place went to “Ragin Cajun” 931-13x. A total of 32 teams shot with many personal bests being shot. The top ten teams and coaches received Billy C. Atkins Team Plaques.

A quick lunch on the range and it was on to the first 600 yard match. It was very hot by noon, but with a lot of ice water and Gatorade, all went well. The winner of this match was our Connecticut’s own - Lyndsey Nash with a score of 198-8x. It was different to see a marksman win a 600 match. The level of competition is starting to go up! Daniel Atkins (194-7X) and Jason Case (193-3X) also topped the 600 Yard Match results. Our meal this evening was venison, venison sausage, a little elk, hot dogs, hamburgers, salad and all the trimmings.

On Day 3, we started at the 200 yard line for the Bushmaster Trophy Match. It was 8:00am and hot already, two extra coolers of ice water and five more gallons of Billy Atkins Real Lemon-Lemonade. We have already been through about ten gallons of Lemon-Lemonade the last two days. If you have never had it, it’s hard to describe. You have to shake the cooler jug every few cups to move the lemon pieces blocking the spout. By the time we finished at the 200 yard line, the temperature was pushing 90 degrees and the competition was getting tougher. The 300 yard line moved along and so did the temperature pushing 100 degrees by the time we hit 600 yards.

The juniors were amazing, even with the heat the scores did not seem to drop. A 197-9X from Jason Case at 600 with a combined score of 779-32X was followed by William Long with a 779-24x. The Overall winner and High Junior in each NRA Classification earned Bushmaster Trophy Plaques. Again many personal bests were fired in this match. It was off to the Pizza Party sponsored by Bushmaster Firearms Inc. and a chance to hang out in the shade, something that the range seemed to lack.

Day 4 consisted of the EIC Match with no sighters. We met at 7:30am at the 200 yard line and again, it was hot already. The USMC Armorers, SSgt Kenneth Bain and Sgt Aaron Dearborn, were busy all week keeping the kids’ rifles working and making adjustments as needed. The heat and many rounds being shot are a real test for these rifles as well as the shooters. We are getting many scores in the 90’s starting today and even more in the rapid fires, competition levels are really there now! A total of 62 juniors (58 juniors eligible to receive EIC points) shot the match resulting in six legs for EIC points towards the Distinguished Rifleman Badge. The match winner was Jason Case with a 486-16x. The high Non-Distinguished shooter was Mark Nations with a 476-9x. Nations was awarded the 10 point leg, Steven Head (474-15X) and William Long (471-7X) both earned 8 point legs and Regan Bowers (470-10X), Pierre LeClair (468-5X) and Daniel Elliott (466-5X) earned 6 point legs. It was 99 degrees now and cooling a little. The USMC Rifle Team gave a class on firing the Infantry Trophy Match. Following the class, they put on a demonstration at the 600 yard line and then divided the juniors into two groups to get their 600 yard infantry trophy zeros for the match. After zeroing, it was off to the Pig Pickin’ at 5:30pm—long days as they all were. The pig pickin’ is put on by Ed and Patti Elliott. Their son, Daniel Elliott, attended the Clinic. Patti is also a member of the North Central NC Blue Star Mothers Chapter 7 http://www.ncbluestarmothers.org./. The Blue Star Mothers provided side dishes for the Pig Pickin’. It was a great meal and the Door Prize Drawing followed. Thanks to the many sponsors as every junior received a Door Prize. All junior names were put back into the hat for the Grand Door Prize, a Match Rifle donated by DPMS. The lucky winner was Dakota Haag.

Is the end in sight? Up with the sun and on the 600 yard line at 6:15am. It’s Infantry Trophy Day, due to the fact that most clubs represented did not have six members, the teams were pick up teams with coaches. This event is a highlight to most juniors, 600 yard Rapid Fire. WOW after the week of shooting you would be amazed at the number of hits at 600 yards in 50 seconds. I personally saw some with 16-14-12-10-9 hits, the match was won by the Georgia Precision ITT Team. It was then onto the awards ceremony, trophies and plaques were given out to recognize excellence in individual, team and categories. An interesting point, we had two twins, Regan and Zach Bowers, at the match that fired the same scores two days in a row, changing the lead only by the X count - final total for them overall was a 30 point difference.

Full results from the Eastern Junior Highpower Clinic and Championship can be viewed at http://clubs.odcmp.com/cgi-bin/report_matchResult.cgi?matchID=3131. Photos can be viewed at http://www.odcmp.com/Photos/08/EJrHPClinic/index.htm. Dates for the 2009 Eastern Junior Highpower Clinic and Championship are 21-26 June. Junior Highpower shooters and coaches are encouraged to mark their calendars and plan to attend this week long clinic.

 

Connecticut Clinic Experience By Brad Palmer The CSRRA had six juniors attend the clinics and championships this year. They were Ryan Castonguay, Lyndsey Nash, Dakota Haag, Mark Orzechowski, Tyler Plude and Brian Haynes. It was the first year for Dakota, Brian and Tyler. The high point of the Connecticut Juniors was Lyndsey winning a 600 yard match with a 198-8x. We also had three adults who were not parents make the trip, John Kallenbach and myself were coaches and drivers, John Mendyka was the cook, who I must say can perform miracles with his “Volcano Charcoal Grill”. It was the best outdoor cooked food I have had in a long time. He acted as cook for all the juniors and support people for four days—outstanding job!! The USMC Rifle Team did the instruction and most of the coaching and the USMC armorers van was also there to keep all the rifles up and running—no major problems but a lot of small stuff. They also did an outstanding job!! This was the first year the gas cost more than the 400 rounds or so the kids shot. The juniors did well and learned a lot and got a chance to make it work. We were on the range at 7am and finished about 5:00pm everyday in 90-100 degree temperatures—no rain. A seventh CT junior was at the clinics and she decided to shoot on Friday even though she says she is not a shooter. Justine gave it a try and did well at 600 yards on Friday wishing she had found a rifle to fit her earlier in the week. A new shooter for next year I think. The trip proved to be a great success and the kids finished the days smiling having learned a lot. I watched there scores come up every day. I can sum up the clinic as “a very rewarding experience for all.”

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