Fort Benning, Georgia. The U. S. Army Accessions Command, which includes the U. S. Army Marksmanship Unit, announces the inauguration of a new national junior air rifle championship that is sponsored by the U. S. Army. The Army is actually taking over the sponsorship of a postal and national championship program that previously was sponsored by the National Guard Bureau. The program begins with a State Championship Postal competition that offers three-position air rifle sporter and precision standing events for school-age junior shooters. The match is open to teams and individuals representing any junior shooting team or club that wishes to enter. The culmination of the 2007 program will be a National Championship competition that will take place at the Army Marksmanship Unit ranges at Fort Benning in August.

The U. S. Army Junior Championship is open to all school-age juniors who will graduate from high school in 2007 or later. There are two classes of competition. Sporter class air rifle shooters will fire a 30-shot three-position event in the postal State Championship phase and the ten qualifying teams will fire two 3x20 events in the National Championship. Precision air rifle competitors will fire a 40-shot postal in the State Championship phase and the ten qualifying teams will fire two 40-shot courses in the national competition.

A poster produced especially for the new U. S. Army Junior Air Rifle Championship will be provided to every organization that enters the upcoming competition.

All clubs and teams that enter will receive a special U. S. Army poster featuring Army champion shooters. The poster is suitable for posting on the home ranges of participating organizations or it can be used to encourage new shooters to join these organizations. All teams and individuals that enter and fire the postal phase will be eligible to win state championship individual and team medallions; the number of awards will be based on the number of entries from each state.

The Army Championship is supported by the U. S. Army Marksmanship Unit, which will conduct the National Championship competition at Fort Benning in August. Members of the Army International Rifle Team will conduct a clinic and provide coaching for competitors during the training period that precedes the national competition. The CMP is also supporting the Championship by administering the postal competition and providing the results system for the national events. 

The national championship phase of the 2007 U. S. Army Junior Air Rifle Championship will be conducted at the Army Marksmanship Unit’s Pool Range. All teams and individuals that enter will fire the state championship postal phase on their home ranges.

The official match program and entry forms are now posted on the CMP web site at http://www.odcmp.com/3P/
Army_Jr_Championship.htm. To enter your team and receive targets to fire the State Championship postal phase as well as the Army Championship poster, all you need to do is review the program and submit the entry form at the end of the program. Mark the number of sporter 3-position and precision standing target sets that your team requires. Entry fees for this competition are now $5.00 per individual competitor; no additional fees are charged for team entries. In the postal phase, organizations may compete in both the sporter and precision events; individual shooters may also compete in both events in this competition. 

All junior clubs, JROTC units, 4-H clubs and other junior teams, as well as individual school-age junior air rifle shooters, are encouraged to enter the 2007 U. S. Army Junior Air Rifle Championship and compete in the State Championship postal phase where medallion awards will be given for top teams and individuals in each state. Teams and clubs may enter as many individual shooters as they wish; team scores will be determined by the top four scores for that team or club in each team event. 

Targets may be ordered any time between now and 23 February 2007. Targets must be fired and returned to the CMP for scoring postmarked not later than 16 March 2007. Ranked results will be posted on the CMP website as soon as targets are scored. After scores become final on 30 March 2007, the top ten state championship teams in each event will be invited to the U. S. Army National Junior Air Rifle Championship at Fort Benning on 8-11 August.

Go to http://www.odcmp.com/3P/Army_Jr_Championship.htm to view the program and obtain entry forms to enter your team.