After five days of intensive instruction, CMP camp participants are on the firing line for a full dress "end-of-camp" competition. Some participants showed over a hundred point improvement from their scores on the first day of camp.

Sending the Kids to Camp--CMP Style

Last month, The First Shot visited a CMP Three Position Air Rifle Camp in Winchester, Virginia. Each year, the CMP sponsors a series of camps for juniors and their adult leaders in locations across the country. The camp showed some impressive results--from a baseline shoot on day one to the competition held on day five, participants demonstrated an average improvement of 30 points in a 600 point match.

In between shooting and one-on-one instruction, both shooters and adults received classroom instruction, much of which was led by Dr. Dan Durben, a member of the 1988 U. S. Olympic Shooting Team and the National Rifle Coach from 1994 through 2000. Durben is on the faculty at Black Hills State Univ. (SD).

Durben, who has been coaching and shooting for 20 years, has seen a number of changes in junior marksmanship over this period. He noted that "the biggest change is that there are so many more women involved in the sport." In fact, of the 48 teens registered for the camp, 15 were female. Furthermore, five of the nine assistant coaches at the camp were women. Durben attributed this shift to strong college shooting programs with a tradition of supporting female shooters, a growing number of female role models, and shooting being perceived as more of an "equal opportunity" sport.

On Tuesday, campers began arriving for registration. Admittedly, the accommodations were a little Spartan for the adults, but the teens appeared to love staying in a dormitory at Shenandoah University. As the on-site supervisor of the event (along with 2000 Olympian Jayme Dickman), Durben was prepared for youthful chaos, and was pleasantly surprised when university staff told him that the group was the best behaved bunch they had seen in quite some time. "Either they're really good, or they're getting better and better at me not knowing," said Durben.

Each morning, Durben met with adult advisors to discuss any issues from the day before. These short discussions would include coaching, facilities, seeing that the cafeteria at the university opened on time, and even coffee. "I forgot to get coffee for the coaches." The next day the coaches had coffee.

The university also provided the food service. Of note, watching teens eat can be an trying experience. During Saturday's lunch, Josh Reams had four plates of food in front of him, including three slices of pizza. "I've had pizza four straight days." That evening for dinner, the camp held--what else--a pizza party.

The week held a number of surprises. One of them was the apparent emergence of Dan Pearce, who had switched from a sporter to a precision air rifle just weeks before, and still lacked the standard attire. Coach Bob Inness and dad Fred Pearce had helped Daniel purchase a used jacket from the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, but they still didn't have the stiff canvas pants that most precision shooters wear. So Daniel wore blue jeans, which as Coach Inness noted, allowed him "to walk like a human being" (precision shooters tend to waddle around in what they call the "robot walk" because their pants intentionally restrict motion). In Sunday's competition, shooting with an unfamiliar air rifle and wearing his Navy jacket, Daniel Pearce scored a 550 to make the cut (the top eight) for the precision class final.

An early morning session with coach Dan.

A catnapping coach before the next round of shooting.

Camper Jennifer Deming during a weaker moment.

Camper Daniel Pearce with his "Navy" shooting jacket.

End-of-Camp Competition precision winners Jared Rinker, Matt Hanak and Emily Nash.

Winner's in the sporter competition: Jennifer Derning, LaToya Peters (displaying her amazing arm strength) and Marcus Anthony.