The East Texas wind blows against her face. Dead silence. It’s just her and a target. Her palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy. She takes a deep breath and lifts the scope to her eye. Time slows down. One last exhale and she squeezes the trigger and time stops. The bullet moves in slow motion. She blinks and it disappears. Instead, there is a black hole in the middle of the target. She hit a bullseye winning the shooting competition.
Juniors Jaycob Kenny and Elizabeth Stone, and freshman Austin Stone are involved in a shooting club run by 4H, a youth development organization located in areas such as Dallas and Terrell. They compete throughout the year and apply the skills that they learn from 4H in their competitive shooting.
“I found shooting really fun at a young age, and one thing my father has told me is that girls can typically be better shooters,” Elizabeth Stone said. “[And] he knows that I can knock out all the other guys so that is something that stuck with me for a while.”
Competitive shooting is a sport where that involves shooting for accuracy. There are different kinds of guns and different distances.
“It’s just a fun thing to do,” Austin Stone said. “You’re trying to get the best score you can possibly can by hitting the middle of the target as close as you can.”
Kenny and the Stones have been shooting competitively for a year now. They both learned about 4-H from family and friends.
“We have some friends who were a part of the organization who are really good friends with our family,” Elizabeth said. “We started shooting with them. We went out there a few times and then we got a little more immersed into it and started to enjoy the competitive aspect of it.”
Anyone can join 4-H if they are interested. There are opportunities in Terrell and Dallas for people looking to join.
“There are a lot of places in the East Texas area to compete and practice,” Austin said. “I’ve always enjoyed doing and it’s a good experience on taking it to another level competitively shoot for accuracy it’s just also a lot of fun whether you’re doing good or not.”
Shooting competitively is a way to use all your senses and focus on one thing. The one thing is the target and hitting it as close to the middle as possible.
“It’s just a lot of fun, there are so many things to just focus on,” Austin said. “There are so many things to think about and control its just a really good feeling when you get a good shot in and you got everything under control and how you want it.”
