THE OLYMPICS / SHOOTING OVERSEAS

Lester L. Greevy, Jr

The primary mission of USA Shooting is to prepare our athletes to win
Olympic medals. Most of the activities of USA Shooting are geared either
directly or indirectly towards this end. 2004 is an Olympic year and the
thoughts of most International shooters involve participation in the
Olympic selection process.

For the shotgun disciplines, that process is a two-step procedure. There
is a Fall Selection Match in the September - October time period at the
Olympic Training Center, Fort Carson International Shooting Facility
near Colorado Springs and a Spring Selection Match in March at the U.S.
Army Shooting Team's, Fort Benning Facility.

Each match consists of 300 targets for both Trap and Double Trap and a
final round consisting of 25 targets for Trap and 50 targets for Double
Trap shot by the top six shooters determined by combined score. The
Spring final score is then added to the score from the 600 match targets
and the top 2 men and 1 woman finishers comprise the Olympic team in
that discipline.

To actually shoot in the Olympics, according to ISSF (International
Shooting Sports Federation) rules, one must have shot a Minimum
Qualifying Score (MQS) at least once during the four years preceding the
Olympics. This score for men is 112/125 in Trap and 118/150 in Double
Trap. For women, it is 58/75 for Trap and 87/120 in Double Trap. This
MQS must have been shot in ISSF competition which generally means it
must have been shot overseas, as there are few ISSF competitions in the
U.S. Without an MQS, you don't shoot in the Olympics, that is the rule.

There are several categories of ISSF sanctioned International Clay
Target Shootings. There is, of course, the Olympics held once every four
years. There are also World Championships. In the four year Olympic
cycle (called a quad), there will generally be two World Clay Target
Shooting Championships and one World Shooting Championship involving all
of the shooting disciplines. These matches are attended by the USA
Shooting Team and the team positions are determined by scores shot in
the Selection Matches announced for each of those shoots.

There are also World Cup competitions, generally four each year for men
and two for women. In 2004, the World Cups will be held in Sydney,
Australia (February/March) Cairo, Egypt (April), Athens, Greece (April)
and Americana, Brazil (May/June).

Where team selection for the Olympics and the World Championships are
based strictly on the score shot in Selection Matches, selection for
World Cups can be discretionary dependent upon the needs and goals of
the team. The size of the team is dependent upon the invitation issued
by the host country.

In order to travel overseas and shoot with the team, one must first
either qualify by score or selection and second, one must have shot a
performance standard score or average sometimes called a travel score.
These scores must be shot in the USA Shooting Nationals or the Selection
Matches or in certain other larger matches identified as Performance
Standard Matches.

In the past, if an athlete had qualified for say a World Championship,
but had not shot a performance standard score, he could travel with and
shoot for the team, but at his own expense. That is no longer the case
and performance standard score are required for each shooter traveling
with the team.

I was privileged to travel with the USA Shooting Team to the World Clay
Target Championships at Nicosia, Cyprus this September. It was a thrill.

The logistics were formidable. This was a large team and included three
men and women and three Junior men and women for each discipline, Trap,
Skeet, and Double Trap. That amounts to 35 shooters. (One Junior woman
shooter, Mimi Wilfong, (TX) shot both Trap and Double Trap).

The traveling group also included coaches, doctors, a massage therapist
and other team officials, as well as parents. By my count, 51 in all.
USA Shooting handled all of the arrangements, bringing everyone in from
the hinterlands to meet at Dulles International to board a plane
together to Frankfort, Germany, where we met a portion of the team that
had just competed in a World Cup at Lomato, Italy. We then all proceeded
to Larnaca, Cyprus.

International Clay Target Shooting is slow by American standards. The
men Trap shooters had one day of organized training and then shot only
125 targets over a three day span (50-50-25) and then the top six
shooters shot a final of 25 targets on the third day.

The Double Trap shooters had one day of organized training and then shot
150 targets and the top six also shot a final of 50 targets in one day.

At the Nicosia Gun Club, the Trap and Skeet fields are separate so both
events could proceed at the same time. But the Double Trap shooters had
to wait for Trap to be completed and did not shot until the last two
days of competition.

Cyprus is a small island, smaller than Rhode Island, but has at least 4
Bunker Clubs and the double trap shooters were able to get in practice
at another nearby bunker.

Cyprus is certainly a friendly place and easy to travel in. The money is
simple to count, the water drinkable, and the food excellent and
reasonably inexpensive. Everyone seemed to speak English and to
understand shotgunning and hunting, particularly rabbit hunting and
water fowling. Both seemed to be popular sports.

The USA Shooting Team did well. Glen Eller (TX) won the gold medal in
Double Trap and the men's team of Eller, Bill Keever (US Army), and Jeff
Holguin (CO) took the team gold. In Junior Men's Double Trap, Adam
Curtis (NV) won the bronze medal and the Junior Men's team of Curtis,
Josh Richmond (PA) and Dan Rich (GA) took team bronze.

The Junior Men's Trap Team of Sheldon Benge (TX), Matt Wallace (US Army)
and Wayne Romanski (CA) also took bronze.

I had never shot or coached overseas before. I had a lot to learn. There
is a lot of new, a lot of different, and a lot of distraction.
Conditioning a good American shooter to shoot up to potential overseas
takes time, years. It is expensive and resources must be carefully
allocated, but overseas competition is necessary "to prepare our
athletes to win Olympic medals".


I have just returned from the Fall Olympic Selection Match at Colorado
Springs. I can tell you that we have some very talented and determined
shooters vying for the two men's and one woman's Olympic Team positions
available for each discipline.

With the Spring Selection Shoot yet to go, the leaders are; in Trap, for
the men, Lance Bade and Brett Tagetmeyer, both resident athletes at the
USOTC are followed by Brett Erickson and a junior, Matt Wallace, both of
the US Army team at Fort Benning. Leading the women Trap shooters are
junior Collyn Luper (AL) and Joetta Dement (US Army) followed by junior
Amanda Dorman (CO) and Theresa DeWitt (US Army).

The Men's Double Trap leaders are Brett Erickson (US Army) and Glen
Eller (TX) followed by junior, Josh Richmond (PA) and Mike Herman (US
Air Force).

In Women's Double Trap, two time Olympic medalist Kim Roadie (CA) leads
Joetta Dement (US Army), Kelly Doll (VA) and junior Kirby Anderson (RI).

The competitions are very close and with 300 targets and a final yet to
shoot in March, no one can afford to let down.

One thing worth noticing is the strength of the Junior Shooters. Each
discipline has at least one Junior shooter in contention for an Olympic
Team slot. This speaks well for the Youth Development Program of USA
Shooting and the talents of our young men and women.