* PICTURES ADDED *
Area clubs aim to put their sport in the hands of more women, too
(September 16, 2007) — WATERLOO, N.Y. — The steel targets 40 yards away started out as large as a sheet of legal notebook paper and got as small as an orange.
Squeezing my left eye shut, controlling my breathing, concentrating as if I were a diamond cutter, I focus the targets through the small scope mounted on the handsome Ruger 10/22 carbine I've been handed.
I aim and slowly squeeze the trigger. Moving left to right, one by one, all 10 targets fall.
"That's a nice piece of shooting," says Don Valerio, president of the Waterloo Rifle and Pistol Club, who is graciously — and proudly — showing me around his club's unique range built snug and safe inside the pit of an abandoned limestone quarry.
It had been years since I had gone "plinking," that sport as American as apple pie and baseball.
As a kid, we'd spend Saturday mornings knocking down cans or piercing water-filled milk containers placed on logs in a farmer's field. When dad had the time, he'd drive us to the local garbage dump, back when there was no such thing as sanitary landfills, and we'd take our turns sighting in the cat-sized rats.
Yeah, it was gratifying dusting off those shooting skills.
It was also nice seeing that the pleasures of watching a silhouette of a turkey fall or placing five shots inside the tiny black circle of a paper target are being enthusiastically practiced at gun clubs across the area that always have the welcome mat out.
The men and women who protect the Second Amendment, "the right of the people to keep and bear arms."
Away from the glorified violence of television and movies, gun clubs present all that's good about gun ownership — the variety of shooting sports which stress safety, discipline, safety, skill, safety, and camaraderie.
Did we mention safety?
In the seven decades the Waterloo Rifle and Pistol Club has been in existence, there's never been a firearms accident. Every club in the area can make similar claims, and hunting accidents have been on the decline for years thanks to educational courses sponsored by such advocacy groups as the National Rifle Association.
"Nobody hears about the retired dentist, the plumber, the carpenter, the nurse and the housewife who are all gun owners and who enjoy target shooting," says Valerio, 54, a waiter from Seneca Castle.
"They enjoy the discipline and the self-control and the relaxation involved. Target shooting has a lot of the same effects on you that golf does because of the concentration it takes. You find it relaxing because it clears your mind of everything else."
A dozen newcomers to rifle shooting discovered all of this during the NRA's Women on Target instructional clinic held last weekend and for the past four years at Waterloo.
Target audience
When Geneva's Richard Eaton, a board member of the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association, took over as director of a class of competition called "Sporterifle" five years ago, he noticed that only about 5 percent of the participants were women. He immediately took aim at this target audience and landed an NRA grant. Soon, the former career military man and his wife, Rosemary — along with a skilled army of volunteer instructors — were passing on their love of target shooting, easing the natural apprehension and creating new Sporterifle recruits.
Sporterifle uses that most ubiquitous of firearms, the rimfire .22-caliber that is easy to use, perfect to learn on and can be a companion for a lifetime.
Eaton had on display a .22-caliber single-load "Crackshot" he inherited from his father, who bought the gun new in 1918 for $6.
"If they want to continue on, we have a Sporterifle program at the club," says Eaton, 68, the state's 1972 Sporterifle champ.
"But the other thing we get out of it is the opportunity to educate women with young kids about firearms, giving them a chance to become familiar with our range and how we operate, all the safety precautions, and then they feel better about letting their children shoot."
Steady aim
Yes, winning the moms over is never a bad idea.
Vicki Porter, 53, of Waterloo came through the NRA's Women on Target program a couple of years ago. She's now club secretary, an instructor, an avid shooter and proof that the women's program is a bulls-eye.
"You've got a very large segment of the population that traditionally has been pushed away (from firearms)," Porter says.
"You get a mom out there shooting and she likes it and she comes into something like this where safety is stressed, she's saying, 'Hey, my kids can do this.' And it's the next generation that's got to keep the shooting sports alive."
Pat Czadzeck, 45, and Alicia Czadzeck, 20, of Clyde turned the program into a unique mother-daughter outing. They were encouraged to attend by husband/father Wesley, himself an avid shooter.
"We've done some target practicing at home because my dad showed us how," says Alicia, a recent graduate of Finger Lakes Community College who plans to attend Nazareth to study art education.
"But this was a little more instruction, more practice," Pat Czadzeck adds. "We'd do it again."
Holding up the targets they had just shot up, it seemed they had learned their lessons well: a lot of holes where they should be.
The same was true of Sue Markowski, 47, of Phelps. She had a perfect 100 for 100 score with a scope. She was also perfectly comfortable picking up and safely handling her gun by the time she left.
If her stepdaughter, Beth, 16, who just got her hunting license, asks to go target shoot, Markowski can now take her or tell her the things she needs to know to be safe.
And her husband, Dan, an avid hunter and shooter, couldn't be happier that the women in the family cared enough about his interests to give it a try on their own.
"If you've never picked up a gun before, you'll have full confidence by the time you are done with this program," Markowski says.
"A lot of women feel uncomfortable with guns, but it's a sport. You hunt or you shoot targets and clay pigeons. It's a real skill."
One you can enjoy for a lifetime. Set those targets up again, please.
Area clubs aim to put their sport in the hands of more women, too
(September 16, 2007) — WATERLOO, N.Y. — The steel targets 40 yards away started out as large as a sheet of legal notebook paper and got as small as an orange.
Squeezing my left eye shut, controlling my breathing, concentrating as if I were a diamond cutter, I focus the targets through the small scope mounted on the handsome Ruger 10/22 carbine I've been handed.
I aim and slowly squeeze the trigger. Moving left to right, one by one, all 10 targets fall.
"That's a nice piece of shooting," says Don Valerio, president of the Waterloo Rifle and Pistol Club, who is graciously — and proudly — showing me around his club's unique range built snug and safe inside the pit of an abandoned limestone quarry.
It had been years since I had gone "plinking," that sport as American as apple pie and baseball.
As a kid, we'd spend Saturday mornings knocking down cans or piercing water-filled milk containers placed on logs in a farmer's field. When dad had the time, he'd drive us to the local garbage dump, back when there was no such thing as sanitary landfills, and we'd take our turns sighting in the cat-sized rats.
Yeah, it was gratifying dusting off those shooting skills.
It was also nice seeing that the pleasures of watching a silhouette of a turkey fall or placing five shots inside the tiny black circle of a paper target are being enthusiastically practiced at gun clubs across the area that always have the welcome mat out.
The men and women who protect the Second Amendment, "the right of the people to keep and bear arms."
Away from the glorified violence of television and movies, gun clubs present all that's good about gun ownership — the variety of shooting sports which stress safety, discipline, safety, skill, safety, and camaraderie.
Did we mention safety?
In the seven decades the Waterloo Rifle and Pistol Club has been in existence, there's never been a firearms accident. Every club in the area can make similar claims, and hunting accidents have been on the decline for years thanks to educational courses sponsored by such advocacy groups as the National Rifle Association.
"Nobody hears about the retired dentist, the plumber, the carpenter, the nurse and the housewife who are all gun owners and who enjoy target shooting," says Valerio, 54, a waiter from Seneca Castle.
"They enjoy the discipline and the self-control and the relaxation involved. Target shooting has a lot of the same effects on you that golf does because of the concentration it takes. You find it relaxing because it clears your mind of everything else."
A dozen newcomers to rifle shooting discovered all of this during the NRA's Women on Target instructional clinic held last weekend and for the past four years at Waterloo.
Target audience
When Geneva's Richard Eaton, a board member of the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association, took over as director of a class of competition called "Sporterifle" five years ago, he noticed that only about 5 percent of the participants were women. He immediately took aim at this target audience and landed an NRA grant. Soon, the former career military man and his wife, Rosemary — along with a skilled army of volunteer instructors — were passing on their love of target shooting, easing the natural apprehension and creating new Sporterifle recruits.
Sporterifle uses that most ubiquitous of firearms, the rimfire .22-caliber that is easy to use, perfect to learn on and can be a companion for a lifetime.
Eaton had on display a .22-caliber single-load "Crackshot" he inherited from his father, who bought the gun new in 1918 for $6.
"If they want to continue on, we have a Sporterifle program at the club," says Eaton, 68, the state's 1972 Sporterifle champ.
"But the other thing we get out of it is the opportunity to educate women with young kids about firearms, giving them a chance to become familiar with our range and how we operate, all the safety precautions, and then they feel better about letting their children shoot."
Steady aim
Yes, winning the moms over is never a bad idea.
Vicki Porter, 53, of Waterloo came through the NRA's Women on Target program a couple of years ago. She's now club secretary, an instructor, an avid shooter and proof that the women's program is a bulls-eye.
"You've got a very large segment of the population that traditionally has been pushed away (from firearms)," Porter says.
"You get a mom out there shooting and she likes it and she comes into something like this where safety is stressed, she's saying, 'Hey, my kids can do this.' And it's the next generation that's got to keep the shooting sports alive."
Pat Czadzeck, 45, and Alicia Czadzeck, 20, of Clyde turned the program into a unique mother-daughter outing. They were encouraged to attend by husband/father Wesley, himself an avid shooter.
"We've done some target practicing at home because my dad showed us how," says Alicia, a recent graduate of Finger Lakes Community College who plans to attend Nazareth to study art education.
"But this was a little more instruction, more practice," Pat Czadzeck adds. "We'd do it again."
Holding up the targets they had just shot up, it seemed they had learned their lessons well: a lot of holes where they should be.
The same was true of Sue Markowski, 47, of Phelps. She had a perfect 100 for 100 score with a scope. She was also perfectly comfortable picking up and safely handling her gun by the time she left.
If her stepdaughter, Beth, 16, who just got her hunting license, asks to go target shoot, Markowski can now take her or tell her the things she needs to know to be safe.
And her husband, Dan, an avid hunter and shooter, couldn't be happier that the women in the family cared enough about his interests to give it a try on their own.
"If you've never picked up a gun before, you'll have full confidence by the time you are done with this program," Markowski says.
"A lot of women feel uncomfortable with guns, but it's a sport. You hunt or you shoot targets and clay pigeons. It's a real skill."
One you can enjoy for a lifetime. Set those targets up again, please.
