{"id":3635,"date":"2010-06-02T10:14:29","date_gmt":"2010-06-02T15:14:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/?p=3635"},"modified":"2010-06-02T10:14:29","modified_gmt":"2010-06-02T15:14:29","slug":"competing-in-columbia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/competing-in-columbia\/3635\/","title":{"rendered":"Competing in Columbia"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Molly

Molly Smith, the youngest member of Team Smith & Wesson, with Jim Shepherd and Yamil Sued<\/p><\/div>\n

Today’s competitive shooters are a unique breed. Fierce competitors at the call “shooters ready, stand by….” they’re actually a large -and jocular- family when they’re off the firing line.<\/p>\n

Having observed them at different times around the country, I didn’t realize how welcoming they are of newbies until I strapped on my Smith & Wesson M&P Pro this weekend to shoot in the pro\/am portion of the Colt Speed Event at the 2010 Bianchi Cup.<\/p>\n

At that point, I went from the newsguy that many of them knew to another nervous first-timer who was fighting down the urge to quietly sneak out of the competitors tent and beat feet for my car. Instead, I received a ton of solid advice – and a few needling comments – that kept me too-busy to actually realize that I was going to walk out and shoot a gun in front of several hundred strangers – in a head-to-head competition.<\/p>\n

When I mentioned a shooting coach earlier in the week had suggested I modify my thumb positions when shooting, Rob Leatham laughingly offered a bit of sage advice: “don’t try changing your grip today.”<\/p>\n

That advice I took, and the reminder from Julie Golob that I concentrate on the fact it was a fun event and not “real competition”. It felt real enough when I walked out to the line.<\/p>\n

But I concentrated on the fact I enjoy shooting steel targets-unless I’m shooting for groups to sight-in or test guns, I only shoot steel.<\/p>\n

What I didn’t enjoy was shooting the targets slower than Yamil Sued, the sharp-eyed photographer who walked out with all-borrowed equipment and shut me down in two runs.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Kyle Schmidt, Robert Vadasz, Jessie Abbate, and Open champ -again - Doug Koenig. Yamil Sued photo. <\/p><\/div>\n

Later, Yamil sent me a photo that showed my time faster than his, but a low-right hit on one of the steel plates that kept it from falling added a fault penalty to my time- and kept us from another run.<\/p>\n

That felt like real competition.<\/p>\n

Three days of Bianchi Cup competition also reminded me that probably have the best job in the shooting business. I get to talk to the greatest shooters alive today, get shooting tips from them on behalf of their various sponsors, and get to test all manner of gear.<\/p>\n

It also reminded me that while I might know the terminology, understand the competitions and know how to function in front of crowds, I remain light years away from their levels of proficiency.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Doug Koenig kept his eyes on the prize, taking home title #12. Yamil Sued photo. <\/p><\/div>\n

Seeing them shoot – and help each other out at every opportunity – also reinforced my longtime feeling that we – the shooting world – spend too-much time talking about the tools and not nearly enough telling the stories of the craftsmen -and women – who should be the faces of our sport.<\/p>\n

To see Doug Koenig take Bianchi Cup title number twelve while Jessie Abbate was setting a record on the barricades enroute to her title was awe-inspiring. Seeing them talking excitedly with other shooters reminded me that we probably have the most approachable group of world-class athletes in the world today.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Jessie Abbate continued her dominance of women's shooting, taking home the women's title.Yamil Sued photo. <\/p><\/div>\n

And the new generation holds promise. Seeing thirteen-year-old Molly Smith hold and shoot a revolver that looked about half her size reminded me that size really doesn’t matter in shooting. Watching Molly collect a pair of $2,500 awards at the awards banquet also showed that pound-for-pound, her enthusiasm -if we showed it to non-shooting kids – might be one of the most potent recruiting tools we could have.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Thirteen year old Molly Smith, the youngest competitor, had a gunfighter's stare - and a teenager's giggle while collecting her trophies Saturday night. Yamil Sued photo. <\/p><\/div>\n

There were a number of young ladies shooting at Bianchi – and they were formidable competitors – but like their superstar counterparts, all part of a large and jolly family that has been getting together for thirty-plus years in Columbia, Missouri to compete in the Bianchi Cup. It’s an event I’ve never been able to work into a travel schedule, but this year, Match Director Tom Hughes convinced me that I needed to see this match first-hand to understand how -and why- it resonates with shooters who travel half-way around the globe each year to compete.<\/p>\n

I’m glad I did – although it has increased the Bianchi Cup family by one. And filled another slot on my 2011 travel calendar.<\/p>\n

2010 Bianchi Cup Final Results:<\/p>\n

Open:
\n1. Doug Koenig, 1920-179x
\n2. Bruce Piatt, 1918-183x
\n3. Kevin Angstadt, 1918-169x
\n4. George Mowbray, 1918-151x
\n5. Tony Holmes, 1916-159x (way to represent Indiana, Tony!)<\/p>\n

Metallic:
\n1. Robert Vadasz, 1904-146x
\n2. Rob Leatham, 1894-153x
\n3. Troy Mattheyer, 1892-127x
\n4. Jason Koon, 1866-114x
\n5. Greg Davis, 1861-105x<\/p>\n

Production:
\n1. Kyle Schmidt, 1856-121x
\n2. Enoch Smith, 1835-123x
\n3. Dave Sevigny, 1833-119x
\n4. Phil Strader, 1819-102x
\n5. Vance Schmid, 1812-100x<\/p>\n

Women’s Overall
\n1. Jessie Abbate, 1906-163x
\n2. Julie Golob, 1894-131x
\n3. Vera Koo, 1891-141x
\n4. Jodi Lyall, 1878-137x
\n5. Margaret Reese, 1857-124<\/p>\n

Jim Shepherd
\nwww.shootingwire.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today’s competitive shooters are a unique breed. Fierce competitors at the call “shooters ready, stand by….” they’re actually a large -and jocular- family when they’re off the firing line. Having observed them at different times around the country, I didn’t realize how welcoming they are of newbies until I strapped on my Smith & Wesson […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":3637,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1,266],"tags":[49,267,436],"class_list":["post-3635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-shepherd","tag-bianchi-cup","tag-jim-shepherd","tag-shooting-wire"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3635"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3635\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}