{"id":5717,"date":"2010-08-26T12:43:00","date_gmt":"2010-08-26T17:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/?p=5717"},"modified":"2010-08-26T12:43:00","modified_gmt":"2010-08-26T17:43:00","slug":"the-drake-family-%e2%80%93-raising-our-daughters-on-the-range","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/the-drake-family-%e2%80%93-raising-our-daughters-on-the-range\/5717\/","title":{"rendered":"The Drake Family \u2013 Raising our daughters on the range"},"content":{"rendered":"

Courtesy of our friends at the Women of USPSA blog.<\/em><\/p>\n

Months ago, Kippi Leatham asked me to \u201cblog\u201d about raising two daughters on the shooting range.\u00a0 I still don\u2019t know much about blogging, even after watching Julie & Julia,\u00a0but now that my girls, Carly and Sara, are ages 18 & 21, I do understand how we raised them on the range and I would not change one single thing<\/strong>.<\/div>\n
\n

\"\"<\/a>A short note about me: When I was younger, I was a card-carrying Democrat; guns were okay as a child, when I was with my Grandpa on his farm.\u00a0 As an adult, however, I wasn\u2019t thrilled about them in my house \u2013 but guns were my husband, Larry\u2019s, hobby.<\/p>\n

Back to the family \u2026 When the Drakes moved west to Arizona from Nashville, TN, our first apartment was about 10 miles from Rio Salado Sportsman\u2019s Club (RSSC).\u00a0 I remember buying Larry a club membership because I thought it was a pretty part of the desert and I knew he<\/em> would enjoy it.<\/p>\n

The girls were too young to shoot, but any parent knows that they grow up fast. \u00a0In no time at all, Larry had them shooting at the main range.\u00a0 We would also watch the Tuesday Night Steel matches together.\u00a0 You could tell by looking at Carly and Sara they were very<\/em> interested. \u00a0(I crocheted).\u00a0 : )<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Soon both girls were involved with the Junior Smallbore Program<\/strong> at RSSC. \u00a0They had the best coaches in the world<\/strong> and made lifelong friends<\/strong>. \u00a0Carly and Sara had played basketball, volleyball, participated in gymnastics and soccer, yet this was the sport they both<\/strong> enjoyed.\u00a0 There were no parents fighting on the sidelines and the only opponent was their own set of goals.<\/p>\n

They both received the NRA Distinguished Expert<\/strong> Award<\/strong> and competed in NRA National Matches.\u00a0 Carly exceeded in Air Rifle as well.\u00a0 She qualified twice to compete in the Junior Olympics<\/strong> at the Olympic Training Center<\/strong> in Colorado Springs, CO.\u00a0 Carly also shot the National Smallbore and Air Rifle Competition in Ft. Benning, GA.\u00a0 During this period of shooting Smallbore, the girls were also shooting pistols \u2013 learning from the best and smiling all the time<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>It was then when I realized no two children were the same, no matter how close they are. \u00a0The<\/strong> great thing about shooting<\/strong> is that each individual can enjoy different sports on the same range. \u00a0Carly dearly loved her precision rifle and air rifle, but Sara wanted to run-and-gun<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

As soon as Sara received her Distinguished Expert Award<\/strong>, USPSA and 3-Gun competitions became her favorites.\u00a0 Sara went to the MGM\/AMU Junior Camp<\/strong> twice and both girls attended Jerry and Kay Miculek\u2019s USPSA Junior Camp<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Sara just recently returned from the 2010 Steel Challenge (World Speed Shooting Championship) in Piru, CA., where she had the time of her life<\/strong> \u2013 thanks to Angus Hobdell<\/a><\/strong>. \u00a0They met junior shooters from all over the country and very much look forward to keeping in touch with them.<\/p>\n

Sara and Carly have also volunteered during the annual Desert Classic and Mystery Mountain 3-Gun Matches as range officers.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Throughout this process of raising\u00a0our family on the range, the girls received nothing but encouragement from some of the greatest shooters in this country; with the support of the entire shooting community.\u00a0 The \u201crange\u201d became more like a home <\/strong>than anything, and the other shooters were just part of the family; Family that you wanted to hang out with, that you wanted advice from.<\/p>\n

Carly is now a full-time student and a full-time employee at Dillon Aero<\/strong>.\u00a0 She is still interested in precision rifle \u2013 just with a much larger caliber.\u00a0 You might see her occasionally on the cover of the Dillon Blue Press<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>My baby Sara, \u201cThe Saranator\u201d<\/strong>, \u201cThe Big Deal\u201d (dubbed by Rob Leatham), has enlisted in the United States Army<\/strong> and leaves on September 28th<\/sup>.\u00a0 We are so very proud of our girls and wouldn\u2019t have changed their upbringing one bit!<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t \u201ctake a village to raise a child\u201d \u2013 it takes \u201ca range\u201d<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0 The Drake family thanks you all!\u00a0\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

In case you were wondering about my priorities,\u00a0I just returned from voting in the REPUBLICAN primaries<\/strong>!\u00a0 I also put down the crochet needle<\/strong> and picked up a revolver<\/strong>.\u00a0 If you can\u2019t beat \u2018em,\u00a0 join \u2018em!<\/p>\n

Gail Drake<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gail Drake shares her thoughts on what it’s like raising two daughters in the shooting sports world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":5722,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[9,6],"tags":[1002,1001,843],"class_list":["post-5717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-paul-erhardt","category-uspsa","tag-carly-drake","tag-sara-drke","tag-women-of-uspsa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5717","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\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5717"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5717\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}