We have 30 new freshmen girls this year.I need some good ideas on how to keep them into the sport . I was thinking some kind of prize for the first five straight .Does anyone make a patch for five straight. Give me your ideas thank you Kirk.
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anything you can do to get young women in the sport is a great idea. Kids need an incentive now to do much and stay dedicated and interested. This sport is all about having fun. Keep them motivated and set goals.
What Steve W said is a good one.
Some other possibilities are to have some time for some games at the end of practice.
I work with the local 4-H and FFA kids in this area and we always spend the last half hour or 45 minutes of a 2 to 2.5 hour practice playing back up (or buddy or what ever it's called in your area) Annie Oakley, "report doubles", or other games to keep things some what more entertaining than standard trap.
We used to not do that in practice, but it was a grind for them and us, and we noticed that their scores improved with the more varied and fun approach.
I also know that encouraging words when we see even small improvements can make their day and help them know they are accomplishing something toward breaking more targets.
Ideally we want to see them increase their scores over time but seeing big smiles on their faces, especially when getting them started is much more important.... this is supposed to be for fun....
also gun fit is huge to making it where new shooters will want to come back. If the gun is beating the tar out of them who would want to come back for more. And related to that is selection of shells. 1180 fps 1 oz loads are pleasant to shoot and help a lot towards not beating the kids up. We also switched to those about 3 years ago and saw a significant decline in the use of the 20 gauge guns we have available for them to use.
Some other possibilities are to have some time for some games at the end of practice.
I work with the local 4-H and FFA kids in this area and we always spend the last half hour or 45 minutes of a 2 to 2.5 hour practice playing back up (or buddy or what ever it's called in your area) Annie Oakley, "report doubles", or other games to keep things some what more entertaining than standard trap.
We used to not do that in practice, but it was a grind for them and us, and we noticed that their scores improved with the more varied and fun approach.
I also know that encouraging words when we see even small improvements can make their day and help them know they are accomplishing something toward breaking more targets.
Ideally we want to see them increase their scores over time but seeing big smiles on their faces, especially when getting them started is much more important.... this is supposed to be for fun....
also gun fit is huge to making it where new shooters will want to come back. If the gun is beating the tar out of them who would want to come back for more. And related to that is selection of shells. 1180 fps 1 oz loads are pleasant to shoot and help a lot towards not beating the kids up. We also switched to those about 3 years ago and saw a significant decline in the use of the 20 gauge guns we have available for them to use.
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How about changing that user name for starters!
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keeping younger involved is tough. Sometimes other activities while they are waiting to shoot may help. The NRA shotgun qualification kept me driving to shoot more and improve.
Maybe you can have a local embroider(sp?) make up some small patches.
You could also modify the NRA shotgun qualifier and make a chart to include lower scores or even small steps of straight targets.
Trap shooting is fun. WAITING AND WATCHING is boreing, Hang a dart board, build horseshoe pits something
Maybe you can have a local embroider(sp?) make up some small patches.
You could also modify the NRA shotgun qualifier and make a chart to include lower scores or even small steps of straight targets.
Trap shooting is fun. WAITING AND WATCHING is boreing, Hang a dart board, build horseshoe pits something
maclellan1911,
I like several of your ideas, especially the ones about other things to do while waiting for their turn to shoot, and am going to see about implementing some of them with our group.
One thing we do in order to have it where waiting time isn't so long is to rotate squads through shooting only 2 from each station rather than 5, especially when just starting out.
I like several of your ideas, especially the ones about other things to do while waiting for their turn to shoot, and am going to see about implementing some of them with our group.
One thing we do in order to have it where waiting time isn't so long is to rotate squads through shooting only 2 from each station rather than 5, especially when just starting out.
Marksmanship Qualification Program or any kind of pin or achievement patch works great. Crown Awards will make anything you want for a very reasonable price. Try and end some of your practices with games, Annie Oakleys, Buddy, etc, my kids just love the games.
One thing we started this year was to rank all of our shooter based on skill level and match them up, highest with lowest, 2nd highest with 2nd lowest, and so on. Then we shot practice with the best shooters shooting and the least experience shooters watching from the 27 yard line. When done, we asked the ones watching to say something positive about the shooters that they just watched. With the coaches there we talked about the observation and when we were done we flipped and the least experienced shot with the more experienced watching. Ended up as a great teaching opportunity.
One thing I do caution is to make sure they do have time to bond as a team. My kids shot with a sporting clay team this year and there was no time for the kids to bond....sometimes the downtime in trap can be a blessing.
Roger
One thing we started this year was to rank all of our shooter based on skill level and match them up, highest with lowest, 2nd highest with 2nd lowest, and so on. Then we shot practice with the best shooters shooting and the least experience shooters watching from the 27 yard line. When done, we asked the ones watching to say something positive about the shooters that they just watched. With the coaches there we talked about the observation and when we were done we flipped and the least experienced shot with the more experienced watching. Ended up as a great teaching opportunity.
One thing I do caution is to make sure they do have time to bond as a team. My kids shot with a sporting clay team this year and there was no time for the kids to bond....sometimes the downtime in trap can be a blessing.
Roger
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Just talk Rob lowe into joining up!
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I have a five straight patch - made it out of a 50 straight. Looks pretty cool and I'm just way proud of it.
Charlie
Charlie
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Right up your alley Trappy!
I might suggest having some "volunteer coaches" from your program. We have 4-5 Juniors or Seniors on our team that are all pretty good shots that would be more than willing to "assist and train" some young talent.
SW
I might suggest having some "volunteer coaches" from your program. We have 4-5 Juniors or Seniors on our team that are all pretty good shots that would be more than willing to "assist and train" some young talent.
SW
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keep them around positive people.
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roger hit on it--BONDING!! what you have missed , is the LOOK!! pink-pink-pink, use it on their vest's,gunbags, shooting t shirts ect.- girls want to look good & socialize & rein over the boys. even if they cant shoot better , make them feel good about it--and NEVER let all of them congregate for long, when not shooting!?--one girl by herself is a human --two girls together become friends and three girls or more left alone for long become lil B______s !!!--trust me i know
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tabor riebesell- my daughter
tabor riebesell- my daughter
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