BROOKINGS – When the Brookings County 4-H Shooting Sports program restarts in January 2022, young marksmen will look forward to participating in what can be a basic entry into the program: BB guns.
However, five Brookings 4-H shooters will bring with them the experience of tough competition, gained at the 2021 Rushmore National BB Gun Invitational held July 1-3 in Fort Pierre. It was the first time a Brookings 4-H team had shot in a national match.
By way of background, bringing a national invitational to South Dakota came as a fallout of COVID-19, when sponsor Daisy cancelled both the 2020 and 2021 National BB Gun and Air Rifle Championships usually held in Rogers, Arkansas.
In a news release dated Sept. 7, 2021, the National Rifle Association Shooting Sports USA staff wrote: “Faced with another year of kids losing the opportunity to compete on a national stage, a group of coaches from South Dakota, Georgia and Texas became the administrators of the National Competitive Youth BB gun group and organized a competition.”
The resultant match drew 30 teams, with a total of more than 200 shooters from nine states across the country.
The five Brookings 4-H shooters were: Kaylin Gjernes, 8; her sister Bailey Gjernes, 11; Levi Liljegren, 10; Halle Intveld, 9; and Carter Intveld, 11.
Other South Dakota 4-H teams included: Pierre Jr. shooters and shooters from Spink, Lake, Roberts and Marshall counties.
Technique, breathing paramount
The shooters had to take a 50-question safety test on the first day. They then all shot in all four positions: prone, standing, sitting and kneeling; two positions on the second day and the other two positions on the third day.
“Technique is paramount,” Brooke Gjernes, a Brookings County 4-H shooting sports instructor, said. “They have to learn how to do the different positions and techniques for shooting in the four positions.
“Breathing is a big thing, their sight control. All that factors into being able to have a good shot and a good group (of shots). They have to wear slings and all kinds of equipment for the different positions.”
“(Kaylin) turned 8 just a couple months before the competition,” Gjernes said of her daughter. “She had never shot before, and they needed a fifth team member. So Darci (Intveld) (shooting sports secretary) talked her into shooting. So she shot a couple times, and then we went to the competition.”
“You really had to focus,” Kaylin said, of the competition. “I felt like I shot good. It was hard.”
With the competition experience behind her, she’s confident that the next time around she’ll do better.
“It was really fun, and it was really active,” Bailey, in her third year in 4-H shooting sports, said. “You really had to pay attention and focus, because there was lots of noise and you had to be quiet while other people were shooting.”
“Standing is the hardest,” she explained, addressing the difficulty of the firing positions. “You have to try to put your elbow on your hip and try not to move, while you try to aim.”
Great for learning guns, safety
The South Dakota 4-H Shooting Sports program defines itself as “a part of the SDSU Extension 4-H Youth Development program, focusing on developing safe shooting habits in participating youth members.” Shooting sports include: BB gun, air rifle, air pistol, .22 pistol, .22 rifle, archery, shotgun (trap and skeet) and muzzleloader. (N.B. BB guns are spring-powered. Air rifles are CO2-powered and shoot pellets instead of BBs.)
Levi Liljegren 10, is going into his third year of sports shooting. He also does archery, and he’ll move on to air pistol. His father, Alan Liljegren, is a 4-H shooting sports instructor.
When the Brookings County program re-opens in January, the team of five shooters and two coaches will be there to share their first-time national competition experiences with other shooters enrolling in the program.
“This was their first national meet,” Brooke Gjernes said. “They didn’t bring home any medals. They all shot well, but it was just a different experience for them to see and do and meet people from Georgia and Pennsylvania, shooters from all over the United States coming to shoot in South Dakota.”
“Our team was pretty young,” Alan Liljegren said. “They don’t really split them up into age divisions.”
“Everybody is together,” fellow coach Gjernes added. “All the ages from 8 to 16 were all scored together. Our oldest was 12; 8 to 12, that was our group.”
Kaylin and Levi were both drawn to BB gun shooting, noting that they “thought it would be fun.”
Bailey took a bit more aggressive approach and for the future is looking to go for the gold: “Our dad did it, so he would always talk about how he would do it and how he would get all these trophies and stuff. That got me thinking: Did I want to do that? I really want to try and get some trophies.”
Trophies or not, the coaches see good takeaways from the shooting sports program: “You use this stuff forever,” Liljegren said.
“It’s a great organization for kids to learn the correct way of handling a gun and safety,” Gjernes added. “They get to shoot, and even if they don’t do a traveling team, they still do three different matches during the year. And if they qualify at matches, they can do the state shoot every April in Pierre as well.”
Contact John Kubal at jkubal@brookingsregister.com.
