Shooting Sports Stimulates School Support
Reprinted from 2009 Traditions: Qtr. 1
For any high school shooting team coach, more funding is always needed and is always in short supply. So when the NRA field representative for Southern Illinois, Wayne Steele, wanted to start a Friends of NRA chapter in the Pinckneyville area, he contacted firearm enthusiast Stu Wright, who coaches the Pinckneyville Community High School shooting team alongside Donnie Nehring. Steele informed Wright about the Friends of NRA program where half the profits raised at each Friends banquet goes back into supporting programs in the state, like youth shooting teams.
A coach for the Pinckneyville team since 2002, Wright was familiar with the expensive price tag that comes with sustaining a shooting team. Not only did Wright apply for a grant with the State Fund Committee to help alleviate some of the cost, but he also encouraged surrounding high school teams to do the same. Each team was successful in obtaining some funding through the NRA Foundation. Pinckneyville received $4k to purchase four new guns and additional needed equipment.
Currently, Wright expressed, the average team member uses 4 boxes of shells per week during practices. At $6.50 a box, a team member can wind up spending $30 or so a week for ammunition alone. Additionally students have to pay a $4 facility fee per 25 targets used. By week’s end, a team member can end up spending $40-$50 on practices alone— a costly endeavor for any family with team members.
Wright’s goal for the NRA Foundation grant was not to completely fund the team’s costs but to simply supplement some of the shooting costs by making boxes of shells available to the team at $5 or less through grant money, local fundraisers, and sponsorships. Wright also sought to expand team participation to any student willing to put in the time, effort and diligence needed to compete— regardless of their financial ability to do so. This meant purchasing four new guns for team members to share amongst themselves, including taking turns cleaning and maintaining it. “Without the grant there are many shooters on our team who would not be able to shoot or that would not be shooting at the level they are at now,” said Wright.
Participating in the shooting sports also offers students invaluable lessons and experiences, Wright communicated. It teaches team members about setting goals, maturity, discipline, responsibility and commitment. If they miss a practice, they don’t compete. “If they want to wear the team shirt, they have to make the practices and make the competitions,” Wright said. Instilling such characteristics is a worthy cause, especially in the circumstances of team members being considered for shooting college scholarships throughout the US.
The implementation of Friends of NRA and NRA Foundation grants in the area has not only helped ease team expenses but has also generated an elevated level of awareness in regard to firearms. “I don’t know where else they can give their money to and get better results,” said Wright. Leaders throughout the surrounding area have come to recognize the positive effects that have stemmed from supporting programs like youth shooting teams. On more than one occasion, Wright has been asked to speak at school board functions, civic organization and church meetings to convey to them the importance and benefit of such programs. Since the expansion of the Pinckneyville program, efforts are being made to institute two new teams in the Southern Illinois area and in some cases, communities have decided to start their own Friends of NRA program. Furthermore, since the team’s establishment, it has grown to include over eighteen students and with the overwhelming success of its institution, another team is on the rise- but for students in junior high.
“It has been tremendous to see the school’s support,” said Wright, “the communities here revolve around the schools and they really get behind what the kids do. We are opening a lot of eyes and we are changing a lot of attitudes.”
A. Niblock Shorter