Re: Mammoth Sniper Challenge - January 6-8, 2012
Wow where do I begin?
First I want to send out a huge thanks to all of the sponsors!! Thanks for making this match possible!! The prize table was awesome!!
I want to thank Joe for hosting an awesome match and for allowing my 12-year-old son to shoot the match. This weekend has made him a better shooter (like it has many others) and I really appreciate you giving him the opportunity! We had a blast!!
This was a great match the stages were very challenging and technical but an absolute blast to shoot!! The Rockcastle facility has some of the best shooting opportunities that I have seen!
Before I go any further I want to thank Techtoy_AL for the link to the awesome pictures you are quite the cameraman! I hope you do mind me putting a few of them in this post.
Next I want to send a huge thanks to these two guys....
Scott and Hill are two of the best RO's I have had the pleasure to shoot with!!! They ran a safe, fair and well-organized match! I hope I am lucky enough to get to shoot with them in the future!! Thanks again gentlemen it was a pleasure!!
I also want to say thanks to everyone in Squad 1.....
While this picture did not capture everyone in the Squad I think it shows very well the way Squad 1 was. I had a great time getting to know everyone and made some new friends!! I also want to send a special thanks to everyone in Squad 1 (for that matter to all the shooters in the match) for making my little man feel welcome and like part of the team!! A special thanks to Miss Trina and the TN team for giving the huge piece of chocolate cake to Eyan on Saturday night!! Sugar highs are a great thing right before bedtime!!
As the days lead up to this match I kept telling Eyan that he had three goals for this match.
1. Be safe!
2. Have fun!
3. Learn!
I kept telling him to do those 3 things, not to worry about the scores and get out there and do what he has been working at!!
Well thanks to the selfless focus, awesome spotting skills and extreme patience of David Walker from Accurate Ordnance he was able to do exactly that!!! David only shot on one stage of this entire match! Do to the 8-minute time limit of each stage David chose to let Eyan use that time to shoot his targets so that he could learn from every stage.
A quick back-story for you guys…. A few days before this match David and I where on the phone and he asked if I would put the phone on speaker so that he could talk to Eyan. When I did he proceeded to ask Eyan this question. " Hey buddy, which do you want to do more in this match, focus on your score or come out of this match a better shooter?" And Eyan replies, "I want to come out a better shooter!"
As we all know from experience, in these types of matches you have a ton of A type personalities pushing themselves and there team mate on every stage and it is hard for us to let go of how you are doing in the match. David did exactly that and I can't thank him enough for investing so much time and effort into Eyan at this match!! You are a good man David, Thank You!!!
Eyan and David on Thunder Valley Short. This is where Eyan really got into the game...
Ringing steel off the swing on the Golf Course Stage...
Eyan and David on the Back Ridge. The little man was able to ring 6 of the 8 targets at 726 yards with 5 of the 6 being first round hits.
Little man kicking back with his spotter...
I had a great time shooting this match with 1eyedjack1 as well! We had a blast and we are looking forward to the next match!!!
Thanks,
Mike