O
University Daily Kansan, April 29, 1982
Page 9
University rifle team upholds winning tradition
By DAVE McQUEEN
Staff Reporter
Nestled away in the catacombs of the Military Science building is a group no one ever hears about.
They spend most of their nights down there on the ROTC rifle range, aiming their single-shot Z2-caliber rifles at a distance of 300 yards. Weekends are spent on the road,
shooting against some of the best competition in the nation.
Although the KU Rifle Club was formed 30 years ago, it still remains a mystery to almost everyone except those on the team.
But while it may be a mystery on its own campus, the KU rifle team is very well known in collegiate shooting circles. Last month it won its third straight Big Eight shooting championship and also qualified earlier in
the year for the NCAA championships in Virginia.
WHILE THEIR ammunition and rifle range are furnished by Army ROTC, the KU rifle队 is far from being a military-only operation. Some of the members are not involved in ROTC, so the coaches are University professors.
"I's really a Kansas University team," Sgt. Maj. Frank Strong, one of
JON HARDESTY/Kansan Staff
Shawn Moe, Leavenworth senior, peers behind the scope of his .22 rifle. Moe is one of the top shooters on the KU rifle team and is using a telescope to take aim.
"When I first came here, we had only three shooters," Strong said. "Now we have three teams and possibly a fourth."
Since he came to KU in 1980, Strong has seen the team rise from mediocrity to one of the best.
the team's coaches, said recently. "All you need to be to join a student at the University. When we go to tournaments, we don't compete as the ROTC rife team, we go as the Kansas University rife队."
In competitive shooting, a team consists of four members. They score points by firing from standing, kneeling and troop positions.
Each shooter fires 12 times from each position, and the points are determined by how close they come to the bull's eye.
One big reason for the team's success, Strong said, is its active recruiting program.
Much like the famous "Huntington Beach connection" in football, the rifle team has a recruiting pipeline to Leavenworth High School, which has one of the top high school rifle programs in the country. Three of the team's top four shooters went to Leavenworth.
BEING A GOOD shooter does not require brute strength or size, Strong said. Rather, it is more of a matter of concentration.
"I shooting, you don't have to be strong, you don't have to be monstrous, all you have to do is punch holes in the target." Strong said.
But punching holes in the target is not all that easy. Henry Webster, Leavenworth freshman, said it took total body control.
BANK SHOTS,TRICK SHOTS AND OTHER TABLE MANNERS.
All you need is good eyesight, a little dexterity, and three essentials: a pool table, pool cue, and some Lite Beer from Miller.
I'm gonna teach you a couple things that'll1 impress your friends, and 2) maybe lose some friends.
CHEAP SHOTS
Here's a goodie. I call it the "Cheap Shot." Place a ball on the edge of the corner pocket. Then, take a half-dollar and lean it against the side rail at the other end of the table. (If you don't have a half-dollar, you can always write home to your parents; they'd love to hear from you.)
Tell your friends you're gonna sink the ball in the corner, using the half-dollar as a cue ball. It's not hard. Hit the coin solidly on the edge, just above the center, and it will roll along the rail knocking the ball in the pocket. But don't forget to scoff up the half-dollar. Because you aren't
supposed to lose money doing trick shots—just win Lite Beers.
THE COIN TRICK
This one drives people nuts. Place a ball on the head spot. With the chalk, make a circle around it, approximately 8" in diameter. Then put a quarter or half-dollar on top of the ball. (Yes, you can use the same one from before, or you can write home to your parents again.) Place the cue ball behind the foot line and have your friends
bv Steve Mizerak
try to knock the coin out of the circle.
Chances are, they won't be able to
(this is a good time to work on your
Lite Beer and act smuq).
LITE BEER FROM MILLER.
EVERYTHING YOU ALWAYS WANTED
IN A BEER. AND LESS.
When you shoot, do one of two things: hit the object ball head-on with follow-through so the cue ball knocks the coin out, or hit the cue ball very, very slowly so the coin rolls off the object ball.
TABLE MANNERS
Now for simple table etiquette.
After you've "hustled" your friends, you gotta keep 'em. So do what I call "Clearing the Table". Simply offer to buy the next round of Lite Beer. They'll all clear the table fast and head for the bar (or to your room or apartment). Then, once they all have Lite (just one apiece—you're not too rich, remember), tell them with Lite in hand and a smirk on your face that your shots were no big deal—you were just shown' off.
"Mentally, it's got to be the hardest sport there is." Webster said. "You've got to control your eye movements, your nerves and everything at once before you trigger the trigger. Each shot will have a whole match. You've got to take one a time."
The body control is so complete, he said, that some of the shooters who participate in the Olympics are even able to control their pulse and adrenaline.
"In other sports you try to get your adrenalin up," he said. "But here you try to keep it down."
if you keep **But while Webster enjoys the competition of shooting, he said he misses the recognition afforded to other sports.**
"We do put a lot of time into it," Webster said. "But we do get some material things out of it—like medals and trophies. I don't know of any basketball team who gets a trophy just for winning a game."
SHAWN MOE, Leavenworth senior, a member of the team who was recently named to the Big Eight and All-Arsenal teams. She was also bothered by the lack of notoriety.
"I'm kind of a low-key person." Moe said. "I don't go out looking for publicity at all. I've got trophies galore—it's nothing new anymore."
Moe said the satisfaction he derived from shooting came from competing against himself and the release it offered from other pressures.
It's sort of a release from school
work," he said. "I can come down here and tune everything out and concentrate on my shooting."
So if shooting is so much fun, and KU's program is so good, then why is it not better known?
John Michel, professor of speech and drama and one of the team's coaches, said, "I think it's because people associate us with the ROCT and many people don't have a positive feeling about the military."
Michel, whose involvement in shootings goes back to his college days at Ohio State University, said another student was shot during a reaction most people have to guns.
In the future, Strong said the team should be even better. He said they were close to recruiting another strong player and that he should help round out the team.
"They put the riffes we use in the same category of handguns," Michel said. "Nothing could be further from the truth. The main principle of these weapons is to punch holes in the targets."
But the team still faces some problems. For one thing, they need more money. Although they qualified for the national championships, they could afford a transfer to Virginia. Again, because they could use more support from the University.
"If the University people would support KU's rifle team, we would have a national championship in no time at all." Strong said.
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