Saturday, June 22, 2013

Thank you for your support and bring on Summer!



First off, the Teams, Club, and coaches would like to say, "Thank you very much for your support of our teams and other shooting sports teams!" 

Just a heads up on what the University of Vermont Shooting Sports teams are up to this Summer...

Bianchi Cup
Members of our Pistol team(Graham Cochrane, Will Cain and Ray Trainque) were selected to participate in last month’s MidwayUSA/NRA Bianchi Cup and received scholarships to cover costs and entry fees for the event. These scholarships were provided by Larry Potterfield and MidwayUSA and gave 14 junior competitors from across the U.S. the opportunity to compete in the match. Our members were able to make new friends and meet up with old friends such as Brian Lee from the Yale Pistol Team. Brian is good friend of our team members and coaches. Here is a link with photos from the match.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/uvmsc/sets/72157633635683072/

Pistol Team...
This Spring we held elections for team captains and club officers. Laura Michalak was selected by her fellow teammates to lead the Pistol Team in the upcoming year. Laura will be a Junior at UVM this year. She first got into competitive shooting when she came to UVM after graduating from high school in Chicago. She lead our B-Squad to first place in the Rimfire Division at the Scholastic Pistol Program Nationals at Fort Benning this year. This Summer she will be competing in USPSA matches in Michigan for the first time. In only two years of competitive shooting she has lead a squad to a national win and her goal this year is to lead the whole team to first. Her personal goal is to take first her self, she feels, " there are too many boys in the top spots."

Laura at the NE FALL SPP Championships. Photo courtesy of Paul Dandini

Shotgun Team...
Greg Roy was chosen by his teammates to lead the Shotgun team this year. Greg is also a junior this upcoming year and has grown in talent on the trap and skeet ranges and hopes to share his knowledge with the new members this Fall.

Greg(Far Left) just about to do a 5-way shoot off with members from Yale and West Point teams for 2nd place in Skeet at the 2013 SCTP “Clay Cup” Championship.

 He has come up with a Summer plan that requires all his teammates to focus on their practice through out the Summer and improve their shooting scores in their home states. Some of the shotgun team has chosen to stay in Burlington to practice rather than go home. Lida Benson on the team is from Washington,DC so she chose to stay in Burlington to work on her shooting and her acting, she is Theater Major at the university. Greg wants to have a squad to lead the Cats into first at matches.

Leslie(left) and Lida(right) at the West Point Match


Club Leadership...
After providing excellent leadership and guidance through the past 2012-13 school year, Leslie Barnard, chose to step down as Club President. She wanted to concentrate more on her studies and practice more on the shotgun team. She too, also chose to stay in Burlington to practice through out the Summer. Leslie was replaced by Kevin Cafferky, a first year member of the club and a sophomore. Kevin has risen fast on the pistol team. When Kevin is not at school, he is a full time member of the Vermont Air National Guard.

Kevin (left) and Pistol Coach Adam Nilson, at the SPP Nationals at Fort Benning.

Kevin has come up with new directives and goals for the club's competition side and outreach to bring in new members to the club and share the shooting sports experience with others in university's student body and faculty. For the outreach portion, Kevin has tapped Yuzo Kevorkian to lead the Recreational and Outreach portion of the club. Yuzo is a member of the Pistol Team's A-Squad and brings the experience of being a “seasoned competitive athlete” combined with what it was like to be a “first-time” novice. Yuzo, has only been competing for less than 18 months! Yuzo, is from Manhattan(NYC) and tried one of our clinics his freshman year. Since then, he has been to two National matches and over half dozen regionals either on the A squad or B squad. Both are hoping to groom next years squads and club into Champions!