It’s been a long and arduous – yet quite rewarding – journey for Capt. Al Shuette, Lee County High’s senior naval science instructor with the Navy JROTC program and air rifle team coach. When he arrived in Leesburg after 25 years in the Navy 14 years ago, he began coaching the rifle team. His predecessor had started the team and it was struggling. “For the first two years, we didn’t win a match. Then we started improving,” he states.
Air rifle is a GHSA-sanctioned sport. Most rifle teams are associated with a JROTC program but not all of them are. At Lee County, all team members are NJROTC cadets. In addition to GHSA matches, JROTC teams can practice and compete all year long. Non-JROTC teams are confined to GHSA guidelines and competitions. (For example, the Tift County air rifle team, which In the Game profiled last year, is not connected to a JROTC program.)
The GHSA season starts in January and ends in mid-March. For those teams lucky enough to qualify for the post-season, the state match takes place the second weekend in April at Fort Benning in Columbus. Lee County is one of those teams. The GHSA divides the state into eight areas for air rifle. The teams are placed in their particular areas by geographic location, not school size. Single-A teams can be in the same area as 6A teams and compete alongside each other. Lee County is in Area 2, and Capt. Shuette is the chairman for the area.
It takes four shooters to make up a team. Lee County has 12 team members this year; the top four scores count in each competition. The competitions require shooting from three positions – prone, standing, and kneeling. Shooters fire 10 shots in each position. A perfect score is 100 in each round. To record a perfect score for all four shooters in each round, the team would post 1,200 points. Targets are set at 10 meters and the bull’s eye is a ½ centimeter white dot. Shooters must do that with others on the range around them. While air rifles aren’t that loud, there are plenty of distractions while shooting. Getting the kids to block out the distractions around them, control their nerves, and focus on making each shot count are but a few of the tasks Capt. Shuette must teach his kids to master. “We stress extreme precision. Don’t settle for close. Equipment is also a factor; you’ve got to have good equipment and you’ve got to practice as much as possible,” says Capt. Shuette. “When you’re on the firing line, you’re out there for 10-15 minutes. You have to focus and concentrate. You have to isolate everything while you’re out there.” The key is to establish a pattern and then repeat that pattern over and over again.
To qualify for state, teams need to shoot around 1,140 or better. So there’s not much room for error. “We tell our kids to aim small, miss small,” says Capt. Shuette. Last year, Lee County finished third in the state. In JROTC competition, the team has qualified twice for the Junior Olympic Trials, which is a steppingstone to international competition. Though they qualified twice, the team only went to the Junior Trials once. “It was an eye-opening experience for the kids,” laughs Capt. Shuette.
For the 2016 team, Capt. Shuette is very matter-of-fact about their goals. He speaks with the kind of confidence and to-the-point bluntness that makes anyone within earshot sit up and take notice – exactly what you would expect from a former soldier. “Last year we were third in the state. We’ve got four returning shooters from that team. Our goal is to win state,” he says.
Sidebar:
A big part of competitive shooting is practice. Another component is equipment. To be competitive, a team must have the best equipment. And it’s expensive. The equipment Lee County uses is property of the team; however, members can bring their own equipment if it meets competition guidelines. But it is expensive. “To properly outfit one shooter takes between $3,500 and $6,000 if you’re going to use the best equipment. Shooters in college and the Olympics have their own equipment. The equipment our team uses belongs to the team,” says Capt. Shuette.
Special Feature/South Georgia/January 2016
Al Shuette
Lee County High School
Leesburg, Georgia
Robert Preston Jr.
U.S. Navy veteran coaches Lee County rifle team to top three in the state
