TargetTalk

My 13 yr old daughter shot her first full 60 shot 3p smallbore course on a 50 ft range tonight and scored a 525 - P 182, S 160, K 174. Only second time in kneeling position. I'm very proud of her, but was really wondering how does this stack up? JO qualifier is in 4 weeks. Could she have a shot at making it? Not sure about other J3 shooters in our state.

Interested in getting her some coaching. University of Kentucky is in back yard. Can NCAA coaches help or be hired at her age or would it be considered recruiting and/or affect her eligibility if she wanted to compete collegiately some day?

Proud Pappa😄😄😄

Depends on the year she was born
J3 is 1999 or later
J2 is 96-98

That score would probably get her her a 1st round invite in J3, but no invite in J2. J2 will most probably need a 553+

My guess.
In any case shoot for the Automatic scores:
J3=545
J2=565

Still, VERY good for a 1st smallbore!

Something I wish would be done, and can't figure out why it isn't, is why don't / won't display a shooters classification (J1, J2, etc) on the rankings page of the usashooting site. I would think it would be a pretty easy update since the information is already in the database.

I know it would my shooters when they ask "how good is this score" even though we want them to be more self perfecting not score motivated, it would help to know who's doing what in the nation.

shooter'sdad wrote:My 13 yr old daughter shot her first full 60 shot 3p smallbore course on a 50 ft range tonight and scored a 525 - P 182, S 160, K 174. Only second time in kneeling position. I'm very proud of her, but was really wondering how does this stack up? JO qualifier is in 4 weeks. Could she have a shot at making it? Not sure about other J3 shooters in our state.

Interested in getting her some coaching. University of Kentucky is in back yard. Can NCAA coaches help or be hired at her age or would it be considered recruiting and/or affect her eligibility if she wanted to compete collegiately some day?

Proud Pappa😄😄😄

She is within striking range of a qualification range for the Junior Olympics. You can download the State Junior Olympic Packet and it will show you the score you need to qualify for the Junior Olympics. As far as having a shot at making it that is all relative as to what you mean making it? For example, every junior has a chance of making the Junior Olympics, but if you have no goals or plans as to how your going to get there most juniors aren't going to make it. Then you have to decide on the available training and how much effort you and your kid are willing to put into the sport. This is a partnership between you and your kid as it would be very difficult for a kid to do this on their own. As with any other activity, sacrifices will have to made by both parties if your goal is to do well in this sport. I don't know how many parents that I get that have their kids involved in so many activities that they give new meaning to the figure of speech "Jack of all trades, Master of none."

Thanks for the insight.

She shot another 60 shot course tonight and scored a 530. 5 point improvement with no chance for practice since last week. Her qualifier is December 15 and she will be a J3 shooter.

shooter'sdad wrote:My 13 yr old daughter shot her first full 60 shot 3p smallbore course on a 50 ft range tonight and scored a 525 - P 182, S 160, K 174. Only second time in kneeling position. I'm very proud of her, but was really wondering how does this stack up? JO qualifier is in 4 weeks. Could she have a shot at making it? Not sure about other J3 shooters in our state.

Interested in getting her some coaching. University of Kentucky is in back yard. Can NCAA coaches help or be hired at her age or would it be considered recruiting and/or affect her eligibility if she wanted to compete collegiately some day?

Proud Pappa😄😄😄

Congrats on your daughters shooting. Looks like she is almost there.

I had high hopes for my youngest this year, also a J3, but she fell off a skateboard and tore some cartilage in her wrist. Needs surgery and 6 weeks in a cast. Maybe we'll see you next year as a J2. At least I can keep watching the oldest kid shoot.

As for the collegiate coaching, the way I understand the rules, college coaches cannot "recruit" from 9th grade until July 1 after their Junior year. Unless they have a previous relationship. So your daughter should be able to get coaching from an NCAA coach, and would not have to stop that coaching once she reached 9th grade.

On a related topic, I am a J1 shooting around a 568-570, do you think this will be enough to qualify? IDK what JO qualifiers are going to be like considering I have only shot in 1 and only made it in Air.

I tell my shooters to use the posted invitation scores as the benchmark:
Small Bore
Men 3x20: J1 - 575, J2 - 570, J3 - 550
Women 3x20: J1 - 575, J2 - 565, J3-545

Air Rifle
Men: J1 - 580, J2-575, J3 - 560
Women: J1-390, J2-385, J3-370

That way if the invite score is lowered its just helpful. The scores have been up and down in the past years that there just isnt consistency to count on. Pulling on my memory, it seem the J3 competitive scores for Mens Air in 2004 or 2005 were around 560-570, last year the first round invite (Mens Air) was 530?

Aim high, be performance oriented rather than score oriented, train hard - don't "practice" - and remember to have fun. Too many shooters and parents put pressure to perform on young shooters and sometimes we need to remember J3/J2 are still developing and there is a long career path ahead. (Thats my quarterback coaching from the couch!)