AmmoLand.com

USA Shooting Nominates Kim Rhode to the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team

USA Shooting

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado --(Ammoland.com)-  USA Shooting is pleased to announce that four-time Olympic medalist Kim Rhode (El Monte, Calif.) has qualified for a nomination to the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team pending approval by the United States Olympic Committee.

Upon approval, Rhode will be competing in her fifth consecutive Olympic Games and chasing the record books as the first American Olympian to achieve five medals (in an individual event) in five Olympics. With podium-topping performances the past year, Rhode was the first member of the USA Shooting Team to meet and exceed the point threshold of 45 points for Women’s Skeet. Following the 2008 Olympic Games, USA Shooting adopted a point selection procedure for athletes to gain an Olympic nomination. Points are awarded based on competition performance at International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cups and World Championships.

Kim Rhode is shooting for Olympic history with a nomination to her fifth Olympic Games.

In 2010, Rhode started the ISSF World Cup season with a bang by winning a gold medal in Acapulco. She repeated her performance in Beijing where she equaled her own world record of 98 out of 100 targets. Rhode then placed fourth at the ISSF World Cup in Lonato, Italy, earning three additional points. Yet, the greatest feat of her 2010 season came at the ISSF World Championships in Munich, Germany. Rhode nailed 97 out of 100 targets for the gold medal and title of World Champion for the first time in her career. She started the 2011 season with a fifth place finish at the 2011 ISSF World Cup Chile and sealed the deal with a gold medal performance at the ISSF Sydney World Cup on March 30. Rhode has now reached a point total that cannot be surpassed by other U.S. athletes based on remaining competitions with available Olympic qualification points. Though it didn’t add to her point total, Rhode was also USA Shooting’s Athlete of the Year for the third year in a row. “It is such an honor to be nominated for my fifth Olympic team and to have the opportunity to bring home a fifth medal for the United States. None of this would be possible without the support of all my sponsors like Winchester and all the family and supporters at home who have helped support me in this endeavor,” said Rhode.

With a shooting career that began in her early years, Rhode won her first Olympic medal-gold-in Atlanta in 1996 in Women’s Double Trap as a 17-year-old. Four years later, she won the bronze in Sydney, and then the gold in Athens in 2004. Since Women’s Double Trap was removed from the Olympic program after the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, Rhode now competes in Women’s Skeet. At the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, Rhode continued her winning streak with a silver medal. USA Shooting would like to congratulate Kim Rhode on an excellent start to 2011 and qualifying for a nomination to the 2012 Olympic Team. To learn more about Olympic shooting and Kim Rhode, please visit the USA Shooting website.

Winchester Ammunition is a Proud Sponsor of the USA Shooting Shotgun Team: Winchester Ammunition has been the exclusive ammunition sponsor and supplier of the USAShooting Shotgun Team since 1999. Members of the 2008 shotgun team brought home four medals from Beijing using Winchester AA International Target loads. Winchester is an industry leader in advancing and supporting conservation, hunter education and our country’s proud shooting sports heritage. For more information about Winchester and its complete line of products, visit www.winchester.com.

About USA Shooting:
USA Shooting, a 501c3 non-profit corporation, was chartered by the United States Olympic Committee as the National Governing Body for the sport of shooting in April 1995. USA Shooting’s mission is to prepare American athletes to win Olympic medals, promote the shooting sports throughout the U.S. and govern the conduct of international shooting in the country. Check us out on the web at www.usashooting.org and Facebook.

Filed under: Competitive Shooting News by Ammoland No Comments »

NRA Youth Hunter Education Challenge May 14 2010
Event designed to enhance skills already learned in hunter education classes.

Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks

WICHITA, KS --(Ammoland.com)- On Saturday, May 14, the Chisholm Trail Antique Gun Association (CTAGA) will conduct their annual NRA Youth Hunter Education Challenge (YHEC) beginning with check-in at 7:30 a.m. and running throughout the day.

The event will take place at the CTAGA Gun Range, northeast of Wichita off of K-254 highway near the Sedgwick-Butler county line, 15090 East 69th Street North in Wichita.

Youth 18 years old and younger are encouraged to attend the event. All participants must have completed a basic state hunter education course and present proof of hunter education certification. No prior hunting experience is required, but participants must be able to shoulder and control firearms.

Participants will compete in junior (age 14 and younger) or senior (age 15 through 18) categories. While the YHEC has a competitive side, the focus of the program is the personal challenge of improvement and the advancement of skills introduced in a basic hunter education course.

Challenge events include the following:

• shotgun course with clay targets, 12- and 20- gauge shotguns only, no adjustable cheek stocks or butt plates;
• muzzle-loading course with life-size game targets at 20 to 70 yards, .50 caliber muzzleloaders, ammunition, and No. 11 percussion caps provided. Participants may provide their own muzzleloader (.54 caliber or smaller) and respective balls and patches. In-line muzzleloaders with saboted bullets allowed but bullets and supplies not provided. No scopes allowed.
• light rifle (.22 caliber) course with life-size game targets at 15 to 60 yards. Equipment is limited to rifles designed for field use and hunting. Scopes no greater than 4X are allowed. High-velocity .22 ammo will be provided;
• archery course with 3-D game animal targets from 5 to 40 yards. Participants may bring their own bows and arrows. Some equipment restrictions include no more than six sight pins, no magnified sights, only one stabilizer 12 inches or shorter, field points only. Recurve bows will be provided. All compound bows will be shot at the longer distances. Compound bow shooters must bring their own arrows.
• wildlife identification to test knowledge of Kansas wildlife from animal mounts, hides, bird wings, tracks, horns/antlers, and other evidence. No identification guides are allowed.
• safety trail to test safe hunting and gun handling skills, game laws, and hunter ethics.

The cost of registration is $15, which includes all ammunition. (Do not bring ammunition unless allowed on above list.) All equipment and firearms will be provided if needed. The registration deadline is May 7, but space is limited, so early registration is encouraged. A light lunch will be provided for participants, volunteers, and parents. Awards will be presented at the completion of the challenge.

To register, mail a check and registration form to Jim Fry, 116 E. Sandhill Rd., Derby, KS 67037. Make checks payable to Jim Fry. For more information or registration forms, phone Jim Fry at 316-788-5026 or email yhec@att.net.

This event is sponsored by NRA Foundations Inc., Heartland Friends of the NRA, the Chisholm Trail Antique Gun Association, the Kansas Department of Wildlife, and Parks, and the Kansas Wildlife Officers Association.

Filed under: Competitive Shooting News, Hunting News by Ammoland No Comments »