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Easton Foundation Opens Archery Center In Van Nuys California

Easton Foundations Archery Center In Van Nuys California

Easton Foundation

Van Nuys, CA --(Ammoland.com)- The Easton Foundations has opened its latest archery center, located in Van Nuys, CA on 15026 Oxnard Street, just minutes from its corporate office.

The Easton Van Nuys Archery Center is the second of the Easton Foundation run centers, which also includes the Easton Newberry Sports Complex in Newberry, FL.

It is part of a system of archery centers that the Foundation is funding, which also includes the Easton Foundation Archery Center in Yankton, SD, a joint program with the NFAA (National Field Archery Association) and the John and Marnie Demmer Shooting Sports Education and Training Center at Michigan State University (MSU).

“The new Easton Van Nuys Archery Center is a fabulous facility and well adapted as an archery complex. Our vision for the center is to develop programs and opportunities for a variety of coaching courses, from beginning to elite, as well as coach and archer training opportunities. As we continue to grow the sport, especially among youth, we will need many more qualified coaches and archery facilities to handle the influx of new archers. The centers The Easton Foundations are developing are a strong and positive step in that direction. ” said Don Rabska, VP of Programs and a member of the Board of Directors.

The Van Nuys center is already home to a local JOAD (Junior Olympic Archery Development) Club and is well utilized by archers from UCLA and California State University, Northridge for practice and training. The facility is also the center for the Foundations’ OAS (Olympic Archery in Schools) Program and a league night on Thursdays. The center will be adding new programs in the near future as well. The facility also hosts coaching courses and currently has coaches and students of various levels training to improve their archery skills.

“The Easton Van Nuys Archery Center is a great resource for OAS. From its start we have been using it for coach and archer training as well as for OAS competitions,” said Keaton Chia, OAS Program Supervisor, “The center has everything we need including a classroom, areas for parents to watch, and a beautiful indoor archery range. The range is fully equipped to host competitions and is also perfect for training archers and coaches. We have targets setup at 18 meters as well as at a shorter distance which is great for archers working on their form and technique. The center is also outfitted with large mirrors and other training aids. I am excited that this resource is available to our schools and youth. I look forward to the many events we will be holding at the center and for the impact it will make on the community.”

This new facility includes a 12 lane, back to back 18 meter and 7 meter indoor range, eating and viewing area for guests and conference/training room as well as offices and a warehouse.

The training center will be open to archers and coaches involved in JOAD, OAS and other programs. Interested parties should contact Idida Briones at (818) 901-0127 ext. 202 or ibriones@esdf.org.

For more information on the Easton Foundations, a full listing of our programs, grant recipients, and / or information on the grant selection process please go to our website at www.EastonFoundations.org or contact Ms. Idida Briones at (818) 901-0127 ext. 202 or via email at ibriones@esdf.org.

About the Easton Foundations:
The Easton Foundations’ aim is to keep archery a viable part of the sporting culture in communities across the United States. The Foundation was created in 1982 by Jim Easton, the founder and former CEO of Easton Sports, Inc, in preparation for the 1984 Olympics. The Foundation actively works to introduce the Olympic sport of archery to communities across the country. It supports the training of aspiring archers, trainers, coaches, and administrators and building of indoor and outdoor archery facilities at city parks, schools, universities and sports complexes.

The Easton Foundations encourages and engages youth to participate and develop skills in the sports of archery, baseball, softball, ice hockey, and cycling. It contributes to selected 501(c)(3) charitable groups and universities that share its vision of excellence and innovation in sports programs, business and engineering education, and medical research

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Self-Funding Shooting Ranges
A New Way of Looking at Shooting Range Viability.
By Addison Sovine

Self-Funding Shooting Ranges

Action Target

Provo, Utah --(Ammoland.com)- While the top-level view of a commercial indoor shooting range may appear simple and direct, the economic reality is often the opposite.

If one were to take the cost of a range based on today’s market value and implement a state-of-the-art range featuring approximately ten lanes, the initial investment would be well into the millions.

A range costing a million dollars would require $50,000 in range fees just to cover the interest payment alone. If a range yields $10 per participant for each hour of range time, five hundred shooters would be necessary to simply cover that interest.

In addition to start-up fees, heating and cooling of the facility can be substantial when variables like airflow and heat are factored in.

Expenses that add up quickly
Another five hundred shooters —if not a full additional thousand— would be necessary to cover the cumulative cost of operations and physical utility bills. This does not include costs associated with labor, maintenance, or any other expenses, causing the cost of an operation range to accumulate.

Making Your Good Range Great
Over the past 26 years of leading the industry, the men and women of Action Target have learned that an indoor range in and of itself is not as viable a solution as an indoor range used in conjunction with a retail store. However, a guiding principle sometimes forgotten is that a good range validates a good store. A good range makes it possible for a store to perform a service that dealers and stores without a range cannot perform. Clients can test firearms prior to making their purchase. Rental or lease programs are realistic possibilities, allowing for more informed decisions to be made. A singular offering like an on-site range provides a service unavailable elsewhere, meaning you are selling not only the firearms, but also a rare service–your expertise.

Your ability to provide a critical service as an expert in the shooting industry, in conjunction with the services of a range, allows you to train and demonstrate that which you sell. A range also gives the opportunity for relevant, adjacent offerings, such as personal protection classes, concealed carry classes, and other things not available from people who would need to rent or borrow a range. With this in mind, reconsider the economic validity of building or purchasing a range.

A Model of Economic Viability
Supposing your range will consist of ten lanes, the last thing that you want to worry about it is the required maintenance. Any mechanical device follows a single objective rule—the more complex the device, the more expertise necessary in its service and maintenance. Just a few years ago, having an automobile with a motor, a carburetor, and a little common sense may have been the only necessary tool in order to adjust the carburetor. Today, however, the proliferation of computer controlled, microchip-fueled components makes it incredibly difficult to do so. Accidents or problems can necessitate repairs that are far more expensive now than they may have been ten or fifteen years ago.

The laws of physics hold domain over any space, including ranges where bullets are being fired. Combined with constant historical trends of human innovation, we can see that whenever someone builds something to stop a bullet, someone else will build a bullet strong enough to go through it. Thus, it is only a matter of time before an equipment failure or breakdown on a range occurs.

The value of simplicity, then, is clearly demonstrated. On a typical commercial range, there is no need for fancy, high-end target retrieval systems. The most cost-effective system on a range is a simple toggle switch on a track and a motor that takes the target down to a distance—this distance determined perhaps by a line painted on the wall or a line painted on the floor. This distance is determined and used as the operator runs the target down by holding the switch. As the operator brings the target back, they will run the switch until the target returns. While this may not sound like sufficient technology for training law enforcement, it truly is the only necessary mechanism for target retrieval.

If you are going to donate your commercial range to local law enforcement, understand what that could entail. Even with donations of use, local law enforcement agencies’ use of your range will be a small fraction of its cumulative use. You will not be able to properly maintain your range or even break even based upon the rental of that range with your law enforcement under typical circumstances.

*NOTE: This has been the first section of many Action Target White Papers being released to the public. All white papers can be accessed through our website. To read the rest of the Self-Funding Shooting Ranges White Paper, you can download the entire PDF document by clicking on the link provided.

About Addison Sovine
Addison is the Executive Vice-President and Co-Founder of Action Target. He has over 26 years industry experience and has personally designed, built, and maintained thousands of shooting ranges.

About Action Targets:
Action Target is a privately owned business headquartered about 40 miles south of Salt Lake City in Provo, Utah. For the last 20 plus years, Action Target has been the dominant force in shooting range equipment design and manufacturing for law enforcement, military, and commercial ranges around the world. We are proud of our commitment to deliver advanced firearms training products that help prepare our men and women in uniform for the heroic job of defending our safety and our freedom. Visit: www.actiontarget.com

Filed under: Competitive Shooting News, Shooting Industry News by Ammoland 1 Comment »