The High Caliber Generation continues…

Over on my original blog, Rounds and Roses, I started a series called “The High Caliber Generation,” which featured junior shooters that are an encouragement to all of us. I am reviving that series here on High Caliber Cate, and will begin by featuring my own junior shooting team, the Red Dawn Raiders.

The winning team: Brandi Stroud, Kyle Post, Bailey Stroud, and Dylan Bray

Four members of that team, Dylan Bray (16, and my son), Brandi Stroud (15), Bailey Stroud (13), and Kyle Post (16), recently became the Scholastic Pistol Program’s Junior Rimfire National Champions, even beating the best Senior Rimfire time!

All four of these young people have been shooters for some time, but not necessarily focused on pistol shooting.  Dylan, Kyle, and Bailey had been shooting local steel challenge matches as a hobby, but when we decided to begin competing in the Scholastic Pistol Program (SPP) and Scholastic Steel Challenge (SSC) matches, back in February, I wanted to send them to a match that was coming up at Texas A&M (the SPP Winter Regionals), just to see what the competition was like. I wanted to enter them so they could get a feel for what the matches would be like, and really just to see if it was something they wanted to do.

Problem:  We only had three shooters (at that time, Dylan, Bailey, and Daniel Martin), but we needed four to compete. We grabbed Brandi about a week before the match and asked her to fill in – again, just go see what it’s like – no pressure.  Brandi had been a long-distance rifle competitor for some time.  She shot pistols for fun occasionally, but her competitive focus was high power rifles.  She agreed, though, so we ran her through the steel procedures for less than a week, and send the group up to A&M – where they promptly took 1st in their division, 1st overall, and Brandi came in 2nd Woman Overall!  They even beat a few college teams that weekend, winning beautiful A&M Corps of Cadet watches, which A&M purchased because they expected their own junior team to win them.

Everyone involved was walking on air!  We knew they were good shooters, but they had never shot as a team before, had never shot in an SPP match before, and Brandi had never shot in a steel match at all. One thing we learned at that match, though, is that these kids are competitors.  Every one of them shot their best times at that match, and they have pretty much continued to do that at every match since then. Not only does competition not intimidate them, they do their best in that environment.

Being presented with our endowment check at Ft. Benning

Following that match, they shot in the SSC Collegiate Nationals in Ft. Benning, Georgia, and took 1st in Junior Rimfire and 2nd in Junior Centerfire. Unfortunately, for us, Daniel Martin went off to Marine bootcamp (and we’re very proud of his service) after that match, which again left us without a 4th.  We began to develop some of our younger students at that time, and were preparing (hoping) to take two teams to the SPP Texas State Championship in San Antonio, in June (actually on my birthday).

Team members came and went, right up until days before the match, and we never knew if we would have two full teams to compete or not.  Bailey Stroud, who at 13 was on our younger team, agreed to step up and fill in a spot on the older team, so that gave us three solid Black Team (older students) shooters.  Fortunately, at another local match about a week or two before, we met Kyle Post and his dad, Adam.  Kyle and Adam were excited about the team and Kyle jumped right in to fill out our Black team.  We already had four shooters on our Red Team (younger students), so off we went to San Antonio.

Some Red Team members earned cash for dropping their times dramatically at the match.

Sure enough, the kids performed even better than expected, and our Black Team took 1st in Junior Rimfire and came in 1st overall, with the Red Team (consisting of Carissa Barrett and her twin sister, Twila Barrett, Dalton Evans, and Baley Lamar – all 13 years old) taking 2nd in Junior Rimfire and 3rd overall.

Next challenge:  The SPP National Championships in Sparta, Illinois.  We were only able to take one team to that match, our Black Team, which now solidly included Bailey Stroud, who has grown tremendously as a shooter over the past few months.  And as stated earlier, they swept 1st and again had the best time overall in the rimfire division.

I simply cannot be more proud of them – not because they win matches, but because of the dedication and commitment I see in them.  They work hard, and it shows – but not just in shooting; they also work hard in school, are all good students, and are quality individuals no matter what they are doing.  That makes for a very well-rounded person, which is what we are seeking to build on this team.

The team and their A&M watches

The success and commitment of all our team members has prompted me to work on formalizing the junior marksmanship academy, to help others succeed, as well.  One thing I didn’t mention is that at two different matches, Texas A&M Corps of Cadet members and Staff have approached our team and asked if they would consider wearing a maroon (A&M color) jersey.  The kids have been told they have a place on the team when they are ready, which prompted Dylan and Brandi to change their plans, from going directly into military service following high school, to attending college first – something their parents had hoped for 🙂

Many thanks go out to the folks at Red Dawn Training and Houston Tactical Training, specifically Michelle Stroud, who literally, physically built (and continues to expand) a new range when we were kicked out of our original one (because “the women are doing too much out here”), and who has done so much to help build and support this team; and to Michelle’s husband, Perry, and her parents, Jake and Janice Jacob, who gave the property for the range; to Brian Su, a Master level USPSA shooter, and dear friend, who has become head coach of the Alpha Squad (formerly the Black Team); and to my husband, Tom, who is a constant encouragement to all of us; as well as to the parents of all the kids, who spend a great deal of time and money to make sure these young people have what they need to move forward in this sport.  I’m so proud of all of you!!

In the future I will be interviewing each team member individually to let you hear from them how shooting has positively affected their life.