'It's safer than chess': the high school shooting clubs standing their ground after Parkland

“Find the center yet?” asked Paul Menjik, the 82-year-old coach of upstate New York’s Central Square air rifle team.

“Looking for it,” answered Maryann Sobel, shouldering her rifle. She steadied herself into firing position – body perpendicular to the target, legs locked into a triangle shape, breath steady and calm – and aimed at the bullseye 10 meters away, a minuscule dot half a millimeter in diameter. For a perfect shot, the high-school freshman needed to not just find the needle in the haystack; she needed to shoot through the needle’s eye.

Sobel, Menjik and the rest of the Central Square team had driven over 200 miles through the howling winds of a nor’easter to participate in the New York Public High School Athletic Association Air Rifle Championship. Held on the campus of the US Military Academy at West Point this past Saturday, 71 shooters from across the state had gathered in a quest to be crowned New York’s best.

Outside, whitecaps churned across the Hudson River and snow drifts swirled in small cyclones, but inside West Point’s air-rifle range the vibe was warm and familial. Parents opened coolers filled with sandwiches and soft drinks, coaches met to discuss safety and strategy, and students conquered their jitters with cell phone games. If not for the quiet, repetitive pop of the rifles, it could have been any other youth sporting event.

Source: theguardian