Cumberland Beagle Club Junior Rifles

Description

Our program seeks to improve our current Junior Rifle Program to benefit both children of club members and also those children in surrounding communities (we are open to the public) who wish to learn shooting in a safe environment with the opportunity to extend their learning and skills from recreation into a competitive environment. Our goal is to provide for increased and informed participation in the shooting sports. In 2015 we started a new branch of our Junior Program by starting a competition Junior Rifle team and have joined the Ocean State Junior Rifle Association. We have increased the program from one participant to as many as 32 on a regular basis with eight on the current travelling/competition team. As the program improves we expect that word of mouth and club announcements will continue to bring in new shooters to the program adding to our existing base. To date we have junior shooters from Boy Scouts, 4H, Girl Scouts, Sea Cadets, local town residents and out-of-town participants ranging from 8-20 years old. As the program grows we will continue to offer safety instruction for new shooters and current members and promote league competition among the other state clubs in the league. Additionally, we are the only club in the state that uses electronic targets via Orion/Athena. That has allowed our team to participate in the Orion Air and Smallbore leagues as well as CMP matches for both smallbore and air rifle. Over the past six years we've had several shooters be invited to the nationals for the Junior Olympics, CMP Matches at Camp Perry and have had two shooters attend college on shooting scholarships. We would like to see the program with 35-40 participants and 10+ on the competition team. [updated 2023]