Massachusetts Junior Rifle Program

Description

Program: The junior program at the Massachusetts Rifle Association is one of the best in the State. The program instructs young boys and girls ages 11 to 18 on firearms safety and basic marksmanship with a .22 rifle and .177 Air Rifle. The juniors not only learn the proper and safe handling of a firearm they are also instructed on range safety. We begin at the end of October with a registration night where both juniors and their parents MUST attend. At that event we get to meet you and you get to learn about the MRA and the junior rifle program. You will be able to questions you may have beforecommittingto the program. Each junior member is signed to one hour block of instruction in a group of 9. The blocks of time are5pm to 6pm 6:00 PM to7:00 PM 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM and 8:00 PM to 9:00 PM. The program issegregatedin this manner to provide individual attention to each junior and provide a way to move them forward quicker if that demonstrate anaptitudefor the sport.Practice sessions are help Monday evenings in the Fazio range located upstairs in the facility.The cost for the program is $40.00 per year. The program spams fromOctober through April.Practice session are not held during school vacations and holidays. During the program all rifles and ammunition are provided for the juniors by the MRA. Juniors are not allowed to use their own rifles unless they are part of the advanced program and have permission from the coach.The program is a hands on learning and follows the NRA badge program for rifle marksmanship. This program allows the juniors to follow their progress while learning the 4 basic positions of rifle shooting. The positions are prone offhand kneeling and sitting. Juniors are moved along in their instructions as they show they have mastered that particular position. The shooting scores that juniors achieve while participating in the program are entered into their log sheets in order to track achievement medals and badge they earn throughout the program year.Juniors who demonstrate both interest and aptitude in their marksmanship skills may at the end of the program be asked to move up to the higher levels of participation in the advanced group. The advanced group participates with more practice time uses more equipmentand are involved in more competitions. Competitions take place locally and nationally. This summer members of the junior program traveled to Ohio Alabama and Georgia.And local states likeConnecticut Rhode Island New York and Pennsylvania.They have also have the opportunity toparticipatein air rifle competition.Juniors will also have an opportunity to move onto in summer months areas of high-power shooting. You must be at least 14 to try High-power and recommendations of the coach.Our advanced junior program has won many State and National awards over the past 10 years and we hope to see this continue for many more. Our ultimate goal is to help any young man or women who are interested in competition to go on to the college or university of their choice as part of a collegiate team and hopefully sponsored with a scholarship.We have had at least one or two junior members each year that have graduated and gone onto a Collegiate shooting program. This year we are proud to say we had two sisters move on. Olivia Nardone of Winchester is now a Cadet at West Point and is part of their rifle team her twin sister Alexis is now in Alaska (Alaska Fairbanks) and is the newest member of their collegiate team. We are very proud of both members.