submitted by James Lee
The Jr rifle season is in full swing for the Maspenock Jr rifle league. This year the Riverside Gun Club from Hudson, MA joined the league brining the total number of clubs in the league to 7. The league includes teams from Harvard Sportsman Association, Holliston Sportsmen’s Association, Marlborough Fish and Game, Maspenock Rod and Gun Club (Milford, MA), Maynard Rod and Gun and Southborough Rod and Gun Club. With the growth of the league the matches are no longer held at a single club but are split between two hosting clubs to accommodate the growing number of competitors.
The clubs Maspenock league stress safety, fun and marksmanship (in that order) to allow the participants to grow their skills in a safe and fun environment. Past participants in the league have progressed to shoot national matches, participate in the Junior Olympics and / or shoot for college teams.
The first match of the season was held at Harvard and Southborough on December 7’th with Harvard hosting Harvard, Hudson, Maynard and Maspenock. Southborough hosted Southborough Marlborough and Holliston. The Second Match was held at Harvard (hosting Harvard, Marlborough and Maynard) January 11’th and Maspenock (hosting Maspenock, Southborough, Holliston and Hudson) January 25’th.
After the first two matches, the leader is Marlborough in a strong first with 1910 points, followed by Southborough with 1736, and Harvard with 1712. In all 55 competitors from the 7 different teams have had a taste of the competition. Interestingly the Marlborough team is a relative new comer to the league having joined the league recently so the new comers of Maynard (last year) and Hudson (this year) can progress to leading the league in the future.
Rifle is both an individual and a team sport. Individuals work at performing to score their best targets at each of three positions, prone (lying down), off hand (standing), and kneeling shooting 10 shots in each positions. The beginners shoot all 30 shots prone. Competitors help their team with the scores of the top 4 shooters being combined for the team score. Marlborough’s strategy of fielding a large team has worked to their advantage with some competitors doing better in the second match helping team mates who did better on the first match. The Marlborough competitors shooting a score over 225 on one of the matches were AJ Carmody, Colton Valchuis, Gianna Ferrecchia, Bradley Smith and Adam Amatucci. The Anchor of the Southborough team is Abby Monique scoring well over 250 in each of her performances.
Now that the competitors have all had a taste of competition, many of them will get more serious about practice to either improve their score over their teammates or to help their team win the league.
Although this is a competition between the clubs, the coaches and volunteers give their time and expertise to all the jr. competitors. In every match, the coaches help any competitor needing help and the teams lend equipment as needed to other teams.
The remaining competitions of the season are:
February 8’th – Harvard hosting Husdon and Marlborough.
Maspenock hosting Holliston, Southborough and Maynard.
March 8’th – Harvard hosting Maspenock and Marlborough.
Southborough hosting Holliston, Hudson and Maynard.
March 29’th – Harvard hosting all clubs for a 50 yard out door match.
Each of the teams in the league is funded by a combination of their program fees which range from free to nominal chargers to partially cover expenses, funding from the host clubs, various fund raisers and grants from the NRA foundation. Please consider making a donation to the Junior rifle program at your local club.
Many thanks go out to the head coaches of the teams, the assistant coaches and volunteers.
