Kids from Petersburg competed in a marksmanship tournament in Juneau earlier this month. But as KFSK’s Hannah Flor reports, the athletes involved in Petersburg’s club are learning about more than just target shooting.
Kids from around Alaska and parts of Washington gathered in Juneau for the 2023 9th Annual Southeast Fall Shoot Invitational. Becky Turland is a coach with Petersburg’s Devil’s Thumb Shooters and traveled to the event with 12 local athletes.
“It was 21 degrees, so it was freezing, but it’s fun to watch these kids succeed and break clays and have smiles on their faces,” she said.
The group promotes sportsmanship in competitive target shooting. It also aims to educate kids on firearm safety. Nearly 28 thousand shots were fired during the tournament. But, Turland says, there were no injuries.
Etolyn Turland is Becky’s daughter. She’s in 6th grade and has been participating for three years. She says the fact that they’re firing shotguns makes it different from other sports.
“In shooting if you mess around it can really go wrong,” she said. “So we have to be extra cautious.”
Her mom says that focus on safety creates another benefit – an increased maturity and sense of responsibility.
“Yeah, you’re shooting a gun and you’re firing at clays,” she said. “But it’s more for these kids to build a self competence, and a discipline that they’re not usually used to.”
Turland says marksmanship can be great for kids who have anxiety, or hyperactivity.
“When they’re at the range they’re able to focus,” she said.
The Devil’s Thumb Shooters was established in 2014. It started as a small club with one certified coach. Now they have seven coaches, and nearly two dozen athletes who practice one to two times a week at the shooting range, located about 13 miles south of town. And last year the club got a grant from the Petersburg Community Foundation. It paid for materials to build what’s called a five-stand – a covered area for the kids to stand in while they shoot. Rainforest Contracting donated labor to build the stand. That means that they’re able to practice more often, in all kinds of weather.
Some of the club’s new shooters competed in Juneau last weekend. 8th grader Madelyn Dreisbach won third place in intermediate ladies sporting clay.
“I was like, ‘Oh, I got a medal!’ And I walked up there, go it, came back and I was like, ‘Eeeeee, so happy!’”
Other wins include Etolyn Turland, who took 1st in all disciplines for female novice, and Hannah Slaven, who took 1st in all disciplines for female JV: Liam Mattingly competed in men’s novice & brought back 2nd in trap & wobbles, and 1st in double trap & High All Around.
The Devil’s Thumb Shooters won’t practice again until the spring, when they’ll start preparing for the Alaska YESS state championship in Anchorage.
The group will receive a portion of the money made at statewide Friends of the NRA fundraiser dinners. Petersburg will hold a Friends of the NRA dinner Saturday, November 4th at the Elks Ballroom.
