Olympic Star !

"You may have never heard of her, but Kimberly Rhode, 32, has a chance to become one of the most decorated U.S. Olympians of all time. If the shooter places on the podium in London, she’ll become the first American athlete to medal in an individual sport in five straight Olympic Games. Rhode won her first gold in 1996, a week after turning 17. She won a bronze in Sydney, another gold in Athens and a silver in Beijing. As a young girl, Rhode developed her shooting skills while on African safari trips with her family. She also credits video games with keeping her sharp by improving her hand-eye coordination."

Read more: http://olympics.time.com/2012/07/02/50-olympic-athletes-to-watch/slide/tony-gunawan/#kimberly-rhode#ixzz20bszigyo

Of Babes and Buffalo

For a time I worked for the U.S. Olympic Committee as a certified referee and coach for International Skeet and Trap. This involved traveling around the country refereeing various Shooting Championships and putting on shooting clinics.

It was in this capacity that I happened to be at the U.S.O.T.C. Shooting Center located on the edge of the Army’s Fort Carson Colorado, near Colorado Springs. I was there to “work” the Junior National Championship in International Skeet.

This Championship pits each Junior State Champion in traditional skeet, which is slower and easier against each other in the much tougher discipline of International Skeet. In traditional Skeet the gun is mounted in the shooting position before the bird is called for and the bird appears immediately on the shooters call. In International Skeet the gun is held with the butt below the hip, and when the shooter calls for the target there is an automated variable delay of up to 6 seconds before the bird appears. The gun may not be raised until the bird appears.

International Skeet is not widely shot in the U.S. but it is the format used in the Olympics so the only broad input to this discipline is from traditional National Skeet Shooting Association State Championships around the country.  These shooters are traditionally from about 12 years of age up the age of 17 years 364 days. Those shooters who do well there and catch the Olympic Coach’s eye (an old Air Force buddy of mine) are often offered a spot on the Olympic Development Team.  If their skills improve enough they are then offered status of Resident Athlete at the USOTC where they begin serious preparation to become an Olympic Shooter. 

The training is intense and they shoot several rounds of their discipline morning and afternoon nearly every day of the week. They do their schoolwork in the evenings and attend mandatory training and conditioning.

Since this particular Championship included youngsters who may not have competed at this level before we held a clinic the day before the actual shoot to allow them to become familiar with the surroundings, shoot the much more disciplined course (no talking permitted), and get used to the referees and the delayed targets.  It also allows the coaches/ referees to get an idea of the skills of each shooter and give them some additional help if they need it. As a rule these are accomplished young shooters and most help is with rules and procedures.

This particular shoot was held in late August, and it had been raining for several days. The road to the range at that time was dirt, and thanks to a couple local yahoos in their 4 wheel drives it was not passable by two wheeled vehicles. The Center has a fleet of 4 wheel drive vehicles and we used them to ferry all the shooters and their gear to the facility, which is one of the premier trap and skeet ranges in the country. Since we would be there all day the USOTC Dining Facility sent us a really nice lunch and at mid day we took a break to eat and swap stories.

My Son (Maryland State Champ) and I shared a table with one of the lady Olympic Shooter Coaches and one little waif who looked somewhat like a drowned rat! She was all of about 13 years old and less than a hundred pounds soaking wet, and she was just that, soaking wet. It had rained that morning and she did not have her rain gear with her.

Thus we met Ms. Kimberly Rhode, a mere Babe in our eyes.

Now Kimmie  (as she was called) did not do that well in the Championship, it rained, it snowed, it blew, and it was just generally miserable. She wore glasses and they would fog up or get rain covered, and it was certainly not the conditions she was used to at her sunny California home shooting range. But I could see that she could shoot, and shoot well for her age and stature. Had she been better equipped she would have done very well.

In fact when the Olympic Development Team (those under 18) stepped up to shoot they were impressive, equipped, and deadly.  The donned their custom tailored gore-tex rain suits, their rain and fog proofed shooting glasses, and commenced to put on a show. Equipment does matter - - - you cannot shoot targets moving at 70 mph if you cannot see them clearly.

But let us return to that lunch table for just a minute. Kimmy and our tablemate, and perhaps one other young lady shooter were the only females there. There were probably 40 young men.

 The room was knee deep in teenaged testosterone, and the banter was quite lively and jovial, but clean.  Our tablemate, an Olympic Shooter herself, was trying to draw Kimmie out and into the conversation that was circling the room. She asked her what her shooting goals in her life were in an attempt to get her talking.  Kimmie piped up that she had two real shooting goals in life one was to shoot on the Olympic team, and the second was to take a Cape Buffalo in Africa.

You should have heard the giggles going around the room, the young men should have been ashamed. I am sure I heard - - - “The Cape Buffalo is considered the most dangerous game animal there is!”    and  “ A Cape Buffalo would tromp a skinny little kid like you right into the dust”  and the topper  “ If you were to shoot a rifle big enough to take a Cape Buffalo it would kick you so hard you would be back in diapers”.

Kimmie just sort of took it all in and the sat upright in her chair as if to gather her strength.   You could have heard a pin drop in that room when Kimmie announced “ and I took my Cape Buffalo last year ! “

I knew instantly that this was a young lady to be reckoned with !