By: DeSoto Parish 4-H, Ami Altom

The targets were set, and silence fell on the crowd. Four keen eyed DeSoto Parish 4-H’ers bravely stepped up to the line to take their shot at a National Championship. Jacob Berry, Addison Burnley, Emma Houston, and Eli Smith all had invested countless hours on the practice range, checking equipment and safety preparations in order to make this dream of winning a National Championship a reality. And as the week of June 22^nd approached, all were prepared for the task. The 4-H members, along with their families made the 13-hour trip to Grand Island, Nebraska to represent the state of Louisiana in Air Rifle and Muzzleloading.

This was Jacob Berry’s first trip to Nationals to compete on the Louisiana Muzzleloading team. On the first day he secured 10^th place and an overall team placement of 3^rd. On the second day he improved his placement to 8^th and an overall team placement of 2^nd. The brutal winds of Nebraska wreaked havoc on the Muzzleloaders on the final day dropping his team to 9^th place. But overall, the team secured a 4^th place victory adding to the teams average and precipitating the Team Louisiana victory. Jacob Berry left Nationals with this thought, “Nationals was an awesome experience and I hope to return next year. I can not wait to share what I learned with the next muzzleloading team to better their chances of going to Nationals the following year.”

The Air Rifle team coached by local Dusty Dumas that explicitly contributed to the National victory, consisted of DeSoto Parish team members, Addison Burnley, Emma Houston and Eli Smith. All members have shown tremendous talent on the line and have proven to be a force to compete against in the 4-H Shooting Sports competitions prior to Nationals. On the first day of competition the team finished strong and were pleased with their scores. Addison finished the day in 3^rd place, Eli followed in 12^th place, with Emma finishing a tad lower but solid scores all around. The second day would prove to be tougher as a standing match, without supports, 40 shots. Eli maintained his position of 12^th place, Addison in 15^th, followed by Emma with a strong score, the Louisiana team ending in 3^rd place for the day. On the final day the DeSoto competitors proved why they are the best. In a silhouette round, our shooters finished incredibly strong as the 1^st place team. Addison Burnley individually finished 3^rd in the round, newly elected State Shooting Sports Ambassador, Eli Smith in  4^th and newly elected State Shooting Sports Ambassador,  Emma Houston in 10^th place. The team concluded the Nationals week as the Overall 3^rd place team in Air Rifle, Addison 3^rd, Eli 6^th and Emma 35^th, out of 93 individual shooters and 21 teams. They are all planning their return to Nationals in additional shooting sports disciplines in the coming years. Eli Smith added, “Even though I have been to Nationals twice, each experience has gotten better. The friendships I’ve made are as much a part of the experience as the competition. This is something I will never forget!”

All four of these participants highly contributed to the victory earned by Team Louisiana at the National Shooting Sports competition in Nebraska. At the 4-H office we are aware that we are surrounded by the greatness of these young people. The 4-H National Shooting Sports Competition is truly a collaboration of adults and youth, teaching leadership skills, work ethic, dedication to a goal, and supportive strategies. There are no easy rounds at Nationals but through the encouragement and support of coaches, parents, teammates and friends these 4-H competitors are learning to handle the stress and excitement of arduous competition like the pros they soon shall be. Well done DeSoto 4-H members, well done Team Louisiana!