A Dad’s Tale Getting a Competitive Shooter Started BY GREG BOGART
“Kelly, if you really want to do this it will take time, money and very hard work to be a decent shooter,” I said to my daughter. She approached me in April of 2008 and told me she wanted to join the high school air rifl e team the following fall as a freshman. Kelly wanted to be a “champion shooter.” I had been a champion shooter.
At 12 years old, coached by Frank Briggs, I had won many New York and Tri-State titles. I later attended Saint John’s Uni- versity in New York as a member of their well-respected National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Rifl e Team on an athletic scholarship. Kelly had already proven her-
self as a budding local athlete in many sports. Her grades were ex- cellent and she had musical tal- ent singing with the church and school choirs. Now, she suddenly wanted in on “my” sport. As all parents know, you
cannot coach your own kid. We needed to fi nd a local club that had the high standards, coach- ing skills, the equipment and the schedule necessary to succeed. We found that at the Roslyn Ju- nior Rifl e Club. When the team tryouts were
held in her high school, I was not sure that Kelly would make it. However, she had an excel- lent basic position that the high school coach noted, and she prevailed to make the team. YES! But now the really hard work needed to start. She attended the National
Rifl e Association (NRA) Junior Shooting Camp at Camp Perry.
(Top) Kelly Bogart poses with legend- ary shooter Lones Wigger. (Left) Kelly at the U.S. Olympic Training Center next to Wigger’s plaque for the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame.
Shooting was a core part of
Then, she participated in NRA sponsored summer shooting camps; USA Shooting, NRA, New York and Connecticut State Rifl e and Pistol matches; the U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Airgun; high school, county and state championships; the NRA’s Youth Educational Summit program and many other honors. Shoot- ing has opened numerous doors and provided many opportuni- ties.
As Kelly got better at shoot-
ing tens, I became progressively worse at coaching. I wasn’t try- ing to coach. It just happened. My tips for improvements weren’t welcome (unless nothing else worked).
18 USA Shooting News | Spring 2013
Kelly’s high school experience. In her junior year, it was time to look ahead and see if shooting would be a part of her academic future. She had maintained good academic standards, taking hon- ors and Advanced Placement (AP) courses. Kelly’s kneeling scores were
continually taking her aggregate score down. Her club coaches and I had tried low positions, high positions and pretty much everything we knew to get her a better kneeling score without success for a long time. Kelly was discouraged. I was discour- aged. It needed to be fi xed. Enter Frank Briggs. He had
retired from the United States Army Marksmanship Unit as a
head coach. I called and asked for a favor to have him work with Kelly. She needed a decent score in the upcoming 2012 National Junior Olympic Shooting Cham- pionships (NJOSC). Since we couldn’t go down to Columbus, Ga., we agreed to try Skype (a free video conferencing software service) as a coaching option. Talk about successful! In an
hour long session, Frank took her down to the absolute basics and built her position from the kneel- ing roll up. Kelly was confi dent in her new-found position and the coaching Frank gave her. Her kneeling scores immediately im- proved and continue to improve. She went from the high 80’s and low 90’s to averaging 96-98 starting with the next practice. It showed in her kneeling and over- all score at NJSOC a week later, earning her 12th place in the Women’s 50m Rifl e Three Posi- tion event. We were also able to score
the perfect balance for Kelly in academics and shooting. She now attends Texas Christian Uni- versity in Fort Worth, Texas. TCU has strong academics, a top shooting team and a fantastic coach in Karen Monez. Oh, and I still can’t coach my
daughter. To the parents who are wise enough to seek outside help, I would strongly urge them to consider alternate methods of coaching such as Skype. With the right coach and a willing athlete, this made the difference in our family and my daughter’s shooting career.