On the Cover
Elizabeth Gratz: Good Today, Better Tomorrow
Pretentious Elizabeth Gratz (pictured) is not, even if she has every reason to be. Seemingly, this reserved 18-year-old has ev- erything going for her. Having got her start through
4-H, she is a rising star in the sport of rifl e posting scores and results well beyond age and ex- perience.
Gratz is a member of the USA Shooting National Junior Team and has competed for the USA at four international competi- tions. In 2013, she shot at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cups in Fort Benning and Granada.
A native of Sigel, Ill., In
June of last year, at a junior-level competition, she won the 10m air rifl e competition at the 23rd Meeting of the Shooting Hopes in the Czech Republic. She also placed fourth in prone and 10th in three-position. An eight-time state champion, Gratz was the high J2 fi nisher and placed fourth overall at the 2013 Junior Olympics.
But for Gratz, the oldest of
four girls, it’s simple to stay fo- cused despite her early success in the sport. Perhaps the biggest gift she carries aside from ac- curacy and poise is the gift of maturity, patience and an eye on where she’ll be tomorrow, not where she’s at today. In her eyes, there’s always the potential to be better. Something she’s en- grained with, perhaps based on the constant good-hearted rib- bing from her father, James. “I try to keep her focused on
improving, not on winning,” ac- knowledges James. “When she broke 550, 580, 590, 595, I told her ‘A ‘lil better tomorrow.’ “It’s al- most a joke now.” You don’t get recruited to one of the best collegiate rifl e pro- grams in the country, West Virgin- ia University, without a package that includes both parts success and potential. “We are really excited to have Elizabeth join the Mountaineers next season,” says WVU coach Jon Hammond. “She is one of the most exciting prospects in the country and has already repre- sented the USA in several inter- national competitions. Elizabeth is a fantastic air rifl e shooter. Ad- ditionally, she is a great student and is highly motivated. She will be a great addition to our team.” To date, Elizabeth’s defi ning moment was the 2012 Winter Airgun Championships where she fi nished in the top-three in the Open Division all three days. That set her up to compete at the 2013 Bavarian Airgun Cham- pionships and the international events later that year that she cherishes. “It proved to me that I can compete at this level,” she admits. Like a mature rifl e shooter,
she’ll never be completely sat- isfi ed with where she’s at and has already experienced her fi rst major lull in the sport in January with an unexpected poor perfor- mance during her second trip to the Bavarian Airgun Champion- ships.
Guidance from those which she continues to seek council like Dave Johnson, Sarah Scher- er and Petra Zublasing assures her that this is just a part of the process of becoming a better performer. “It’s a battle not to think too
much while shooting, but trying to perfect every part of your shot process at the same time,” Gratz claims. “I’m always striving to get better.
In practice I’m able
to free my mind and not think about anything. In a match, I fi nd myself focusing too much.
I’m
working on trying fi nd that bal- ance right now.” “In this sport, you need to expect perfection from yourself,” she adds. “But at the same time, you can’t think about expecting perfection from yourself.” “She is a fi erce competitor
at everything,” says James. “Her hard-headed drive is what sets her apart. It is her biggest asset and also her biggest obstacle.”
March 2014 | USA Shooting News 29
Her desire to be the best led her to giving up another sport which she’s passionate about which is volleyball, something she had played since third grade before giving up this year to fo- cus on rifl e.
Despite being a girl of very
few words, her story is told through early success and un- ending potential. With college ahead and a burning desire to be the best, we suspect that her real story is still largely unwritten.
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