C CTC Update
Having a Champion’s Attitude From the Beginning at the Bridge Jr. Shooting Club
In Kim has big goals for
the members of his Bridge Jr. Shooting Club in southern California: • 30% of the Pistol ath- letes on the National Junior Team
• 30% of the National Junior/Junior Olym- pic medals
• 30% of the World Championship Junior Pistol team
And hopefully one day,
30% of the Olympic team. “Those are my goals – I
know it’s crazy - and because of it, I’m killing myself with training!” the Club director and Assistant National Team coach said. “That’s what I thought when I started this club about fi ve years ago, and I think about half of the pistol shooters on the Junior National Team have come from my club. Next goal for them is National Team then hopefully, the Olympics.”
He calls himself crazy,
but four (Brian Kim, Tony Chung, Helen Oh and Dan- iel Cheon) of the 11 Junior Pistol athletes competing in the International Shoot- ing Sports Federation (ISSF) World Championship in Granada, Spain are athletes from his club – that’s 36% - and more representation on the team of athletes from one club than any other. The Bridge Jr. Shooting
Club was founded in July 2010 by Kim to promote the sport of Olympic Pistol for ju- niors in the Southern Califor- nia area. Kim, a former rifl e shooter in his native South Korea, decided to start the club when he learned from a friend that Americans were shooting scores (on aver- age) nearly ten points less than their international com- petitors. “The United States is
one of the best and since
the frontier days we’ve been good at shooting, but if in Pistol we are about ten points behind? That’s kind of a shame. My friends and I decided to dedicate our- selves to developing a future Olympian in Pistol.” In the beginning, they
searched for a place to shoot, but no shooting range would give permission to shoot because they were ju- niors shooting pistol. Finally, Kim remodeled his offi ce to make a four-lane 10-meter range. After a year, junior mem-
bership grew to over 25 shooters and the place be- came too small, so they decided to start looking for a bigger place. The current facility is located at a small commercial warehouse business center in La Pu- ente, Calif. The club now has 17 ac-
tive club members who at- tend the required three to four training sessions per week. Club members head- ing to World Championship are practicing four to fi ve times a week for four to
Club members will train at unique hours if their matches occur in an earlier time zone.
fi ve hours a day until school starts – two hours dry fi ring, the rest with live ammo. “They have their passion
and have their goals and I’m here to help them achieve their goals. We try to help them work harder and hard- er every day.” Since Spain is nine hours
ahead of California, Kim has had his athletes practic- ing twice a day early in the morning and late at night to best account for the time dif- ference. Before the National Championships in Fort Ben- ning, Georgia where match- es started at 8 a.m. Eastern Time, athletes would train at 5 a.m. and even in saunas to best prepare them for the hot, humid conditions at the competition. “Right now we’re going
back to basics. They have to have a champion’s attitude, a winning attitude from the beginning if they’re going to be on my range. We train them harder than any other club.”
CONTACT: Director: In Kim
(bbmaster223 @
yahoo.co.kr) 202 S. 5th Ave. La Puente, CA. 91746
213-700-7161
September 2014 | USA Shooting News
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