Schools

Robinson Rifle Team Hits the Mark

Robinson Secondary School Rifle Team competed Wednesday afternoon

Just a few millimeters can make the difference between a bull’s-eye shot and losing a match. 

In competitive air rifle shooting at , precision, balance, and patience are the name of the game.

“There are no natural athletes here, you have to learn things the hard way,” said Bob Hardy, who has coached Robinson’s rifle team for 31 years. “It teaches you patience and that nothing is free.”

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About 30 students participate in the rifle team. Students shoot from a smallbore .22-caliber, or precision air rifle, or both.  On Wednesday, seven of those students who most recently achieved the best scores in practice sessions competed in a match against West Potomac High School at the Izaak Walton League-America range in Centreville.

The team competes as part of the Potomac High School Rifle League, which is an association of high school teams in the Washington metropolitan area. The Robinson team has previously won the 2009, 2010, and 2011 High School National Championships.

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“It’s the kind of sport where all the participants don’t have to be 6 feet tall and over 200 pounds,” said Dave Cunningham, assistant head coach. “There are all kinds of sizes and personalities. It just takes practice.”

Kristin Arndt, 18, an outgoing Robinson senior, has now been on the rifle team for three years and is just about 5 feet, 5 inches tall.

“I was terrified of guns before I started playing the sport,” Arndt said. “When I was 10, I went out and shot a high-powered rifle with my uncle and it really scared me. But I went to a summer camp the summer before my sophomore year and was hooked.”

Arndt was drawn to the sport because of the atmosphere of competition.

“You are really competing against yourself, not your teammates,” Arndt said. “Everyone is so excited when you do well.”

Though each rifle team member is scored individually during a match, the highest scores for four out of five members on each team are added up at the end of a match to determine a winner.

Wednesday’s match brought home a win to Robinson against West Potomac, at 1,155 to 1,071 points.

Shooters use a 12-pound rifle to aim at targets 10 meters away and just 45 millimeters in diameter.

“It’s a mental challenge,” Coach Cunningham said. 

That mental challenge is part of what initially attracted sophomore Lucas Kozeniesky, 16, to the sport. Kozeniesky came across the team’s website when he transferred to Robinson.

“I really like solving puzzles,” Kozeniesky said. “Staying calm is the biggest thing. My mind tends to wander.”

“Every shot really has to be perfect. It’s kind of straining. It’s not like football where if you lose some points you have a chance to get them back. Once you lose points, they’re gone,” Kozeniesky said.

Kozeniesky and many other players keep a “shooter's journal” to help them keep track of what works and what doesn’t work before a match. In the journal, players keep track of everything, even what they eat and drink.

Kozeniesky usually eats turkey sandwiches and Goldfish crackers before his matches, along with plenty of water.

“Sugar makes your heart race, so you move your gun more,” Kozeniesky said. “The margin of error is very, very small.”

In addition to Wednesday afternoon practices, the teens also have to be at 5 a.m. practices on Saturdays.

“At first I wasn’t very motivated to wake up,” Kozeniesky said. “It was my dad telling me to get out of bed. But as I got more into it, I realized that my team needed me more then I needed to sleep in.”


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