March 29, 2017 at 3:08 p.m.
Strong turnout for Hodag trap's inaugural season
Strong turnout for Hodag trap's inaugural season
The coaches were optimistically hoping to get 10 kids when the new team got the green light from the Rhinelander school board back in late December.
Nearly triple that amount showed up for Sunday's season-opening meeting.
"We're over the hump," head coach Phil Kriesel said, referring to getting kids to come out for the sport. "I think basically now we've just got to figure out where the kids are and tailor our program to fit where their experience level is at."
That will be determined over the next three weeks as the team practices on Sundays at the sports club ahead of the first week of competitive shooting April 23.
The kids who turned out Sunday come from several different backgrounds. Several are already involved in other spring sports at RHS. The fact that the trap team meets on Sundays allows them to balance trap with their primary sport.
"With baseball and other sports, like wrestling and football, I kind of don't have as much time to get to shoot as often," junior Tyler Olson said. "When there's a Sunday opening up, I can come out here, be with a bunch of my friends and stuff, it's kind of a good time."
Others don't play traditional stick-and-ball sports, which is exactly what Kriesel said he wanted.
"It's been really great that we've been able to reach a different demographic that what sports have been traditionally doing in Rhinelander," he said. "We have a couple of girls also, which is awesome. We originally wanted to be co-ed and we have reached a couple of girls. I'm really enthused about that."
There was no shooting on Sunday, though the team members brought their guns to be inspected by the coaching staff. From there the group meet for roughly an hour to go over ground rules, shooters' safety and other pertinent information about the program.
It's been nearly 30 years since Rhinelander last had a trap shooting team. Its resurrection has been a long time coming.
"I think it's been kind of a lost cause because Rhinelander used to have a trap team and then it kind of disappeared," Olson said. "(District administration) finally let it happen and I know a lot of kids have talked about wanting to come out and have a trap team."
"I feel like people just want to try something new and not be doing nothing," added junior Makayla Kuester, one of two female shooters in attendance Sunday. "I feel like it will be pretty fun."
Not only has the team seen a strong turnout of shooters, but several parents and sports club members have stepped up to help coach the fledgling squad.
"I've had a great turnout with people attempting to coach, about a dozen people that are interested in helping me coach," Kriesel said. "A couple of them are league-certified trained coaches and range officers, basically most of them are. We won't have any issues with training or anything like that."
Aside from the convenience factor and the newness of the program, the Northwoods' rich hunting and outdoors tradition appears to have attracted young shooters to the sport.
"I didn't even know that half of these people owned guns," quipped sophomore Martin Hoger, who has a background hunting game birds in the fall. "I'm so used to being busy with other stuff that it's kind of nice to have some free time in the spring to be able to get out and shoot. There's not a lot of (hunting) seasons going on right now. I'm used to shooting around in the fall, going out to North Dakota, but this is good to just practice my shooting and make sure I'm on target."
Added Olson: "With me being able to have the opportunity to shoot with friends and meet new people that I don't really talk to in school, it's kind of a good thing to be able to bond with people that aren't necessarily in like athletic sports, but you can bond with them outside of that on the shooting range."
Kriesel said while the numbers are strong for the team's inaugural season, they are still "a shade low" compared to other area teams. He cited Crandon's program, which he said has roughly 55 shooters between the middle and high school ranks.
The Hodags are part of the Wisconsin State High School Clay Target League (WSHSCTL). Regular season matches will be conducted virtually against other high school teams around the state, meaning each team will shoot at its home range and turn those scores into a centralized database to determine head-to-head results. The season will culminate with the state tournament Saturday, June 10 at the WTA Shooting Complex in Rome. All participants in the league are eligible to compete in the state shoot.
The team is allowed to begin official practice for the upcoming season, which will involve shooting at live targets, beginning this Sunday.
"Next week will be the first week that we actually have shooting on the grounds," Kriesel said. "We'll have two weeks of practice and then there's what they call a reserve week. If they didn't get their two practices in, they'll have a third week. For most, I'd assume it will just be a third practice. Then we'll start with the actually competition that fourth week."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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