Hey, man. You ready to meet a kid who's hip to the times and jive with the lingo? Well, keep looking. I'm Kelly Bogart and I have no idea what I'm doing (but I know I'm doing it really, really well).

I'm writing a blog. I've never done it before, so please bear with me. But if social media has taught me anything, writing a blog comes naturally to a 21 year-old girl of my generation, so I've got that going for me. But my blog is going to be a lot different that my other 20something counterparts, it's not about my time studying abroad, it's not about my life as a hipster who did it first and it's definitely not about cooking because I have no idea how to do that, unless Easy Mac counts. Although those are great blog topics, my blog is about my life as a precision rifle shooter.

A what?

You heard me.

I'm a 5'1.5" (the .5 is important at my height), female, collegiate student-athlete on an NCAA division one rifle team.

Basically, I shoot guns.

Now before you make all of the jokes about "staying away from me" because I'm "dangerous" I'm going to let you in on a few secrets:

  1. I make small holes in pieces of paper. That's what I do. Those in my sport are often jokingly referred to as "precision paper punchers."
  2.  I shoot an air rifle and a .22 caliber (smallbore) rifle—they have little to no recoil and pack little to no "punch."
  3. I don't shoot people. Don’t even ask that. Please.
  4. Yes, I'm a real athlete. Yes, it's a real sport; it's actually an Olympic sport. Yes, being in shape helps shooters improve their performances and scores.

That's a list of the most common topics I discuss with people when they find out I'm a shooter. Of course, I generally think they're funny and I have a list of great responses for them. But now that we’re on the same page, nice to meet you, I’m Kelly and I shoot guns.

This summer, I have the privilege of working at one of the most prestigious junior rifle camps in the country. I coach both precision shooters (who use more equipment, such as a jacket and pants) and sporter shooters (who use less equipment, like no jacket and pants). Even though it's only been a few days, it has been an amazing experience. In this short time, I’ve not only learned a great deal about coaching and helping out some very talented junior shooters, but I have learned a lot about myself as a shooter and how returning to the basics is the only way to ensure a good performance. But I'll elaborate on that in a later post.

For now, just remember: shooting is actually one of the safest sports in regard to injury and accidents and there's a lot more to this sport than you might think. If you would like to know what else this sport has to offer from the perspective of a peppy chick, college student athlete, then stick around. I'll be here all summer.

 

Kelly Bogart is a Film, Television and Digital Media and Political Science double major at Texas Christian University. Bogart has seven years of shooting under her belt and currently competes on TCU’s Women’s Rifle Team. Bogart is traveling the country this summer as a coach teaching high school students across the country how to improve their shooting skills. In addition to coaching and competing, Bogart is a freelance blog writer working with The Mako Group.