Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Daisy/4-H Shooting Sports Scholarship Available

Daisy Manufacturing is once again offering the Daisy 4-H Shooting Sports Scholarship. The deadline to apply is May 15, 2011.

The qualifications for scholarship consideration include:

1.Minimum of a 3.0 GPA from high school
2.Three years participation in 4-H shooting sports
3.Recommendation of HS counselor or principal
4.Recommendation of 4-H coach or equivalent who is not a relative
5.Scholarship would be payable to any two-year or four-year accredited Jr. College, College or University
6.Application would require a 250 - 500 word essay about How participation in the 4-H Shooting Sports better prepared them for college and for life.
7.Certified copy of high school transcript.
8.Scholarship money would be available in the second semester of the freshman year and can be used for books, housing, and or college fees.
9.The scholarship of $500.00 will be awarded at the National 4-H Shooting Sports Invitational on June 19-24 in San Antonio, Texas.

Visit http://texas4-h.tamu.edu/youth/shootingsports/index.php#NationalInvitational for application.

Contact Samantha Rich at (301) 347-3801 or srich@fourhcouncil.edu if you have any questions.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Why early registration matters...

We are two days out from the late registration deadline for our College Station Coach Training session. At this point, we have over 70 participants registered for the two day course being held on January 29-30, and we couldn't be more thrilled!

Today's been a typical "registration-deadline-is-rapidly-approaching" kind of day. We have been inundated with calls from frantic volunteers who want to take part in the action. Everyone wants to register for this event, and that's fine. We WANT you to get trained to be a shooting sports volunteer! What isn't fine is the fact that many people are not volunteer screened through the YPS program.

All adults wishing to participate in a coach training session must be certified adult volunteers through the Youth Protective Standards Program (YPS). In order to serve as a volunteer, all potential volunteers who have direct, face-to-face contact with youth, must be screened through the Youth Protection Standards Program. The criminal background check conducted is a national search of 48 jurisdictions, in addition to state and national sex of-fender lists. If you intend to serve as a direct volunteer with youth and have not been screened, please contact your county Extension office immediately.

It is important to be aware that screenings take time! If you submit your screening on a Wednesday, chances are, it won't be approved by Friday! If you have recently had a background check by your employer, volunteer group, or even CHL group, you may be able to expedite the screening process.

Bottom line - take advantage of early registration! We can not guarantee that you will be able to begin the enrollment and registration process on a Tuesday and be completed by Friday. We try to work with each of you, but deadlines are deadlines.

If you are one of the participants attending this training, we look forward to seeing you at a training or event in the near future. If you have any questions regarding our program, feel free to email us at 4HShootingSports@ag.tamu.edu or call (979) 845-1214.

Friday, December 3, 2010

Texas Team Update

Texas Team members should have received an email from our office with a list of contact information for the entire group of youth and adult coaches. If you are a team member or coach and failed to receive this email, send a message to KLKubos@ag.tamu.edu and we will forward you the list of contact information.

Please remember that this year all team members and coaches are responsible for their own lodging for the week. Comfort Inn Fiesta Park is offering a limited number of hotel rooms for a rate of $79.00 per night. Mention “National Shoot” when booking your room and you will receive the group rate (#4922) . Call (210) 696-4766 for reservations.

The Texas 4-H Natural Resources Office will cover the cost of registration (includes opening ceremonies banquet ticket and commemorative t-shirt) and will provide members and coaches with team shirts for the week.
Official coaches will receive a stipend to help defray the costs of their participation during the week. Our office will contact the coaches in the spring with more information regarding the dispersal of the stipends.

We are in need of an Air Pistol team coach! We prefer that the coach be 4-H certified in pistol. If you are interested or know someone who may be, please contact our office and we will provide you with more information.

A Facebook group has been created to keep team members up to date with information from our office. The group can also be used for communication between team members. If you are a member who would like to be added to the group, go to Facebook and search “2011 Texas 4-H Shooting Sports Team.” Once at the page, click “Join Group” and a request will be sent to the group administrator.

2011 National Invitational Silent Auction Items Needed

The 2011 National 4-H Shooting Sports Invitational will be held June 19-24, 2011 in San Antonio, Texas.

This year, we will be holding a silent auction in conjunction with the opening ceremonies and nightly awards programs.
If you are interested in donating items to be auctioned , or you know someone who might be interested in donating, please contact our office.

Ideal items would be arts and crafts, uniquely Texan items (for participants visiting from other states to purchase as souvenirs), firearms, knives, jewelry, or themed gift baskets. When thinking of items to auction off, remember to cater to the diverse interests and demographic of our attendees.

Proceeds of the silent auction will help the Texas 4-H Shooting Sports program subsidize the costs of hosting the 2011 National 4-H Shooting Sports Invitational.

Friday, October 29, 2010

Finally Friday!

Happy Friday, everyone! What a week it has been in the Texas 4-H Natural Resources Office....

On Monday, our mobile office had two wings and a few propellers. Larry and I ventured to Lubbock to check out an indoor range at South Plains College in Levelland. As you may have heard, in 2012 Roundup will be moving from the campus of Texas A&M University in College Station to Texas Tech University. There is a very good probability that we will be hosting our 2012 Roundup Indoor Rifle Match at their campus. This provides our participants a great opportunity to have the complete Roundup experience for the first time since we held our match in the Trigon at Texas A&M University. 2011 Roundup will still be held in College Station, with our Indoor Rifle Match held the same week but in Rosenberg at the Fort Bend County Education Building. Please note that the dates for 2011 have been moved to coincide with State Roundup. The Roundup Indoor Rifle Match will be held June 14-15, 2011.

After recovering from Monday's trip, we have been plugging away on finalizing our coach training dates for 2011. Our schedule includes:

State Headquarters - College Station: January 29-30, 2011
North Region - Lubbock: March 25-26, 2011
East Region - TBA: May 21-22, 2011
State Games - San Antonio: July 16-17, 2011
West Region - TBA: August 13-14, 2011
South Region - Victoria: October 22-23, 2011

We will be busy traveling to these locations to deliver materials, to evaluate consistency, and to ensure our trainings are meeting the needs of coaches across the state.

Yesterday, Larry and I put our heads together to develop or presentation for next week's Texas 4-H Summit, a three day long teleconference for 4-H faculty and county agents across the state. More than likely, we will be unavailable on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of next week as we both listen to and give presentations during those days. Of course, Janice will be in the office to answer most of your questions. We can always count on her to keep us in line!

Here we are on Friday. I've been finalizing the November edition of /Straight Shots, our monthly newsletter. If you haven't read it before, check it out online at http://texas4-h.tamu.edu/youth/shootingsports/index.php#newsletter . The newsletter has good information on recent developments, upcoming events, and even includes a printable monthly program calendar. Generally, the new editions are published online the first of every month.

I'd like to take the time to thank you for keeping up with our program, whether it is on this blog, on Facebook, on our website, or through phone and email correspondence. We appreciate your willingness to serve as volunteers, adult leaders, Extension staff, and maybe even dedicated participants. Thanks for all you do to "Make the best better." Have a Happy Halloween and be safe as you begin your weekend.

Have a great weekend,
Karen

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

2011 Texas 4-H Shooting Sports Team

Congratulations to the youth selected to the 2011 Texas 4-H Shooting Sports Team. The team will represent Texas at the 2011 National 4-H Shooting Sports Invitational held at the National Shooting Complex in San Antonio on June 19-24. 

Team members include:


Air Pistol
Captain: Matthew Barnes
Cody Cedergren
Dylan Lee
Dan Smith
Alternate: Kailey Hart
Coach: Gene Jones

Air Rifle
Captain: Danielle Snow
Calvin Dietrich
Derik Kubenka
Amelia Springer
Alternate: Kailey Hart
Coach: Kevin Kubenka

Compound Archery
Captain: Brittany Dockery            
Don Malone
Brooks Modesitt
Lee Payne
Alternate: Hunter Martin
Coach: Leslie Dockery

Hunting
Captain: Keaton Harlow
Steven Arceneaux
Conrad Day
Danial Gibich
Coach: TBA

Muzzleloading
Captain: Kyle Rother
Michael Garner
Mary Beth Marcak
Conner Willis
Coach: Goober Mitchell


Recurve Archery
Melanie Sera
Blake Estep
Kyle Locke
Taylor Holman
Coaches: Mickey Estep & Max Sera

Smallbore Pistol
Captain: Victoria Kusak
Madeline Jones
Will Marcak
Ethan Aschenbeck
Alternate: William Dean
Coach: Andrew Marcak

Smallbore Rifle
Captain: Landon Hart – Captain
Benjamin Zimmerer
Barrett Ancinec
Lachelle Rutledge
Alternate: Corey Crowell
Coach: Michael Zimmerer

Shotgun
Neal Hodges
Colt Woods
Drucilla Meier
Stephen Garza
Alternate: Jace Jenkins
Coach: Bill Massey

Members will be receiving further information from the Texas 4-H Natural Resources Office in the near future. Please ensure you are checking your email for correspondence from the State Office.

Once again, congrats to the team members! I look forward to working with each one of you over the next year!

Have a great rest of your week!
-Karen

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

What makes a good National Invitational t-shirt?

We are in the midst of the 2011 National 4-H Shooting Sports Invitational t-shirt design contest. The flyer for the contest can be found online at http://texas4-h.tamu.edu/youth/shootingsports/index.php#NationalInvitational.

Rules for submission include:
Participants:
Must be a 4-H member (not necessarily a shooting sports participant). May
be a team (any size), 4-H Club, or individual submission. Participants must be
from the same county.
Logo and Theme Requirements:
Images may be hand drawn or computer generated.
Electronic images must be in a jpg format.
Logo will be featured on the back of the t-shirts
If selected, the image may be modified for printing purposes.
Submission Deadline:
December 3, 2010.
Submission Rights and Credits:
All submissions become the property of Texas AgriLife Extension Service.
4-H Members release all rights to future use of logo.
Credit will be provided to individual, team, or club submitting winning logo in
the 2011 National 4-H Shooting Sports Invitational program of events.
Winning Entry:
Winning entry will be voted on by Texas 4-H faculty & staff.
Winner will be notified and winning entry will be featured in January
newsletter.

So, what makes a good t-shirt design? There are a few things to remember:
  • Texas is the host for the 2011 match. Include a reference to the state in the design so that the shirt isn't just another Invitational shirt, but a memento of the Invitational Texas hosted.
  • Try to come up with a catchphrase or slogan for the event. Last year, we used "Shooting Straight in the Lone Star State." Nebraska used "Aiming our best in the Midwest." 
  • The logo will be used on our event program for the week, so make sure it is appropriate for many different contexts. 
  • Be sure the logo is relevant to all disciplines represented at the match: air pistol, air rifle, compound archery, recurve archery, smallbore pistol, smallbore rifle, hunting, muzzleloading, and shotgun. The logo doesn't have to include the image of a firearm, but if it does, make sure it can represent all disciplines.
  • We just need a design for the backs of t-shirts. The front logo remains the same. You can find that on the top of the image below:
This is last year's early design. We made modifications to it when we selected the final design, but this can give you a basic idea of what we look for. Don't pay attention to all the color information on the sides of the image, the print shop that created this (CC Creations), include that for their purposes. We do not need that from contest participants, we just need a logo. CC Creations will do the rest to make your design printable!

If you have any questions about this office, feel free to contact me. I'm more than willing to help. Good luck and I hope to see your submissions in the office in December!

Have a great rest of the week!
Karen