What is 4-H Shooting Sports?
The shooting sports program is an active program, attractive to youth and adult audiences. The curriculum is designed to assist young people in personal development, establish a personal environmental ethic and explore life-long vocational and avocational activities. The program uses experiential learning and positive interactions with youth and adult role models to help young people develop self-concept, self-assurance and a positive self-image.
The content provides a framework of knowledge and skills for lifetime participation in recreation, hobbies, and careers related to shooting sports and wildlife. Core concepts stress safety, ethical development, personal responsibility, and lifetime recreational skills.
The content of the program continues to grow, and its scope is limited only by the availability of leaders and the imaginations of participants. The programs are flexible and adaptable to nearly any local audience - rural or urban. Equipment and facilities are also flexible, and numerous funding alternatives are available. The major disciplines of the 4-H Shooting Sports Program include archery, hunting, muzzleloading, pistol, rifle, reloading, and shotgun. A foundation of basic programs leads into more advanced activities.
Shooting sports involve too much for a single leader to deliver successfully. It is designed to be delivered by a committee or team of volunteers with agent advice, consent, and support. It emphasizes the value of a dynamic group of volunteers, each with limited responsibility to present a program that is better than any one of them could present alone. Identifying, recruiting, selecting, and equipping leadership teams is one of the most significant keys to success. State and regional workshops equip leaders to deliver and promote the program.
--(from the Coordinator's Handbook, by Ron Howard)
Here's the first Shooting Sports Newsletter (in PDF format)
For more information about this great program, contact Gene Shutt, Director, Millstone 4-H Center, or Ken Burgess at the State 4-H office.
