Sporter Rifle Shooting

This year Pc2 advanced from BB rifle shooting to Sporter shooting. I wanted her to write up a post about this but her high school work has been too time consuming, so I will do my best.

Last year she joined a 4H shooting team. Since she was in 8th grade and had never shot a rifle before she wanted to start on the BB rifle team. Turns out she had a natural gift and she ended up doing really well. Her team ended up 6th out of 30+ teams in the State. Pc2 ranked in the top 20 BB rifle shooters.

Well this year since she has started high school she can no longer shoot BB so she has moved up to Sporter.  At this level, Pc2 was required to register with the CMP (Civilian Marksmanship Program) which basically means all her scores will be kept on public record. This form of shooting is a lot more common than the next level known as Precision shooting. Pc2 is hoping to move into this level by next year. Something we have to take slowly because it requires a huge financial commitment.  It is also at the Precision level that these kids can go all the way to the Olympics and or get scholarships into great colleges. Both of which Jill wants to make as her future goals in pursuit of a military career. Two of her current Precision shooting teammates are ranked in the top 20 nationally and one of the girls even attended the Junior Olympics!

A couple weekends ago Pc2 went to her first tournament for this year at the Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville TN. She was the only Sporter shooter for her team. This was a high school invitational only so there were no BB rifle shooters, only Sporter and Precision. I won't go into details on all the difference between Sporter and Precision but you will see many in the pictures below.  This was my first time attending a shooting tournament.... and what an awesome experience.  (Click pixs for larger image).

Since this was a high school invitational she was placed on the Etowah High School team. No homeschool teams. They had a lot of JROTC teams though.

Here she is getting her equipment assembled before entering the gym.

Jill is now setting up her equipment for her first relay. They actually had two gyms open for this competition. This was at an all boys college preparatory school,that had been established in 1867....very beautiful!

Pc2 was in lane #57.

Coach Bobby, Coach Lamar and Dave aka dad (soon to be a coach for BB rifle).

Pc2 was the only Sporter shooter for our team that entered the tournament this year. I was told there were over 200 Sporter shooters and only 80 Precision shooters at the tournament.

First position during the relay was prone.

Here Pc2 is laying next to her team-mate, who is dressed in her Precision shooting outfit.

They had unlimited sighter (aka practice) shots and then 20 record shots per position. After they took their first record shot they could no longer take sighter shots for that particular position

The targets were 10 meters away. We needed binoculars to see how they were doing :)

Check out the Precision rifle... and outfit for that matter :) The rifle has a longer barrel, bigger CO2 cannister, and is a heavier gun.

Next shooting position was standing.

One advantage to the Precision outfit, is that it helps the shooter to maintain each position better.

Final position was kneeling.

Unfortunately during the standing position Pc2's CO2 canister ran out of air, so her rifle did not have enough power to shoot properly. Although she compensated really well, her scores were not very good. Fortunately her coach caught the problem before she started the kneeling position. Oh well we will chalk this one up to a good learning experience for her. We really are so proud of her and we truly look forward to supporting her on this journey in the up and coming years....

Joyful Noise 2011

As you may or may not know, our family is part of Joyful Noise Homeschool Band. Joyful Noise is a band for home schooled kids. They have classes for Concert Band, Orchestra, Jazz, Guitar, Chorus, Recorder, and Marching Band. There is 4 levels in each class, beginner, intermediate, advanced, and elite. Beginner is for students who can't read music very well and who have had little to no experience with their instrument. Intermediate is for students who have played before and advanced is for students that has played for several years. Elite is for students who have played at least three years and want something harder. Elite students have to go through an audition to make it into the class. We started in fall of 2009, and have come quite far since then, in my opinion.

My brother, Pinecone #3, is no longer playing with us and is taking guitar lessons at home with my dad.

My sister has amazingly moved up to Advanced Band with her flute (go sis!) and currently has no opinion on it. Considering that most kids stay in Intermediate for a few years and that she moved up after only two years on her flute, I'd say she has got "skeel". She is currently learning the "Revenge of the Dust Bunnies", "The Invinceable Eagle", "The Royal March", "Midway March", "Majesta", "The Flight of Valor", and a bunch of songs in the Standard Book of Excellence, Book 3.

I chose to stay in Intermediate this year. I was not prepared for Chamber and I really want time to practice vibrato and shifting. I got 2nd chair in 1st violin, which is awesome for me. This year we have 2 cellos, a base, two violas, and 14 violins. This year, Mrs. Madjet has upped the difficulty and we are starting earlier on our concert books. She is requiring that those of us who are 2nd year Intermediate students use the shifting and our 4th fingers. As of now, I am working on "Turkish March: Ruins of Athens" and a few hyms. My friends Keila and Breanna are going to help me to convince my teachers to play some of the music from our camp in our concert. I am required to practice 150 minutes a week. My teacher wants me to move up next year, no matter what.

My little sister Pinecone 4, is playing in the Beginning Recorder this year. She practices all the time and wants to play the violin next year (which would be exciting for me and her because I would have someone to play with and she could get free lessons off me).

Compared to last year, I have way more friends at band. This year I know most of the Chamber class, the entire Intermediate class, half the Advanced Guitar class, most of the Elite band, Marching Band, and Color Guard, and a few of the Advanced and Beginner Band people. This year should be excitingly filled with people I know. Last year, the only people I knew were in my class and my two good friends.

Joyful Noise Band: UPDATE

As you may or may not know, our family is part of Joyful Noise Homeschool Band. We started in fall of 2009, and have come quite far since then, in my opinion.

My brother, King Peter, has moved out of Beginning Recorder into the Beginning Guitar class. His music reading skills are not the best but he is starting to actually enjoy his classes. He loves his teacher, Mr. Garwood, who constantly mixes funny, personal stories in with his teaching. Right now he is learning A, E, E minor, D, C, A minor, and G chords. He is also learning "Temporary Home" by Carrie Underwood for his concert.

My sister, Jill, has moved up to Intermediate Band with her flute (go sis!) and likes it a lot more than Beginner Band. She is currently learning the "Raider's March" from the Indian Jones movies, "Polka Dots", and a few concert scales. She tests every other week on certain songs from her flute books and so far she has passed on almost all of them. She is only a few more practice minutes from earning a Gold Honors tag.

I made it into Intermediate Orchestra (thank goodness) and really, really like it. I have new teachers this year, Mrs. Madjet and Mrs. Pettis, two sisters who can play every orchestra instrument. This year we have 2 cellos, a base, a viola, and 10 violins. We are working on our concert pieces, which include "Allegro from Two Trumpet Concerto" by Antonio Vivaldi, "Stone Mountain Stomp" by Carl Strommen, "Sakura, Sakura", "Habenara" by Georges Bizet, "Fancy Fiddles", and "Kesh Jig". We are learning and memorizing the C major scale, G major two octave scale, A major scale, and D major scale. I am required to practice 150 minutes a week. My teachers want us to be good enough by the end of the year to move up to Chamber Orchestra (even though most people spend 2 or 3 years in intermediate).

I finally convinced my best friend to come and play for Joyful Noise. She is playing in the Beginning Guitar class. I see her every Friday and we hang out for a few hours. We made it our goal in January to meet every person (est. 400 kids, more or less) who attends Joyful Noise by the end of this year. So far we have met 14 new people, not including the ones we already knew. :-)

Crown Athletics

This spring, I am going to be playing on Crown Athletics Knights Women's Varsity soccer team. I really enjoy soccer and am super excited to get the opportunity to play in a high school league.

Crown Athletics is a non-for-profit organization that provides high school and middle school level sports for homeschoolers in Georgia. These are competitive sports and only those who meet the requirements for the league and team can play. Crown offers football, basketball, baseball, softball, swimming, tennis, soccer, wrestling, golf, volleyball, cross country, fencing, and cheerleading. Crown is a Christian organization. The teams play against other private school leagues and many teams have won district or state championships. A few Crown Knight athletes from the baseball, football, basketball, volleyball, soccer, and cheerleading teams have been granted scholarships based on their abilities. Check their website out here.

This year, Crown Soccer has two new coaches and I think they are pretty cool. There is not a Junior Varsity team this year because the coaches have decided to spilt our team of 24 girls into an A team and a B team; the A team playing the better schools and more often, and the B team playing JV teams or not-so-good schools and playing less. How well we play in practice will determine which team we will play on for the games that week. I am going to play as a starting left striker for the A team :). We are going to have at least 27 games this year, with 1GISA tournament. That is way better than playing for the YMCA or Impact which only have 8 games a season.

Crown is pretty popular among most homeschoolers. A couple of my friends are playing on the Varsity Men and Women's soccer teams and a few others swim for Crown. This season looks awesome already and I cannot wait to start playing the games.

Band

Every Friday, we go to Joyful Noise Band. Joyful Noise is a band for home schooled kids. They have classes for Concert Band, Orchestra, Jazz, Guitar, Chorus, Recorder, and Marching Band. There is 4 levels in each class, beginner, intermediate, advanced, and elite. Beginner is for students who can't read music very well and who have had little to no experience with their instrument. Intermediate is for students who have played before and advanced is for students that has played for several years. Elite is for students who have played at least three years and want something harder. Elite students have to go through an audition to make it into the class.

I am in beginning orchestra playing the violin. I can read music pretty well since I have played the recorder and have (and still am) taught myself to play the piano, but since I have never even picked a violin up, I was put in beginner. Jill is playing flute and is beginner band. King Peter is in a beginner recorder class that is teaching him to read music.

In my class there is sixteen people. We have one viola, one cello, and fourteen violins. The ages range from 10-14, with me being the oldest. My teacher, Ms. Scott, plays the viola and is really cool. She is always super hyper and loves to goof around. She allows some talking in class as long as it is when she is not talking. Our class is an hour long and at the end she makes us read scales that she writes on the board. For the past two mos or so, we have been learning pizzicato which is REALLY easy. However, two weeks ago Ms. Scott FINALLY let us bow of some sheet music because we have a concert in a couple weeks. Right now I have to memorize two songs and be able to play them by heart. Every day, I have to practice 30 minutes. Then, on Friday, we log our minutes in a book.

I really love band and my instrument. I hope to continue for a long time.

Referee Training for Soccer

Today I finished and completed a class for Soccer Referee Certification for the state of Georgia. I am doing it because I will get paid for refereeing games and because I LOVE soccer. I started playing soccer when I was 7 or 8, played up to U-12, took a year break, then started up again. I am playing this year in a U-16 all-girls league.

When I started the class I thought, "Well, hey, I know the sport pretty well, this will be easy." Not so. There are so many things that referees do that even after playing for all those years, I didn't even think about. For instance, a AR or an Assistant Referee (the one with the flags) has to constantly check for offside, while paying attention to the ball to see whose throw-in it is. They have to remember what flag signals to use, make sure it is the correct signal, and be the center referee's second pair of eyes.

The center referee's job is even harder. The center is often blamed for bad calls that were fair and he/she gets yelled at by parents, coaches and players. The center must watch out for fouls, correctly call goal kicks and corner kicks, decide whether or not an offence deserves a yellow or red card, be alert at all times, and keep from getting hit with the ball. They also have to remember the signals they have to do with their hands. That is just a brief summary of some of the responsibilities I learned about today.

In the class, we had to memorize half of the rules on Friday, and then I learned the other half today. We also did some practice reffing, and then took a 50 question test. I passed with an A-. I am now an official R-9 referee. I plan to ref at our local YMCA games, and look forward to doing U8s and U10s.