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Common Questions
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Why does 4-H have a shooting sports program?
4-H uses shooting sports to
teach youth development. Our programs are valuable for helping young people
develop self-confidence, personal discipline, responsibility, teamwork,
self-esteem and sportsmanship. The discipline and self-control required for
responsible firearms use carries over into many other aspects of life.
It is our belief that firearms education reduces gun accidents.
Hunting and shooting are rich
American traditions. 4-H shooting sports programs help continue this
tradition through involvement of the total family: youth, teens, parents,
grandparents, etc.
No! In fact, there is ample evidence that the opposite is true. The 4-H shooting sports program is designed to teach good self-concept and character, and to promote the highest standards of safety and ethical behavior. In addition, with 60-80 million gun owners in America, and the vast majority of them using guns safely and responsibly, America has a peaceful gun culture.
In a society that has chosen
to possess firearms, all members, regardless of age should be provided
adequate training to ensure safe, ethical and responsible interaction with
firearms.
The safest location for a
responsible gun owner to store a firearm is the secure environment of his or
her home.
Firearms should be stored so they are inaccessible to unauthorized
users.
There are four primary values that arise from hunting: societal, economic, ecological and historical.
Societal. Hunting is a viable and healthy food source, promoting good sportsmanship and ethics. It is a valued part of our American heritage and is exceptionally good mental/physical exercise. Hunting is an ideal and common family activity.
Economic. Hunting minimizes the economic loss of human life and property damage that may result from road kills and crop depredation. Hunters spend millions of dollars each year to pursue the sport, and much of that money goes directly into wildlife management.
Ecological. Hunting is a vital wildlife management tool. Hunters’ dollars support wildlife habitat projects in every state in the USA. Hunting improves the health of natural wildlife populations and contributes to the conservation of our natural resources. A well-placed shot by a skilled marksman is a more humane cause of death than natural causes experienced by wildlife.
Historical. Hunting was a
necessary method of obtaining food and clothing by our forefathers. The act
of hunting and utilizing game animals, in similar ways, helps us to
appreciate the demands and sacrifices that our ancestors faced in the
historical development of modern civilization.
Yes and no. Shooting sports is both traditional and innovative. It is traditional in the sense of including all the core elements of a 4-H program: a youth development base, safety education, skill development, interaction with positive adult role models, and career exploration. The roots in natural resources, riflery and archery are also traditional. The hands-on teaching methods are traditional, and the leader development model is a major innovation becoming traditional in delivery of other programs. The team-teaching approach, the relatively free format for delivery and the audiences are somewhat non-traditional. In many states, the proportion of adult volunteers and youth not previously 4-H members (or birthright 4-H families) prior to enrolling in shooting sports exceeds 80 percent.
The program is traditional
where it counts. Its non-traditional components may be showing the way for
new innovations and impacts in the 4-H program across the nation.
The amount of time county staff must devote to the program varies with organizational style, willingness to develop volunteer management systems and personal interests. Original development may require as much as 40 to 80 hours over the course of a year, including attending a workshop. Some agents have spent as little as 15 to 20 hours getting the program started effectively. Maintenance time also varies. It may require as little as 8 to 12 hours per year giving advice and consent to a volunteer committee and handling normal communications with leaders, committees, state staff and youth.
Some agents elect to maintain
a higher profile and deeper involvement. It’s best to limit your involvement
to the amount needed for visibility, understanding and personal
satisfaction.
The time commitment for volunteers varies dramatically. Many shooting sports volunteers are deeply committed to the content and process. The biggest challenge with them is managing their willingness to avoid burnout and high volunteer turnover. A comprehensive, basic program can easily involve 50 to 80 hours of direct youth contact in instruction alone. Involvement with practice sessions, shoots, fund-raising and planning activities can multiply the time commitment. If a small team of instructors (worst case scenario: team = one) commits that kind of time, they usually bum out within two to five years. Three years is about the average. Use a large team of volunteers to deliver small segments of the total program with small individual time commitments. One program grew in volunteerism from 16 leaders for 32 kids to 56 leaders in a single year. The next year involved 86 leaders. Within three years the leadership had grown to over 100 adults. Some of them gave as little as one hour. Others committed up to 40 or so hours.
Having so large a leader corps
ensures a high leader to youth ratio. It also increases the potential for
youth-adult mentoring, development of "significant other" relationships and
multiple approaches to program elements. It requires constant recruitment
of volunteers by volunteers and meaningful involvement of newly recruited
leaders. Like the training model, this shared leadership model holds great
potential for 4-H use in today's environment. Very few potential leaders
will refuse to invest one or two hours in something they enjoy with a youth
audience. Usually the problem is getting leaders to limit their commitment
rather than trying to get more time from them.
Existing hunter education instructors, NRA certified instructors or coaches, certified archery instructors or similar individuals are excellent resources for starting the program. For them, the prime function of the workshop is orientation to the scope, intent, orientation and methods of working within the 4-H program. Without that background, the programs that emerge are often renamed repetitions of the existing programs available through those other organizations.
The distinctive orientation, approach and methods of this program make it uniquely 4-H. Without those elements and guidelines for program management and support, the program risks its integrity and effectiveness, as well as value as a 4-H recruitment tool. Workshop content is designed to help leaders deliver an effective, high-quality and self-sustaining youth development program using shooting as a vehicle. The workshops seek to assure quality control and program consistency.
Testimonials from NRA training
counselors, NRA instructors, NM instructors, hunter education instructors
and coordinators, police firearms instructors, NBFP instructors and others
who are highly qualified and experienced in teaching their disciplines
underscore the value of these workshops to persons who are already qualified
by another organization. One NRA training counselor and chief firearms
instructor for a metropolitan sheriffs department attended four of the
programs. He said, "Even very experienced instructors will find this
workshop well worth the time. I learned several new techniques in each
session."
The proven techniques we are
using in the 4-H program are compatible with the currently existing programs
offered by other organizations. They differ in being pointedly based upon
youth development objectives and in addressing shooting sports broadly
rather than as a disconnected set of individual disciplines. Young people
and adult leaders are our products. The highly successful techniques we
promote yield high success rates with both personal development and shooting
skills.
The workshops are a microcosm of the shooting sports program. The core centers on safety and responsibility, teaching skills, coaching principles, 4-H objectives and organization, sources of support and means of linking shooting sports to other 4-H programs. A set of basic disciplines (archery, coordination, hunting and wildlife, muzzleloading, pistol, rifle and shotgun) branches from the core. Additional workshops may be offered in more advanced elements of those disciplines (skeet, trap, sporting clays, night rifle, silhouette and waterfowl identification). Every leader receives the core materials, and each one is equipped in a specialization. Only one may be taken at any given workshop because of the time requirements and content load that must be communicated. The basic elements are essential before a leader may go on to more advanced training.
A dynamic team approach to
teaching and program management is strongly encouraged. Each instructor
receives more training than required for certification by the outside
certification organization in their discipline. The objective is to teach
them how to teach using 4-H methods in the 4-H way with 4-H objectives.
Shooting ability is not necessarily a prerequisite to effective instruction,
since completely naive persons have become effective instructors through the
program. Enhanced marksmanship is a frequent by-product of the training, but
teaching the instructor how to shoot better is a bonus and a demonstration
of the effectiveness of the techniques.
Shooting sports has the
highest value to your county program when it is used as a recruitment device
for young people and adults not already in the 4-H program. It has appeal to
a wide range of youth in all socio-economic levels in both urban and rural
settings. It promotes learning fundamental life skills, has direct links to
natural resources education and leads to exploration of careers and
life-long vocational pursuits. It provides many links to the rest of the
4-H program, including leadership development. In short, it is another tool
to increase the impact of 4-H in our community.
Quality control, leader
preparation, and efficient use of the volunteers and professionals who make
up the state training team all contribute to using this approach.
Instruction is provided by
people with national training in their disciplines or by persons groomed to
provide equivalent instruction. Outside instructors with a 4-H orientation
are also employed when available. Nearly all the instructors are certified
by other organizations or agencies, and the instruction provided surpasses
the requirements for instructor certification by those organizations and
agencies.
A summary of the training
content is listed above in the "content" question. The current format for
the workshops include instructional experiences and cross training in
another discipline of choice.
A team of leaders provides
mutual support, broader insight and stronger program development for the
county. As the team gets larger (at least up to 15 or 20 persons), the
intensity, depth and breadth of the program tend to increase.
It is too large of a program
to take that approach. Training in a discipline requires 14 hours. The
format of the workshop cannot be extended enough to permit multiple
certification in a single workshop. In addition to the constraints
of the training, two other problems, both potentially more serious, arise.
First, the leader may feel overwhelmed by the sheer mass of the program,
electing either to give it up or to limit it to his or her own special
interest. While having a program delivered by someone with that special
interest is ideal, limiting the program to one element severely cripples
recruitment and retention potentials. The other serious impact is the
burnout problem outlined above. Asking one leader to cover everything on
shooting sports is like asking one leader to cover everything in livestock.
They may try. They may even have some success. BUT they will be gone very
quickly because of the stress of trying to do more than they can accomplish
effectively without support.
Bring someone who is willing
to explore the coordinator's role and assist in recruiting a cadre of key
leaders who are willing to take the state training and take that material
home. It may require a longer time, but this approach has shown its value
many times in the past. Unlike the lone, single-discipline instructor, the
coordinator is positioned to organize a team of supportive instructors and
to press for high-quality training for them. This is also a means of getting
access to the basic materials distributed at the workshop so they can be
used as a recruitment tool for leaders.
The prime requisite is a commitment to helping kids develop a willingness to learn. An open and active mind is also essential. Willingness to take the risk of trying new methods or new ideas in order to build successful programs is also helpful. Training, certification or shooting skill can be helpful, but they are not essential. Experience with shooting and shooting instruction using dated materials may pose some barriers to learning sound instructional methods.
Excellent target shooters may or may not be excellent instructors. The key is not shooting ability, but coaching and instructional ability. The objective of the instruction cannot become the trophy or the winner's circle. It must remain the development of the young person to make "every kid a winner." Send us caring,
self-disciplined people with a love for and desire to help kids. . . and we
will send you back a well-founded and prepared shooting sports instructor.
For further information, contact Al Ulmer, 4-H Shooting Sports Coordinator, (701)883-5301 ext. 209
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