Two coaches with athletes competing in The American Legion’s air rifle national championship in Michigan share how they support this aspect of the sport.
This is the fifth time Thomas Willard has brought athletes to The American Legion’s Junior 3-Position Air Rifle National Championship, which has been held in Hillsdale, Mich., for the past three years. But he started a high school air rifle team that’s been practicing for 33 years in the upstairs of American Legion Post 151 in Middletown, N.Y.
“I went to The American Legion, and they sponsored us from the very beginning, since 1993,” said Willard, a member of Post 151 and a retired U.S. Marine who shot on the Marine Corps rifle team. “Post 151 gives us a place to practice and shoot, and they give us the opportunity to compete at a club level and a means to participate in the Legion postal matches.”
The post and Sons of The American Legion Squadron 151 also help financially with the team, along with Willard using his own money to support the athletes because, “It’s for youth of America and to give back to what was given to me. I tell all the kids it (air rifle) gives them a sense of direction, they understand safety, goal-setting techniques and they understand the accomplishments of what you can do if you put your mind to it.”
The upstairs of Post 151 has 11 lanes where the athletes practice. In preparation for the three-position competition at the Legion’s national championship, Willard has his athletes practicing four days a week for two hours a night. As a coach, Willard is preparing the athletes for the physical aspect of shooting twice a day in three-position. But also the mental stamina to compete at this high level.
“We work on different things like breathing, how to relax, have mental management. I watch their breathing and I see if they’re actually breathing, relaxing their shoulders,” said Willard, who was helping his sporter athlete Yaniel Rodriquez Vera before each match with breathing. “If not, it makes you tense and the gun will vibrate back and forth. So I told him, as long as the gun’s moving left and right, evenly across, he’s fine. But if the gun starts going from one, to three to five to seven, that means you have body tension.”
“For me with the standing position, I like to sit down after a few shots and breathe,” Vera said. “Because when I’m shooting, I stress out and start overthinking things. It’s nice to take a little break, sit down, breath and don’t focus too much on the shot. You’re here to have fun and also be competitive. It’s best to enjoy it and have fun with it.”
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The mental aspect is a big piece of the sport, said Charles Orr, who coaches sporter athletes with the Lafayette Gun Club in Yorktown, Va., and whose daughter Alexandra was the 2024 American Legion Junior 3-Position National Champion.
“For the mental side we just really try to emphasize one shot at a time,” Orr said. “When that shot’s done, there’s really nothing you can do about it anymore. Most of the time it comes down to the mental aspect is really big and then the process. If you do the same thing every shot, then the results are probably going to be similar.”
Orr has his athletes read the book “Bullseye Mind” about mental strength with sport shooting. The athletes read a chapter a week and then discuss with Orr before practice about the chapter.
“The mental aspect… it takes them to another level on how to try to process things in life. The dedication, the discipline you get from shooting,” he said.
In preparation for the Legion’s national championship, Orr has his athletes practice three-position matches with 20 shots each about two weeks before the competition.
“I’m primarily coaching sporters and this is the young kids. I want to keep it fun for them, I don’t want to stress them out,” Orr said. “The whole thing is keep it safe, keep it fun and then try to make them better shooters.”
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The first time Orr brought sporter air rifle athletes to The American Legion’s national championship in Hillsdale was three years ago. He enjoys how the Legion’s program gives the youth an opportunity to connect with old friends from other air rifle competitions and make new ones. “That aspect of it is really nice,” he said.
For Willard, he enjoys bringing athletes to The American Legion’s air rifle national championship because “it brings the top 15 kids in America together. And as I say, you get five minutes of glory if you win but it’s a lifetime of memories.
“And I tell them that it doesn’t get any better than them. When they look in the mirror, they’re the best there is. So when you get here, you earned a spot here, so you’re probably one of the best in the country.”
- Shooting