Mississippi 4-H holds first slingshot competition
WEST POINT, Miss. (Press Release) – Sources from an MSU Press Release say that when Union County 4-H’er Aubri Hutcheson signed up for slingshot in Mississippi 4-H’s Shooting Sports program over the summer, she just wanted to try something new.
Hutcheson is a fixture at livestock shows and quiz bowls, but she wanted to add another activity. When she learned Mississippi 4-H Shooting Sports would be the first in the country to offer a slingshot discipline, she was intrigued at the prospect of a shooting activity with a primitive weapon.
Of the 10 shooting sports disciplines offered by the state’s youth development organization, archery is the only other non-firearm option.
So far, she has enjoyed it enough to consider sticking around and even adding the .22 pistol discipline next year.
“You have to be so precise,” she said. “If you’re off by just a hairline, you’re going to miss the target. I don’t have very good patience, but this is teaching me to be patient and to take that deep breath when I miss and try again.”
Hutcheson was one of 49 competitors in the first-ever Mississippi 4-H Slingshot State Championship, which was held at the Jimmy Bryan 4-H Youth Complex in West Point Sept. 27.
The competition has three components: a written quiz, a trail course and a speed range. The trail course features 20 steel targets that make an auditory ring when struck by a clay pellet. The targets vary from trash can lids hanging from tree branches to metal targets cut into silhouettes of vermin and exotic animals of various sizes. The participants had five opportunities to hit each target from a set distance. The speed range had five targets that were to be struck in a minute or less.
“It’s a relaxing discipline, and it’s very easy for kids of all ages to get involved,” said Thomas Haffey, Itawamba County 4-H volunteer leader. “It doesn’t take a great amount of physical strength to be competitive, but there is a precision to it.
“My 9-year-old and 17-year-old can both make hits on the same targets,” he added, “and that’s fun to see as a parent and a coach. It’s hard to imagine that slingshot didn’t already exist as a competitive event in 4-H, but it’s fun to see it happening now.”
Haffey’s 17-year-old, Theodore, is a state 4-H ambassador and current state sergeant-at-arms for Mississippi 4-H. He is involved in several 4-H shooting sports disciplines, including .22 pistol, air rifle, archery and Western Heritage, but supports a more accessible discipline that could encourage youth between 8 and 18 years old to join more than 3,500 others in the program.
“I like the simplicity of it and how easy it is to get into,” Theodore Haffey said. “Some of the other disciplines can be intimidating between the costs, the training and competitive nature. This is a very relaxed environment everybody can compete in.”
Reid Nevins, 4-H education specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service and coordinator of the state’s 4-H Shooting Sports program, developed the program with Jim McAdory, MSU Extension agent in Winston County. McAdory floated the idea after watching a slingshot competition.
“When you say, ‘shooting sports,’ some people take a step back, but when something like this is available, they may be more apt to give it a chance, so in that way, I think slingshot will be a good bridge to other disciplines,” Nevins said. “Youth who participate in slingshot or archery learn the same principles about safety and sportsmanship that our agents and volunteer leaders teach to kids shooting firearms.”
McAdory said the shooting sports program is seeing an uptick in interest thanks to the new offering.
“This is helping us get kids who are not in shooting sports because of the expenses of buying firearms and ammunition or because some of them don’t like guns,” he said. “We think this broadens our potential audience for 4-H Shooting Sports, so it’s a win for us and a win for parents and kids.”
Nevins has already fielded inquiries from sister programs in other states about the slingshot curriculum and is in the process of working with administrators to make it available nationally.
Learn more about Mississippi 4-H safety programs online at https://extension.msstate.edu/4-h/4-h-safety-programs.
