In Awe
My son shot a perfect 100. I’m in awe of him.
For those of you not familiar with American Trap, a single round consists of 5 stations with a competitor shooting five times from each station for a total of 25 shots. The trap thrower is set 16 yards in front of the shooter and oscillates from left to right within a 54 degree arc. The shooter is not aware of the clays trajectory until it is released at speeds up to forty mph and traveling as far as fifty yards.
Sounds simple enough, but let’s add wind, let’s add rain, and for this Minnesota boy, let’s add snow because he has shot in all of it this season. Charlie has been shooting for seven years and during that time he has never seen the same shot in the same place. The variability of this sport is nearly infinite as the snow flakes in a winter storm.
Adding to the pressure, success is measured by perfection; 4 rounds of 25 with zero misses With all of these challenges stacked against him, my son shot a perfect 100.
None of this came easy. We started the “Spring” high school season with shovels rather than shotguns to find the field. He finished as top shooter for his team, he competed throughout the summer in the high school Rodeo Trap league and finished as the Minnesota State Champion. We traveled to Michigan and Wyoming to compete in national events, and while he came up short of his goals, he came back with a drive to improve.
He shot his first 98 at the local shooting range in August, and followed that with a first place finish in the youth category of a local shooting competition. His exploits even earned him a spot in the local paper. And tonight, with all of this accomplishment behind him and nothing but possibility before him, my son shot a perfect 100.
My son will always be perfect to me. Tonight he was perfect for the world, and most importantly, he was perfect for himself. And so I will continue watching him grow; I will keep his scores, I will cheer his successes, and I will help him learn from his failures. I’m not sure what is next for my son, but I will follow him wherever the wind and the clays may take him.
