"Everyone Has a Story to Tell" by Paul C

     For me, it always seems to be my journey through competitive shooting. “Shooting? I'm sorry, can you repeat that?”, seems to always be the same response I get when I tell people of my sport. In short, competitive shooting is a sport separated into a multitude of categories such as skeet shooters, rifle shooters, pistol shooters, running rifle shooters... well you get the point. My journey began in the category of pistol shooting, which is also broken into multiple categories as well. It was evident from the very beginning when I started the sport, it is vaguely appreciated. I receive comments about the sport stating it as “it's just a hobby”, “shootings easy” and the most irritating comment of all “it's not even a sport”. However, I've come to realize that the community of competitive shooting was enough to convince me that I was doing a sport worth putting my time and effort into. I began competitive shooting since I was in 7th grade. My mother found a newspaper ad on the Korean Daily Newspaper about a coach in West Covina training young youths to shoot guns. Sounds like what an average mother would do for her child; train him/her to use a gun in Junior High. The Pistol division have several categories. My pistol team participated mainly on 10m Air Pistol (a competitor has 1 hour 45 minutes to record 60 shots onto their targets to gain a score out of 600), 25m Rapid Rife (a competitor shoots a series of 5 bullets on 5 separate targets in time intervals of 8 seconds, 6 seconds, and 4 seconds), 25m Sport Pistol (a competitor focuses on a single target shooting a series of 5 bullets), and 50m Free Pistol (similar to 10m Air Pistol except the gun uses live rounds and now shoots at a range of 50m). My first day in shooting began with me meeting my coach and touching a gun for the first time in my life. Little did I know that this sport will soon become my best friend and my gateway to a world of adventure that I would've never experienced as the latchkey kid I grew up to be.
      My most cherished moment was on December 15th, 2013 at Colorado Springs in the Olympic Training Center where I received my entitlement as a Junior National Team Member for the US Olympic Shooting team. It was the third day of 10m Air Pistol in the Olympic Training Center shooting range. As of the second day, I was placed 9th out of 97 competitors during that day, 6 of which were my teammates. First place was Wyatt Brown from Colorado with a total score of 1156. Second place was Alex Chichkov from Florida 1154, and Brian Kim(my teammate) from California with a score of 1132. I had a total score of 1100. At the end of the third day I was now placed 7th, now qualified to enter the finals. Finals in 10m Air Pistol result in the top 8 players starting from a score of 0, shooting a series of 10 shots to see who gets the highest score. Unlike our 60 shot rounds, Finals count in decimal points. If I shot straight into the heart of the target, I would receive a 10.9. The Finals we're interesting that year. Three competitors were younger siblings of Olympic athletes, three of us were from the same team, and the last two competitors were new faces to the game. Finals began with me panicking. This was always a problem of mine, a crowd of people behind the athletes staring at the electronic board that recorded our every shot was too much for me mentally. My first two shots were a 5, and a 7. I was already placed dead last. Will Brown, Alex Chichkov, and Justin Ahn, were all placed the top three with two 10's. Then a weird rush came over me. 10, after 10, after 10, after 10, after 10, for eight straight shots obliterated my target. I climbed out of my eighth place position and climbed to second. In any nationally ranked game, the top two competitors are chosen as the new additions to the national team. I wasn't happy over the fact that I earned the title as a National Member, but more happy over what I gained from receiving such an honor. December 15th, 2013 was more of a jumpstart to my exciting journey as a national team member. My first International competition was in Plzen, Czech Republic for the 23rd Meeting of the Shooting Hopes game. International games were evidently no joke. These competitors from other countries spent countless more hours than I have training. I would spend 60 hours a week just standing on my two feet, but I could tell these international competitors groveled and bled their way through such a buildup for their physical body and mental stability. It's become senior year and I've been inactive in the competitive scene for over a year now. I missed my invitationals to Spain, Brazil, and Germany for the past year.    
     Anyway, this my story about shooting. Shooting has shaped me to become more patient and work harder for my goals. Receiving emails and messages from teammates and my foreign friends always remind me that shooting is what has made me... well me. I despised the me who was content staying home. Shooting allowed me to expand my view upon the world, make new friends, and understand that there is more than just Fontana, or Rancho Cucamonga. Here are a few links to the shooting categories for pistol: 10m Air Pistol: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgcYZJfGPPU 25m Sport Pistol: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzziEY7VcWg 25m Rapid Fire: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8QuLYXKNCg 50m Free Pistol: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5kcX3OrT88