Written by Sierra Bullets Ballistic Technician Philip Mahin

Well, 4-H is going to begin a new year again soon and I’m putting a call out to anyone wanting to become a mentor or instructor; it is a worthwhile investment. Sign up is fairly easy, just a few minutes of your time on their www.4honline.com website to get registered for the next instructor’s class. Simply click on the state you live in to go to your registration pages and fill in the information asked.

Our county program associate mentioned this should be done after October 1^st to ‘give the techy people time to do maintenance and roll the existing program into the new year’ but that is when the new year officially begins.

The cost of the three day class is inexpensive (at least it was here in Missouri) but the benefits gained from it is beyond measure. If the thought of putting children’s safety in your hands intimidates you, it would be well worth your while to visit shooting matches and just observe next year. That doesn’t cost anything but your time and energy, but I’ll bet you’ll have a good time just watching the excitement on the kids’ faces when they start improving their scores from match to match. Not just that, but you’ll be able to interact with the current shooting instructors and gain knowledge and techniques that worked for them. Doing what they are doing, they should be approachable and I’m sure they would welcome you to attend. Of course this will also give you an opportunity to practice yourself now that 22 ammo is slowly becoming available again.

If your interest lies in shotguns or bows and arrows or muzzle loading instead, there is always room for you as well. Just remember, the kid you make time for may just be the next Olympic Gold Medalist.