Woodford County 4-H Shooting Sports Informational Meeting to be Held February 11

Written by Legal Record Webmaster

Friday, 05 February 2010

EUREKA - The University of Illinois Extension’s 4-H program has received approval to become involved in the National 4-H Shooting Sports Program. An informational meeting for current 4-H members and those interested in joining 4-H and the shooting sports program will be held at the Church of the Nazarene in Eureka on Thursday, February 11 at 6:30 p.m. Parents should plan to attend with their children. Please register for the meeting by calling University of Illinois Extension – Woodford County at 467-3789. Area coordinators in the individual disciplines are Pete Fandel, archery; Jim Pierceall, shotgun; and Paul Burton, air rifle. Cathy Blunier, the Extension Service’s Youth Development Educator, is the Woodford County coordinator for the program. The National 4-H Shooting Sports Program has been in existence since the mid 1970s, though some individual states offered a 4-H shooting sports program as early as the 1930s. Youth development will be the number one goal of the Shooting Sports Program. The program is an excellent way to provide life skill development and to establish a caring relationship with an adult mentor. The program is an active program, attractive to both youth and adult audiences. 4-H curriculum will be designed to assist young people in personal development, personal environmental ethics, and lifelong vocational and avocational activities. The program will help to promote self confidence, responsibility, teamwork, self esteem, decision-making and the identification of realistic personal goals. The 4-H project allows members to decide which of the disciplines they will participate in: shotgun, air rifle/small bore rifle, or archery. Youth must be 8 to 18 years of age as of September 1, 2009 to become a 4-H member and enroll in the shooting sports project. Youth must be at least 10 years of age to participate in the shotgun discipline.   As the program evolves, 4-H members will have opportunities to test their shooting, hunting and sportsmanship skills in county, regional, state and national competitions. 4-Hers in the national program have demonstrated high achievement in the field, in the classroom and on the target range—but personal development for young people and adult leaders is the real objective. The program will strive to make every child a winner and to adhere to the 4-H motto to “make the best better.”