Haden Chandler lines up a shot during the state competition held earlier this year, while coaches and fellow Jackson County participants watch. Photo courtesy of Joanna Chandler
Program Teaches Firearm Safety While Building Confidence
The image of a mosquito striking a clay target dead center, breaking it into pieces, adorns a fluorescent orange T-shirt. For the group of young shooters known as the “Skeeter Squad,” the logo is just 1 of the cool perks of being a member of the firearms team.
As members of Jackson County’s 4-H shooting sports team, the youths learn more than just how to handle firearms safely. The program gives them confidence and a deeper love for target shooting as a sport.
“Before I started shooting on the team, I had never shot a shotgun,” 12-year-old Haden Chandler says. “It gave me a lot of experience and a lot more confidence using 1.”
Alabama 4-H SAFE—for Shooting Awareness Fun Education—covers firearm safety and teaches youths ages 9 and older responsible firearms handling, use, and storage. The Alabama Cooperative Extension System offers the program with disciplines in archery, shotgun, and rifle.
Along with shooting and firearms safety, the SAFE program aims to instill a sense of independence, along with lessons in teamwork. The goal is to expose youths to positive interactions, helping them to develop leadership skills or serve as mentors to others.
Haden has been involved in the 4-H shooting sports program for 2 years. His father, Bradley Chandler, is 1 of Jackson County’s coaches.
The SAFE program goes above and beyond working on safety and training, Haden’s mother, JoAnna Chandler, says. She appreciates the program’s bigger mission for home-schooled students, like Haden, who don’t get as many opportunities to be part of a team.
“The team aspect of it and also just building confidence, learning how to carry himself with a gun and how to treat it—it has been amazing just watching him progress through that,” she says.
On Target
Cason Treece takes a shot in the 4-H shooting sports state competition held earlier this year. Photo courtesy of Tina Curby
Although not the primary purpose of the SAFE program, team members participate in shooting sports competitions. Jackson County’s 4-H shooting team practices weekly, and teams may also be given a chance to practice at competition ranges before tournaments.
Safety briefings with coaches are held prior to tournaments via video conference and again on-site for both coaches and 4-H members. There are strict guidelines for ranges, including no music-listening devices in place of hearing protection on the firing line, and firearms must remain unloaded until a youth is ready to shoot.
Competitions include junior teams, for ages 9 to 13, and senior teams, for ages 14 to 18. The Jackson County team participated in the 2024 Alabama Championship shooting sports competition, held over 3 days in April at Selwood Farm Hunting Preserve in Alpine, as well as the Red Eagle Skeet and Trap Club in Childersburg. About 160 students from across the state competed in the April championship.
During the state championships, both junior and senior shooters set their sights on 50 targets of trap, skeet, and sporting clays. Each event has different shooting requirements to complete, as well as time limits.
Jackson County’s junior team—comprised of Cash Treece, Cason Treece, and Haden—won third place overall, and Cash also won third place in trap shooting.
The state championship was the first shotgun tournament for Savannah Mahoney, Jackson County’s 4-H youth development coordinator. While the 4-H SAFE competitions are team events, the participants also gain so much individually, she says.
“After interacting with the kids and seeing the passion that they have for the sport, you really see how much of a leadership or a hard-work ethic that they develop through the program,” Mahoney says. “It’s nice that they can compete on a team together, but they also get to shine individually in how they compete.”
Valuable Lessons
Clay Curby, 18, was the only Jackson County senior team member participating in the championship. It was his last high school event in the sport before graduating. Curby has been target shooting since he was young. His parents threw skeet for him, and he also shot with his cousins. Despite that exposure, he says he still learned a lot from the 4-H SAFE experience over the 3 years he participated.
“I always loved the sport of it,” Curby says. “It taught me a lot more about the sport and got me more familiar with a shotgun shooting competition because the only time I ever shot competition was with friends and family.”
When he first joined the shooting sports team, Curby worried that it would be like other team sports and he would be shunned if he did not do well. His first shooting event showed him that was not the case. His teammates and others were supportive, and a college team even taught young shooters new techniques and helped them with their shooting stance.
Adult volunteers must complete a 12-hour certification course to become a coach, and Curby plans to work toward that goal so he can show other young shooters they do not have to stress over the competitive aspect of the sport.
“I want them to realize it’s not that big of a deal, go out and have fun,” Curby says. “That’s the biggest part of it—going out and having fun doing it. Nobody out there is judging you on your shooting. They’re out there supporting you, and it’s just an all-around fun experience.”