Sandpoint rifle team fourth in Spokane Postal Shoot league
<p>Members of the Sandpoint Senior Rifle Club, pictured left to right: Isaiah Yandt, Nick Rasor, John Holbert and Ron Shadel. The four shooters travel around the region in a league. (Photo by ERIC PLUMMER)</p>
SANDPOINT — Yankee catching great Yogi Berra once said about baseball “90 percent of this game is half mental.”
It’s a safe bet the four members of the Sandpoint Senior Rifle team know exactly what he meant, as the word “mental” came up often at a recent practice at the Leo Hadley range.
Like many sports, conquering what’s between the ears is key.
“The mental challenge,” answered John Holbert when asked what he loves most about target shooting. “It’s a love/hate relationship.”
The Sandpoint team is currently in fourth place among 22 teams in the AA category of the Spokesman Review Postal Shoot, and travels around the region for competitions.
Shooting .22 caliber rifles at 10 shot targets 50 feet away, each shooter gets 10 shots in the prone (stomach), sitting, kneeling and standing positions, with 400 being a perfect score.
“It looks easy, but it’s pretty hard,” said Shadel, a longtime shooter at the Sandpoint range, which used to boast far more members than it does today. “It’s a mental game. That’s what gets you every time.”
Shadel’s best score ever is a 398, while teammate Isaiah Yandt boasts a 399 high score, one point away from perfection. But like a 300 score in bowling, achieving perfection is no easy task.
Team member Nick Rasor, whose top score is a 382, said dedication and practice are essential, and he loves the personal competition.
“Trying from week to week to beat what I’ve done before is the challenge that drives me to be better at it,” described Rasor of what he loves about shooting, also alluding to the mental side of the sport. “If I could get rid of my brain, I’d probably get 400’s every time; it just gets in the way.”