Did\nyou know that there are more than 500 shooting sports programs on college and\nuniversity campuses across the United States? And one of the best collegiate\nshotgun teams is right here on the campus of Fort Hays State University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nteam\u2019s success is impressive, having won seven national championships in the\npast nine years! The most recent national title \u2013 last month in Marengo, Ohio \u2013\njust might have been the most impressive yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At\nthe Scholastic Clay Target Program (SCTP) meet, one of the largest and\nfastest-growing clay target programs in the country, Fort Hays State claimed\nanother Division II national title, its seventh in program history. It also\noutscored all of the Division I teams in the process! Then, less than a week\nlater, FHSU claimed a third-place overall finish at another national tourney \u2013\nthe Association of College Unions International (ACUI) Clay Target\nChampionships in San Antonio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Each\nyear I have the honor of hosting the students in the president\u2019s residence to\ncelebrate their victories and help pass out their championship rings. What a\nspecial privilege for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As\nI have gotten to know these athletes better, I have been impressed by their\ndiscipline \u2013 academic and personal \u2013 and\ntheir kindness. Much of this, I believe, is derived from the culture and caring\noversight of Coach Duane Shepherd and his \u201call-in wife,\u201d Teresa, affectionally\nreferred to by the students as \u201cMama Shep.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
One\nstudent in particular, Heather Gordon, a past team president, has captured my\nheart. She is a truly amazing young lady and the epitome of someone who lives\nour honor code, Tiger Pact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Heather\ngrew up in Pine Valley, Calif., where she began shooting when she was about 8\nyears old. Her dad had taken her to a range for a .22 rifle competition, and\nthey noticed a flyer promoting a scholastic shooting program. Dad signed\nHeather up for practice that following Tuesday \u2013 and she has been polishing her\nskills ever since.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Heather\nshared that she always wanted to be like her dad, who \u201ccompetitively shot when\nI was growing up for his job in Homeland Security. That really piqued my\ninterest.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Heather\nand her dad continued to shoot together through her childhood. She was only 15\nwhen she shot her first 100 straight in trap. Throughout her teens, Heather\ncontinued to compete, learn, and flourish. When it came to choosing a college,\nit was an easy decision for Heather. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
She\nand her parents came on a college visit to FHSU before her senior year in high\nschool, and that\u2019s when they met Dr. Duane and Teresa Shepherd. The combination\nof the Midwest hospitality that the Shepherds extended, along with the team\u2019s\ntrack record, resulted in a clear college choice decision for Heather and her\nparents. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Heather\u2019s\nlove for this sport has only grown since coming to Fort Hays State. \u201cI have\nnever had a team experience like the one I am privileged enough to have had at\nFHSU,\u201d she said. \u201cThe professionalism and passion that my team has in this\nsport, especially when we travel and get to show off all of our hard work, is\nunlike any other.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nFHSU team primarily competes in the three common shotgun sports disciplines:\nskeet, sporting, and trap. It has, however, competed in almost all disciplines,\nincluding bunker, international skeet, and FITASC \u2013 an international form of\nsporting clays – arguably the ultimate challenge in clay target shooting. Like\nmany of our athletic teams, the FHSU Shotgun Sports Team travels frequently to\ncompete at matches against other colleges \u2013 another reason the members must\ndevelop the discipline to stay on top of their studies, other responsibilities,\nand, of course, their shooting skills. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nteam is co-ed and averages about 25 team members each year. Students come from\nall backgrounds and states. Heather noted that there is \u201ca great level of depth\non our team.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As\nteam president (2018-2020), Heather and the officers worked with the Student\nGovernment Association throughout the year to access club funds. Like other\nsports, shooting develops one\u2019s character, leadership, responsibility,\nteamwork, self-discipline, and focus \u2013 all characteristics key to a successful\nfuture. However, as members of a club sport, rather than a varsity athletic\nteam, these students must oversee finances and host fundraisers for their\nsport. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLooking\nover the past five years, it is surreal when I think of the accomplishments I\nhave watched my team achieve. I also recognize, that as a team, we could never\nsay enough kind words about Duane and Teresa Shepherd. The amount of effort\nthey put into this team goes above and beyond. There is no doubt they are our\nbiggest fans and support system,\u201d Heather said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Out\nof the seven national titles for FHSU, Heather has been a part of five of them.\nDuring her career, Fort Hays State also has several other top-three national\nfinishes as a team, in addition to numerous individual titles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Heather\nended her college shooting career the best way possible \u2013 as part of 2021 SCTP\nnational championship team \u2013 before moving on with her career (she is\ngraduating next month) and her personal life (she is getting married in\nAugust).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\ncould not have asked for a better place or support system than what Hays has\nhad to offer,\u201d Heather said. \u201cI am excited to move on, but I will always miss\ncompeting at this level with the best team I could have ever asked for.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When\nHeather walks across the commencement stage to receive her master\u2019s degree in\nprofessional studies with an emphasis in criminal justice, I know I will be\nbeaming with pride and feel deep gratitude for her time on our campus \u2013 and the\nforever spot she will continue to occupy in my heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tisa Mason is president of Fort Hays State University.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Did you know that there are more than 500 shooting sports programs on college and university campuses across the United States? And one of the… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37698,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12323,55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-life","category-opinion"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Mason-Tisa-040A6662.jpg?fit=750%2C1050&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=59421"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59421\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59422,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59421\/revisions\/59422"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/37698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=59421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=59421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=59421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}