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Local Teen Wins National Rifle Association World Junior Shooting Championship

photo by provided Receiving his title of World Champion and his $1,000.00 winning, Michael Davis has arrived at the first of his goals at the National Rifle Association Shooting Championships in West Virginia.

Tuesday September 26, 2017

By Cookie Steponaitis

Michael Davis was five years old the first time he was allowed to take aim at a target. He was nine when he realized it was more than a passing fancy and began to practice and dream. “I first started at shooting competitions in the local area,” explained Davis. “Winning at the local level made me more dedicated to the sport and to dream big. I was at the Ruger Rimfire Competition when I was ten and I told my mom I intend to be a national champion.” Five years and seven national and world competitions later, Davis stood in the winner’s circle at the National Rifle Association World Shooting Championship in West Virginia and received the title of Junior World Champion on September 16, 2017.
    What makes the honor all the more special is the NRA competition has twelve stages that test the different disciplines of competitive shooting which include Cowboy Action (double barrel shotgun, western style revolver and lever action rifle), Precision Pistol (one handed pistol at fifty feet).Trap-Wobbily Clay (shotgun on clay pigeons), Five Stand (different locations of clay targets), Three Gun (shotgun, rifle and pistol), Two Gun (rifle, pistol), USPSA (United States Practical Shooting Association-tactical shooting), Long Range- America’s Rifle Challenge-(engaging paper targets while running), Designated Marksman Rifle Challenge- (Three minutes to shoot from different locations at 500 yards) and Precision Rifle Series (Prone and offhand barricade shooting.) During the three day contest Davis shot against people from Australia, France, England, America, Canada and Scotland and competed in the Junior Division for ages 12-17. The composite score created the winner.
    Davis felt this contest was challenging because it contained every major type of shooting and tests your skills. “Shooting twelve different types of stages and disciplines appealed to me because you have to practice will all different kinds of guns and challenges. You use all around skills. The biggest challenge is you are using their guns and you have never handled them before the contest. You don’t know how they handle and that makes the challenge twice as hard.” Davis prepared for this contest by practicing a minimum of 500 hours and never went one day without some sort of practice. Davis comes from a family of competitive shooters and shoots on the weekends and in the summer with his father and occasionally after school as well.
    Davis has high goals and is setting his sights on winning as an adult and is thinking about trying to shoot skeet in the next Olympic Games. While he is also involved in car restoration, competitive rowing and a variety of mechanical projects, Davis sees the sport of shooting as a way to learn a great deal of patience and problem solving. “When you are shooting long range for example,” explained Davis, “when the wind picks up you have to calculate speed and direction and compensate quickly to execute the shot. I have made so many friends from all over the world and I get to shoot side by side with the legends of the sport. It is one thing to read about a many times World Champion but it is an honor to watch them shoot and have them give you pointers. This time I was fortunate enough to meet with a Marine Corps shooting team member Nathan and he spent a lot of time working with me and giving me ideas and pointers.”
    While Davis will not get a banner in his school because his sport is not in the normal routine of school competitions, his community is excited and has let him know about it. American Legion Post #14 members remarked, “We are very proud of Michael. He finds time each month to volunteer at our fish dinners and we love to hear about his efforts.” While Davis is excited to be a World Champion, he is already talking about what comes next. “I took the day off and went back to school,” grinned the marksman. “Now tomorrow it's time to get back to practicing. The next competition is just a few months away.”

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