In door number two of the Dance Studio Hall of Koret, Club Air Rifle practices in the Bob Granucci Range, which has served as home base for the club for 40 years now.
Helmed by Coach David Lee for nearly 45 years, the club has taken a backseat to competition in recent years, with practices focusing on improving newcomers and current members.
In a normal practice, members practice shooting 10 meters away at a target, similar to that of an archery board, with the bullseye being the size of a penny. The team utilizes pre-charged pneumatic (PCP) rifles, which rely on using compressed oxygen to propel small metal pellets.
A monitor is placed in front of members to show the accuracy of their hits, which range from 1-10. The team typically practices in 40 shot aggregates, meaning that the highest possible score one can achieve is 400. After the activity, their performance is printed out and can be compared to previous performances.
To President and junior psychology major EJ Ledesma, air rifle is an opportunity to master calmness and mindfulness. The biggest challenge, according to Ledesma, is learning how to stay poised even when a bad shot happens.
“I would say most of this sport is learning how to relax,” he said. “Sometimes, like in life, generally, but especially in this, it’s not about what you think about doing. Sometimes you just need to calm down. That’s the difference between the best shooter I’ve seen and someone who is less good.”
Ledesma compared air rifle to performing piano or theater, in terms of not letting one mistake affect the rest of one’s performance. “If you make a mistake and you don’t bring yourself back, for the rest of the piece, you’re gonna do really badly,” he said. “Same thing here, you make a mistake, come back from it, things like that. There’s a lot of mindfulness that goes into this, which I didn’t expect going in.”
Hendrick Kuo, a senior graphic design major, added, “Air rifle is a unique sport, and it’s like self improvement. It’s not like we’re fighting someone. It’s like you against yourself.”
In previous years, the club competed in postal matches against other clubs, particularly their sister club in Germany. Postal matches include clubs shooting their rounds at their own homes, and results are sent to the National Rifle Association (NRA) where they are scored and ranked.
According to Coach Lee, starting around 2004, the two clubs began taking turns visiting each other to compete. “[It] was quite the cultural exchange,” Lee said. “It was wonderful. I’ve never seen so many horizons broaden by meeting your counterpart in another country and, you know, doing that kind of stuff.”
Over time, it became more difficult to fund trips, as Lee said the state of California is a hostile environment for air rifle support. As of right now, the club hopes to continue the legacy of the sport at the University, even if it’s not at the level it once was.
Having a rich history at the University, the Rifle program originally started as an intercollegiate varsity rifle program following World War ll, and consisted of WWll veterans and ROTC members. According to Dons Athletics, the team went 158-27 between 1949 and 1952. They won a plethora of awards, including the 1949 Sixth Army Intercollegiate Championship for all ROTC colleges and the Hearst Sixth Army Championship. According to Lee, moving towards the 1980s, when the men’s basketball program was shut down for three years in 1982 due to violating NCAA rules, the Rifle program was promoted as an official Division l sport after the University was in need for a ninth sport to fulfill Division l qualifications. Once the cross country team was created, the program shifted over to an intramural sport. Between then and before COVID, the club took part in numerous competitions around the world, including matches in Hawaii, Nevada, Germany, Japan and Colorado.
