Kaiserslautern JROTC Rifle Team Keeps Competitively Close Even From Overseas
April 20, 2021
Civilian Marksmanship Program▸The First Shot▸Kaiserslautern JROTC Rifle Team Keeps Competitively Close Even From OverseasThe Kaiserslautern High School rifle team spends its time like most junior teams. Its members focus on the fundamentals and work hard on the firing line to improve their game, in the hopes of achieving victory amongst their peers. But unlike other teams whose rivals are right next door, their competition is a world away – well, more specifically, a country away.
Kaiserslautern High School, (formerly known as Rhine High School or Kaiserslautern American High School) is a private, Department of Defense-operated international school in Kaiserslautern, Germany, in the Kaiserslautern Military Community – the largest population of Americans outside of the continental U.S. and home to approximately 50,000 residents.
The school, also known as KHS or K-Town, hosts over 700 students and 68 full-time educators. KHS is located within the Europe East – one of three European school districts facilitated by the Department of Defense Education Activity (DODEA) system. A total of 13 schools from Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom compete against each other as part of the DODEA athletic program, which includes Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) scholastic rifle opportunities.
Coach Eric San Pedro, a retired MSgt with the U.S. Air Force, has led the Kaiserslautern rifle crew since 2019. Currently, the group holds 10 total junior athletes, with the top four members named to the school’s nationals team.
“The strength of this team lies in their tenacity and determination to be the best they can be,” San Pedro said. “They love to be in the firing range, practicing intensely. They understand the importance of practice.”
This year’s nationals squad is full of flair, with three juniors and a remarkable up-and-coming freshman, Hannah San Pedro – the coach’s daughter. This is her first time on the marksmanship team, and, incredibly, she is already shooting at an elevated competitive level.
“Hopefully, she can continue to improve and prove herself,” San Pedro said as a proud dad/coach.
Of course, Hannah’s not the only K-Town marksman showing talent. She recently joined forces with teammates Jonathan Stricker, Vivian Dougherty and Aiden Malcolm to earn first place overall in the Air Force division of the 2021 JROTC Virtual Championship (this year’s National event). San Pedro, whose team also came out on top during last year’s Air Force JROTC National Championship results, says his athletes are consistently motivated and dedicated to enhancing their skills.
“What I appreciate from this team is their willingness to listen and have a coachable attitude,” he said.
San Pedro went on to say that the biggest challenge of being an overseas school is the limited competitions they are eligible to participate in, since there are no local precision competitions available in Germany.
To find in-person matchups, the team typically competes stateside each year at the JROTC National Championship, VFW events and other U.S.-sponsored matches where they are allowed to compete. The onset of COVID-19 in 2020 struck KHS just as it did many schools and clubs within the United States – causing them to miss a significant number of competitions and practice on top of an already sparse schedule.
“Living in Germany is no different from the U.S. or any other country. It (COVID) has hit the entire globe in an unprecedented manner,” San Pedro said. “COVID has impacted our marksmanship program in ways where our athletes have lost time to train and slowed down the process of becoming a sharpshooter.”
Luckily, with organizations like the Civilian Marksmanship Program staying dedicated to providing competitive opportunities, Kaiserslautern was able to take part in a few matches throughout the year, in spite of the pandemic constraints. Postal competitions, where teams use mailed targets to complete a course of fire at their home ranges and return for scoring, made “gathering” athletes for matches safe and convenient.
“We are grateful that we were allowed to have a short marksmanship season, due to the fact that we can shoot Postals – even though we have to be compliant with COVID safety restrictions and policies, such as wearing the masks and social distancing while shooting,” San Pedro explained.
The Kaiserslautern team has already accomplished one of its biggest goals for this year – a repeat Air Force National Championship title – but there’s still more to be done. With San Pedro behind them, the fierce athletes are ready for whatever challenge is next.
“This year’s K-Town team is underrated and unknown, but they have the hearts of champions,” he added. “Of course, they’ll have to show this in the firing range!”
It says in the article „ San Pedro went on to say that the biggest challenge of being an overseas school is the limited competitions they are eligible to participate in, since there are no local precision competitions available in Germany.“. I’m surprised to read this because every German town of the size of K-town hosts at least one shooting club if not more. Rules and regulations may be different under the DSB (Deutscher Schützenbund – German Shooting Association) but there should be opportunities for the young people to compete in friendlies. Air rifles and air pistols shoot from 10m distances, by the way.
DODEA Students are not allowed to play on a German sports team during their DODEA school season. They would have to be on a German team in the off season. Right now and over the last year indoor shooting has been closed due to COVID on the German economy. JROTC is allowed as it is part of the school curriculum.
Ah, OK, thanks.
Back-to-back championships (with one of those shooters being a freshman) shows that MSG San Pedro is doing some great things with this program. In addition to the thrill of excellence in competition, these kids are learning a valuable skill that can serve them well, in or out of the military.
The shooters also secured victories in the standing position (Aiden Malcom shot the top score for all shooters) and prone (Hannah San Pedro). Good job!
With reference to the rifle’s ‘enhancements’, realize that these do not affect shooter skill- they only broaden the amount of infinitesimal adjustments shooters must make to shoot consistent bullseyes. If anything, it makes it harder to shoot, as the rifle responds aggressively to these changes, making it difficult to find the perfect balance for each shooter. The rifle is also light enough to feel the pulse of a shooter’s heartbeat, and it requires immense skill to fire at the exact right moment- even more so in the standing position, where a shooter must have still legs, back, arms and neck. Even the smallest twitch can throw aim off by a lot.
These ‘1580’ rifles, they were heavier, and did not have the ability it adjust as much as these rifles… they were also not very accurate. I would also like to a shooter from then stand, lay and kneel in uncomfortable positions for hours on end… and still shoot a perfect bullseyes consistently, on a target about as big as a circle made with your middle finger and thumb (the bullseye being a tiny dot in the middle). These shooter no doubt also practiced for hours on hours to reach their elite level. Please, show some respect for these student athletes. Their skill and discipline is not in doubt at all in my opinion. I also invite those critical of the rifles affect on performance to look at other scores athletes recorded- some were very good (as this team’s were), and some (no offense, all is needed is practice!) were not so good, even with the ‘enhanced’ rifles. I also invite critics to look up marksmanship at the Olympic level- the athletes work just as hard as anyone else, and sometimes even more so- one cannot get nervous in marksmanship, as this increases blood pressure, negatively impacting shooting. So, when it comes down to it, skill, discipline, and bearing are qualities needed to score at elite levels like these shooters are doing.
Good job, K-Town!
Proud of you young women and men. Representing the unit and school in such a positive manner. From a former student and cadet. Class of 1990.
As a former competitive shooter I have to ask this question. The weapons being shown seem to be so far enhanced that I begin to wonder how much natural shooting skill is involved? What is left of natural shooting ability with such highly enhanced platforms?
The team is using precision air rifles – Feinwerkbau P800s.
Thanks,
Christine
Hello Bob,
Yes, these Feinwerbau P800 rifles have definitely enhanced the 3PAR precision shooting as they are designed to allow for adjustments down to the details. In all honesty, I am still learning how to make these adjustments so that my shooters can capitalize and continue to improve their scores. As far as the shooting skills, the elements must still be there when it comes to the physical and mental discipline of the sport. Without the discipline, skill, and talent of the shooter, the tiny dot target will still be challenging to hit even with these amazing rifles.
Unless you used the oldest existing mechanical air gun dating back to about 1580, then I too would question how much natural shooting skill was involved in your time of competitive shooting.
Hi there. These shooters aim for the 10 which is only 0.197 inch in diameter. On a high competitive level they are supposed to hit at least a 10.0 every time. Doing so not rested from a distance of about 33 feet is really hard without advanced equipment. I hope you don‘t feel patronized. If you do I apologize.
Here is a link for those who have some command of German and are curious about parts of the competitive shooting scene in Germany. It‘s a public group on Favebook.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/ssvo2011/?multi_permalinks=4234946503183165¬if_id=1619702252412881¬if_t=feedback_reaction_generic&ref=notif
Or go to „Sprtschützen sind Leistungssportler“