CULLMAN — When four kids from Addison High represented the state of Alabama at a national skeet shooting competition, they were able to gain the rest of the states’ respect even without winning.

En route to a 13th-place finish at the National 4-H Shooting Sports Invitational held in Grand Island, Nebraska, the team had several obstacles to overcome long before the competition started.

Earning the right to represent the state first meant competing against 15-16 other teams in Alabama for the spot. The two disciplines of shooting they competed in during state were skeet shooting and trapshooting. 

After qualifying for the national competition from winning the state competition, the team had the task of raising $6,000 before making the trip to Nebraska in June.

Team members Kurtis Robinson, Briley Chandler, Devin Wilkins, Caleb Stark, and the team's coach, Karen Moore, started raising money right after they won state in April.

“We were able to raise the total from the fundraisers and donations,” Moore said. “We were really blessed. Our kids worked really hard. They came together as a team.”

Next on the list of complication happened on the way to Grand Island when two of the teammates had their guns stolen, the guns they had been practicing and shooting with for the previous four years.

To hurdle over this, the team had to once again ask for outside help. Once they got to Nebraska, Moore was able to inform those in charge about their predicament.

“Tom Person, the national chief range officer, found matching guns and found us some help,” she said. “I needed an escort to use the pattern board for the new guns. However, all the team members wanted to see their gun pattern.”

Moore said while they only needed two guns, other states heard about their problem, so they had a total of five guns offered to them.

Their final challenge to face was within the competition itself. While they qualified from skeet shooting and trapshooting, the national level also required them to compete in sporting clays, which they hadn’t ever done before.

“Alabama doesn't compete in the sporting clays, so we had a leading expert and pro, Jim O'Conner, to practice with us and give us tips for improvement so we would be competitive with the other teams,” Moore said. 

Oddly enough, the sporting clays wasn’t their biggest weakness once it came down to the competition.

“We placed in the top ten for skeet and sporting clays but lost momentum for the trap,” Moore said.

After the trap score dropped them down, they finished 13th overall in the nation, and Moore said she believed her team did a wonderful job representing the state of Alabama.

Through all their efforts and successes, before they left, they happened to see a banner hanging in the auditorium next to the champion’s banner.

“Alabama is what 4H is all about,” the banner read.

Moore said she was very proud of her team for overcoming all that they had and that it was nice that the other teams represented in Nebraska also saw how much adversity they went through.

For Moore to be named coach of the team, it’s a requirement to be a certified 4H shooting instructor. Originally, her brother, Kenny Robinson, was the team’s coach, and he asked Moore to get her license in case he needed someone to fill in.

Right before the state competition, he asked her to take over full-time because his son no longer wanted to compete.

“It was difficult to take that leadership role and go to state and win state and then go to the national competition,” she said. “As a female coach, I felt a lot of extra pressure.”

At nationals, she was the only female primary coach present, which made all the victories extra special.

“The boys really did well under the leadership that they had, and we worked it and did it as a team, and I’m extremely proud of them,” Moore said.

How the rules go in Alabama is that once a team competes at the 4H national level, they can’t go back again. So for this four-member team that spent years working to get there, they’re done.

Moore, who does this strictly as a volunteer, will remain a coach at the shooting facility in Winston County in hopes of rounding up another team that could compete in a few more years.

“If others want to come, I’ll be teaching boys or girls how to shoot the gun properly,” Moore said. “I’m looking forward to next year to see who’s interested now that we’ve gone to nationals. We’re always looking for kids. Not everyone enjoys playing football or baseball, and we’re looking for any kid that’s interested in the sport.”

Moore has a 13-year-old daughter, Kaley, who has jokingly told her that if she could get an all-girls team going, they could be the only one of their kind in the state.

% Laura Owens can be reached at 256-734-2131, ext. 258 or at lowens@cullmantimes.com.