The Civilian Marksmanship Program National Matches have been conducted since 1903 and draw more than 6,000 annual participants.

From the junior division to adults, shooters from all over the United States flock to Camp Perry in Port Clinton, Ohio, for a shot at a national title.

On July 22, Jeannie Redicker, 54, of Vallonia was among the three-position rifle competitors.

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Going into her first national competition, she said her coach, A.J. Huffman, had prepared her well enough that she could rely on her muscle memory and keep her mind calm. They didn’t want any surprises.

Lying down at the firing line, though, she said she was awestruck.

“It was like, ‘I’m at the nationals. I’m getting ready to fire my very first shot for the nationals. This is what I’ve been working for for nine months, and I’m here.’ And that’s not what I should have been telling myself,” she said, smiling. “I should have just laid down and just did what I always do, but I didn’t.”

Her goals were to win the women’s division and place in the top 10 overall. Since her scores had progressed up to that point, there was even a possibility that she could win it all.

In the first stage, prone slow fire, she shot a perfect 100.

“I followed my game plan. I did exactly what I was supposed to do. I spent a lot of time building my position and making sure that I had my natural point of aim, that I was relaxed and that I fired my shots in a slow cadence,” she said. “I felt good going into it. I’m thinking, ‘This feels good.’”

Staring the second stage, prone rapid fire, however, she dropped the first three points. In prep time, she did something she had never done before: Dry fire.

“It psyched me out because I saw something in my scope that I don’t see when I’m shooting, and so I changed my position ever so slightly, and it moved everything to the left,” Redicker said.

She finished the remainder of the stage with 10s and then rolled over on her back and watched the clouds go over for a little bit just to collect herself.

“I knew then that the goal of winning it all was not within reach, but I also didn’t let it discourage me so much that I couldn’t continue to fire good shots the rest of the match,” she said.

“If you drop three, you have to hold steady where you’re at and pray that you get a really good offhand because offhand is where you’re going to win it or lose it,” she said of the standing stage, which is the last portion of the competition.

When she rolled back over and looked at her husband, Ray, he gave her two thumbs-up and said, “You’re OK.”

“I had already told myself at that point that, ‘OK, you screwed up. Pick yourself up, and go on from now. Don’t let it bother you. You can’t get those three back. It’s what it’s going to be,’” she said.

A couple of years ago, Redicker said she wouldn’t have been able to pick herself back up and finish strong. Huffman helping her with mental attitude, though, allowed her do just that.

She posted respectable scores in both seated stages and then prepared for the two standing stages, all of which were done while it was raining and a little windy.

“I took my time, and I bet you I was probably almost four minutes into the 10 minutes before I ever took my first shot in standing,” Redicker said. “It was a perfect 10 right in the middle, and I’m like, ‘You can do this.’

“I finally got myself to remember all of that training,” she said, smiling. “I ended up shooting a perfect 100 in standing offhand. I’ve only done that perfect 100 in standing a couple of times in practice. I had done it before, so it wasn’t a huge surprise that I could do it, but I needed it at that point.”

In the end, she won the women’s telescopic division out of 40 shooters and was 10th out of 215 in all divisions, and she placed second in the women’s open-sighted division and 30th out of 77 overall. She earned two medals and a plaque.

Her final score of 584 out of 600 was lower than she was used to, so she’s motivated to keep working hard in practice to be ready for next year’s National Matches.

She said she wants to win the women’s division again and place higher overall.

“The overall winner shot a 593 this year,” she said. “I’m capable of shooting a 593. I’ve done it before, so what will it take? It will take shooting in the mid to high 90s (each round). … A lot of it has to do with mindset, and I messed up mentally. I didn’t mess up shooting, but I messed up mentally. I got out of my game plan this year, and so I have to be more mentally tough.”

She will continue to rely on Huffman for the mental preparation.

“He told me at one time, ‘I can’t teach you anything else. Your skill set is as high as mine or more so, but it’s that mess between your ears that we need to work on,’” Redicker said. “He is like my husband. He doesn’t mince words. He’s going to be honest with you about it.”

For that reason, she said she looks up to him.

“When we practice together, it brings out the worst in me, but it also makes me realize what I’m doing wrong,” she said. “You can shoot great in your own backyard, and you’re comfortable all of the time, but if you don’t put yourself under that pressure, you’ll never realize where your weakness is at. For good or for bad, A.J. brings out the worst in me, and that makes me better.”

Redicker also relies on the support of her husband.

“He’s as honest as the day is long, and if I ask him a question, I need to expect that I’m going to get an honest answer out of him,” she said. “We laugh about it because there is no filter when that honest answer comes out. He has always been I wouldn’t say hard, but he puts the bar high, and if you don’t reach that bar, he doesn’t give you praise just to make you feel good.”

That remained the same at the National Matches.

“He kept telling me how proud he was, how good I had shot, and I said something about it, and he goes, ‘I didn’t say you shot your scope rifle well, but you shot that open-sighted rifle well,’” she said, laughing. “He said, ‘You could have shot that scope rifle a lot better,’ and I said, ‘I know, but I thought you were proud of me.’ He said, ‘I am, for the open-sighted rifle.’”

A week before the National Matches, Redicker won the smallbore and dewar women’s championships for the third year in a row at the Bluegrass State Games in Kentucky. She also won the overall dewar match and was second in smallbore. It was all slow fire shooting.

Redicker said she has had a longtime interest in shooting sports, and she became serious about three-position shooting about six years ago when she joined Revere’s Riders. Through that nonprofit organization, she has learned rifle marksmanship, taught the history of marksmanship through historical storytelling and become a rifle instructor.

Huffman taught and mentored her as she became an instructor, and then she began helping him with the Greene County 4-H shooting sports program.

That led to her participating in CMP Rimfire Sporter matches on a range in Bedford. When she and Huffman compared her scores to the previous year’s National Matches, they realized she could give it a shot this year.

Through the winter, Huffman worked with Redicker to get her mentally prepared to compete, and she practiced at home.

Earlier this year, she also helped start a 4-H shooting sports club in Jackson County. She is the rifle club leader and rifle instructor, while Tyler Gerometta is the shotgun instructor, and Ricky Eggersman is a rifle instructor and the program’s county coordinator.

In March, the club was awarded a grant from the NRA Foundation that allowed for the purchase of some rifles. In the future, they will apply for grants to buy left-handed rifles and a trailer for storage and transportation of equipment.

Nearly 20 kids are involved in the club. They met twice a month throughout the summer and plan to meet at 6 p.m. on the first and third Thursday from September to November at South Central Gun Club in Freetown.

Redicker said they hope to add archery to the club if they can find someone to teach it.

Another goal is to have kids compete in the National Matches since there is a 4-H division.

“I hope that some of this success will help draw attention to it for my 4-H kids,” Redicker said. “I’m really hoping that this competition will motivate my kids to realize that you don’t have to be the star athlete, you don’t have to be physically an athlete build (to compete in shooting sports). I want this to show the kids that there’s skill involved in it, but a lot of it also has to be your mental preparation and how you perceive yourself.”

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For information about the Civilian Marksmanship Program, visit thecmp.org.

For information about the Jackson County 4-H Shooting Sports Club, contact Purdue Extension Jackson County at 812-358-6101.

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