Shelby Township, MI - The Texas A&M Aggie Corps of Cadets AMU Centerfire squad won the 1st Annual Scholastic Pistol Program (SPP) Winter Regionals which was hosted by the Texas A&M University Corps of Cadets Marksmanship Unit, and sponsored by GLOCK. The Aggie's took High Overall by besting new Southeastern Conference rival, the University of Florida Gators, as well as nine other squads in both Centerfire and Rimfire Divisions.
The event was held at the Gunsmoke Range in Snook, Texas and was supported by Match Director Kevin Jimmerson, Tom Yost, Smith & Wesson SPP liaison, SPP program manager Tammy Mowry and members of the Aggie Corps of Cadets. Joining fellow founding partners Glock and S&W, Action Target supplied the targets for the match.
The match also served as the first match for the newly announced Rimfire Division. This new division, which is called Rimfire Junior Varsity, will be offered in all three divisions of SPP, Junior, Senior and Collegiate. It proved to a popular division with squads from the South Texas Shooters, Dripping Springs HS, Heritage Steel Shooters, University of Florida, Texas A&M Corps of Cadets and Texas A&M Pistol Team competing.
"GLOCK has a long history of supporting youth competition in the shooting sports as well as the various military pistol teams that compete," said Ed Fitzgerald, Scholastic Shooting Sports Foundation (SSSF) Board of Trustee member and Glock SPP liaison. "Sponsoring the SPP Winter Regionals hosted by the Texas A&M University Corps of Cadets Marksmanship Unit was a wonderful opportunity for GLOCK to bolster our industry's position that responsible gun ownership and competitive shooting sports complement one another."
"The cadets are still talking about the SPP Winter Regionals", said BG(R) Joe E. Ramirez, Jr, Commandant of Cadets Texas A&M University. "I look forward to next year's event and seeing all the teams showing off their shooting prowess again!"
"This was a great start to 2013 for SPP" said Scott Moore, SPP National Director. "BG Ramirez, GySgt Parker and the entire Corps of Cadets have made this a "must attend" match and we're looking forward to returning every year".
This regional match is the first of several scheduled for SPP in 2013 and serves as the warm up match for the SPP Colligate Championships hosted by the United States Army Marksmanship Unit (USAMU), at Fort Benning on March 16th.
SPP is organized based on age, Junior Division (ages 12-16), Senior Division (ages 17-20) and Collegiate Division (no age limit, must be full time student). SPP is based on production center fire handguns firing at steel plate targets and offers an introduction to a lifetime sport that family members can enjoy together.
For additional information on the new SPP program or to register your team, contact Director Scott Moore via e-mail at jsmoore357@yahoo.com.
The Scholastic Shooting Sports Foundation (SSSF) is responsible for all aspects of the Scholastic Clay Target Program (SCTP) and Scholastic Pistol Program (SPP) across the United States, including participant registration, coaches, state coordinators, state and national championships, promotion, communications, websites, public relations and growth strategies The Scholastic Shooting Sports Foundation exists to raise funding and other resources for Youth Development Programs in the shooting sports industry.
SCTP and SPP are youth development programs, originally developed by the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), where adult coaches and volunteers model sportsmanship, responsibility, honesty, ethics, integrity, and teamwork while using shooting sports programs to teach these and other positive life skills to the athletes.
To learn more about SCTP or SPP call (586) 739-SCTP (7287) or visit their website at www.shootsctp.org.
