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Page 6A-THE KINGS MOUNTAIN HERALD-Thursday, July 13, 1989
FOOTBALL PRACTICE - Assistant coach Bruce Clark watches closely as some of his players go
through conditioning drills Tuesday at Kings Mountain High's annual mini camp. The Mountaineers will
continue camp through next Thursday. They officially open pre-season practice July 31.
KMHS Gridders Taking
Part In Annual Camp
Around 40 Kings Mountain
High football prospects are braving
the hot weather and participating in
a mini camp at KMHS.
Head Coach Denny Hicks said
the camp will run through next
Thursday. After that, the coaching
staff will go to Greensboro for the
annual North Carolina High School
Athletic Association Coaches
Clinic and the players will take a
rest before officially beginning pre-
season practice on July 31.
The mini camp has been held for
years here, but the coaching staff
has taken a different approach over
the last five seasons. Rather than
having the players eat, sleep and
actually live at school during the
camp, they've let the players stay at
home and just come to school for a
hour and a half a day, during which
time they go through conditioning
drills for 45 minutes and teaching
for 45 minutes.
"Most schools go for about five
weeks in the summer and require
the players to be there four of those
weeks," said Hicks. "We used to do
the same, but in 1985 we felt like
we were totally dominating the
kids' summer. Football's a tough
game and hard to play, but it's sup-
posed to be fun, too. So, in 1985,
we started asking them to just com-
mit two weeks and we feel like the
success we had in 1985 and 1986
proved it's a justifiable way of do-
ing it. We feel like we can get a lot
done during that time and families
can plan their vacations around it
and the players don't have to com-
mit their whole summer to football.
If they come in dedicated, we can
get in what we need to in two
weeks."
The camp is running from 6:30
to 8 p.m. each night. Schools hav-
ing summer practice are allowed
only to have conditioning drills and
teach their basic offenses and are
not allowed to put on football gear
other than helmets and shoes.
"We just try to concentrate on
offense and the kicking game,"
Hicks said. "We've had a very diffi-
cult time selling our kids on the
importance of a kicking game, but
there's no way to be successful
without it. 1985 was a prime exam-
ple. We won two of our first three
games with the kicking game and
that gave our offense and defense a
chance to come around and we
jelled into a real good football
team. That was probably the only
year we got out of the kicking
game what we want to get out of it
every year. We try to get in all the
protection, coverage, a lot of kick-
ing, snapping and holding. We nev-
er let up. Through August practices
and on through the school year we
work on it at least 20 minutes a
day."
Hicks, who is beginning his sev-
enth year as head coach at KMHS,
See Camp, 7-A
Deadeye
Mike Huffman Excels In National Shooting Events
Huffman said that most people
Shooting a high-powered rifle
and winning out in state and na-
tional competitions is no red-neck
sport. Ask Kings Mountain banker
Mike Huffman, who says roughing
it with 3,500 other shooters at
Camp Perry on Lake Erie in Port
Clinton, Ohio is an ideal vacation
spot to relax and unwind. But, un-
less you're a sharpshooter like
Huffman, it's not for you.
This summer Huffman may
shoot in the national competition
again. He's looking forward to the
experience and getting in some
practice on the firing range.
For five years Mike has compet-
ed in the high-powered rifle divi-
sion of state and national contests
and has shot on the Charlotte range
at Pineville, at Tryon, and on mili-
tary ranges such as Camp Butner,
Camp Lejeune, Fort Gordon,Ga.
and Oak Ridge, Tenn. and also at
the FBI Academy range in
Quantico, Va.
Huffman got into the sport by
accident. Growing up on a small
farm, he used to go rabbit and
bird hunting with his late grandfa-
ther who was still deer hunting at
age 83. Making a living and raising
a family of two children took top
priorities and it was only after his
children were grown that he and
his wife decided to take up the
hunting sport and shooting hobby.
Huffman fired a number of rounds
with a friend competing with the
Division of Civilian
Marksmanship, qualified , and then
purchased his first M-I rifle at a
bargain price.
"I had never bit the bullet in this
sport before but after I bought my
gun I got the bug and I've been ac-
tive since," he said. "Shooting is
not like golf and football and it's no
red-neck sport. You have to like it
to perfect it and you have to keep
practicing," he laughed.
Huffman has shot with groups as
few as 20 and as large as 80 in lo-
cal and state competitions and in
groups as large as 2800-3500 in the
nationals. For those interested in
how the shooters are rated a marks-
man scores 84% and below, a
sharpshooter scores 84-99.9%, a
master scores 94-96.99% and a
MIKE HUFFMAN
high master scores 97% and up.
There are less than 40 high masters
in the U. S. and most are military
shooters, said Huffman who is ac-
quainted with eight of them.
Shooters come from all walks of
life and that's why Huffman has
continued in a sport, which does
not come easy, requires intense
concentration and is expensive.
"I've made friends from almost
every profession and business,"
said Huffman ,who ranks the com-
raderie tremendous. He has shot
on the N. C. State High-Powered
Rifle team for five years and
prefers team shooting to shooting
solo.
Most vacations the Huffmans
take together are outdoors- on the
shooting range or hunting. Mike
laughs when he recalls how his
wife got interested in pistol shoot-
ing. " I liked outdoors sports so
much and we wanted some time
together," he said. Shirley also
started deer hunting with him, but
unlike her husband, she has never
killed an animal. She prefers hunt-
ing groundhog or woodchuck. For
ten years Mike has hunted bear and
wolf in Canada and brought home
the results of his hobby which are
mounted for friends to see when
they visit the Huffman home.
Zinn
have an inept fear of guns but sug-
gests that the younger a person is
the better he or she will progress as
a marksman. "Our eyes get worse
as we age and sight is a prerequi-
site for success in this sport,” he
said, as well as consistency and re-
peatability. A shooter has also to
learn how to make adjustments to
the wind and be willing to work
hard. Getting up at 3 a.m. to go to a
meet in the eastern part of the state
or living with 3500 other shooters
in an old WWII POW camp in
converted 14x14 huts and no air-
conditioning might not be the per-
fect vacation spot for some. A
shooter must also be in good physi-
cal shape.
Camp Perry has four rifle ranges
and at times as many as 1,050 peo-
ple are firing on the range at the
same time. "Our weapons have to
be on safety and bolt locked and
we get no second chances," he
said. "We follow all safety proce-
dures or we go home," he added.
Shooting in 103 degree tempera-
tures in hot weather is another fac-
tor that good shooters learn to deal
with. They also wear leather jack-
ets, which also contribute to the
heat. Windburn and sunburn are
other factors the shooters must
cope with during hot weather.
Walking a half-mile from the
bunkhouse to the range and carry-
ing your equipment keeps them in
shape. A shooter may spend half
his time at camp in the pitts mark-
ing targets." You have no trouble
sleeping after the first day on the
firing range," says Huffman.
Trophies and ribbons are award-
ed in the national competition but
the best part of the event for Mike
is that the participant is actually
competing against himself, " I get a
great deal of satisfaction and last
year scored among the President's
Top 100 civilians and shot in six-
man team matches. He missed the
master's last year by five points.
"There's more to this sport than
just picking up a gun and firing it,"
says Huffman. It takes awhile to
perfect the sport. Most matches are
won by 1-3 points and many shoot-
See Huffman, 9-A
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