WLB
11-29-2005, 01:31 AM
Oak Harbor senior one of best youth trapshooters in nation
Oak Harbor High School senior Kathleen Fowler attended a Junior Olympic Development Camp this past summer in Colorado, but you won't find her spending time on a basketball court or in a swimming pool. She's at home on the range -- the shooting range.
Fowler is an accomplished trapshooter, and it was her prowess in that sport that fetched her an invitation to the Junior Olympic training center in Colorado Springs in September. She was one of 15 young people from across the nation to attend the five-day camp.
In the sport of trapshooting, participants use a shotgun to shoot at clay targets flung from trapshooting machines. Each competitor shoots 25 targets from five different stations. The clay targets travel at various angles and up to 60 mph. It takes both mental and physical toughness.
Matt Hill and Angie Lorensen, Fowler's coaches for the past three years with the Camp Perry trapshooting team, weren't surprised at her Junior Olympic selection.
"She's a very special individual," Hill said. "For a young kid, she's mature beyond her age and very, very intelligent.
"There are natural shooters. Kathleen is not a natural. She worked very hard to get where she is, and it does show."
Lorensen, a former collegiate trapshooter, thinks Fowler has the temperament for the sport.
"What affects a shooter most often is their own thoughts, especially when you miss a few," she said. "Kathleen was always consistent. You never saw her get emotional. Nothing got to her.
"I knew that she had the determination and attitude to get there. I am one to be emotional in showing my feelings, and I always enjoy those who can be in control."
Fowler is a second-generation shooter. Her parents, John and Mary Fowler, were both pistol shooters for the Ohio State University team. By age 9, their daughter was learning the sport on a Daisy air rifle. Through a National Rifle Association class, she became versed in using .22-caliber rifles and then was introduced to shotguns and trapshooting through the Civilian Marksmanship program at Camp Perry.
And although she has also completed a hunter safety course, she has never gone hunting.
It's the trapshooting that captured her heart when she was in junior high.
Fowler remembers her first year when she hit only six of 25 clay targets while others around her were hitting their 25 in a row (a milestone in trapshooting).
"I thought, 'This is going to take a long time,'" she said. "But everybody said I was consistent."
At the state competition that first year when she was a freshman, she set a goal of hitting half of the targets. She met that goal and beat it by 14.
"It was a great day," she said, grinning.
In her second year, Fowler helped lead her Camp Perry team to nationals. It was a learning experience. Neither she nor the team did as well as she'd hoped.
"From all of your mistakes, you learn a lot," she said. "Focus. It does take focus, but everyone has their own shooting plan. I watch the wind, the sun and I follow them. I take a deep breath, relax my shoulders and just go have fun."
More than her coaches began to take notice in her third year. She was asked to be the youth representative on the Camp Perry Shooting Club Board.
"I had been on other boards with adults, so I knew how to act around them," she said.
She also decided that she would get her 25 straight before the state competition. She bought a new gun and joined the club's winter league.
"I thought I would learn to shoot in the winter," she said. "It's not fun, but I do it to do it."
The extra work made the difference. She shot her first 25 straight before state and only a short time later hit her first 50 straight. While the scores were better, the team did not qualify for state.
"I was really mad that we didn't qualify," she said. "We worked really hard. It's very frustrating because you may think you're good, but you're not good enough."
This past summer, Fowler won the award for High All-Around Junior at the Flag City competition in Findlay. She took home a flat of 250 shotgun shells. It was then that she decided to apply for the Junior Olympics training center program.
About 6,000 teens submitted applications and from that number, 21 were chosen for interviews. Fowler said shooting ability was part of the process, but she also was asked about her community service and scholastic achievements.
After what seemed like forever, Fowler finally received the good news. She was going to Colorado. She was more than a little nervous.
"I'm not that good of a shooter; I shouldn't have gone," said Fowler, who admits she's a bit of a perfectionist. "I love shooting, but I get frustrated. But I told myself be open-minded, soak up everything, and you'll be fine."
This reporter watched Fowler, under the lights, take her male coach's gun, which is set up for the opposite hand from which she shoots, and hit all 10 of the clay targets at which she aimed.
In Colorado Springs, she learned the international style of trapshooting. It seemed that each of the 10 coaches had different teaching styles, Fowler said. Some were encouraging; others were more apt to find things to correct.
"I think they were looking at how you adapt to change and how willing you are to change," she said.
Overall, Fowler was happy she went.
"It was a great experience going out there," she said. "I learned a lot of things. I would love to go shoot again and have fun with it."
Fowler has some ideas for the upcoming season.
"My goal this year is to have fun," she said. "That's the thing about shooting. It's a lifelong sport that you can enjoy at any age, any time."
Originally published November 28, 2005
News-Messenger
Oak Harbor High School senior Kathleen Fowler attended a Junior Olympic Development Camp this past summer in Colorado, but you won't find her spending time on a basketball court or in a swimming pool. She's at home on the range -- the shooting range.
Fowler is an accomplished trapshooter, and it was her prowess in that sport that fetched her an invitation to the Junior Olympic training center in Colorado Springs in September. She was one of 15 young people from across the nation to attend the five-day camp.
In the sport of trapshooting, participants use a shotgun to shoot at clay targets flung from trapshooting machines. Each competitor shoots 25 targets from five different stations. The clay targets travel at various angles and up to 60 mph. It takes both mental and physical toughness.
Matt Hill and Angie Lorensen, Fowler's coaches for the past three years with the Camp Perry trapshooting team, weren't surprised at her Junior Olympic selection.
"She's a very special individual," Hill said. "For a young kid, she's mature beyond her age and very, very intelligent.
"There are natural shooters. Kathleen is not a natural. She worked very hard to get where she is, and it does show."
Lorensen, a former collegiate trapshooter, thinks Fowler has the temperament for the sport.
"What affects a shooter most often is their own thoughts, especially when you miss a few," she said. "Kathleen was always consistent. You never saw her get emotional. Nothing got to her.
"I knew that she had the determination and attitude to get there. I am one to be emotional in showing my feelings, and I always enjoy those who can be in control."
Fowler is a second-generation shooter. Her parents, John and Mary Fowler, were both pistol shooters for the Ohio State University team. By age 9, their daughter was learning the sport on a Daisy air rifle. Through a National Rifle Association class, she became versed in using .22-caliber rifles and then was introduced to shotguns and trapshooting through the Civilian Marksmanship program at Camp Perry.
And although she has also completed a hunter safety course, she has never gone hunting.
It's the trapshooting that captured her heart when she was in junior high.
Fowler remembers her first year when she hit only six of 25 clay targets while others around her were hitting their 25 in a row (a milestone in trapshooting).
"I thought, 'This is going to take a long time,'" she said. "But everybody said I was consistent."
At the state competition that first year when she was a freshman, she set a goal of hitting half of the targets. She met that goal and beat it by 14.
"It was a great day," she said, grinning.
In her second year, Fowler helped lead her Camp Perry team to nationals. It was a learning experience. Neither she nor the team did as well as she'd hoped.
"From all of your mistakes, you learn a lot," she said. "Focus. It does take focus, but everyone has their own shooting plan. I watch the wind, the sun and I follow them. I take a deep breath, relax my shoulders and just go have fun."
More than her coaches began to take notice in her third year. She was asked to be the youth representative on the Camp Perry Shooting Club Board.
"I had been on other boards with adults, so I knew how to act around them," she said.
She also decided that she would get her 25 straight before the state competition. She bought a new gun and joined the club's winter league.
"I thought I would learn to shoot in the winter," she said. "It's not fun, but I do it to do it."
The extra work made the difference. She shot her first 25 straight before state and only a short time later hit her first 50 straight. While the scores were better, the team did not qualify for state.
"I was really mad that we didn't qualify," she said. "We worked really hard. It's very frustrating because you may think you're good, but you're not good enough."
This past summer, Fowler won the award for High All-Around Junior at the Flag City competition in Findlay. She took home a flat of 250 shotgun shells. It was then that she decided to apply for the Junior Olympics training center program.
About 6,000 teens submitted applications and from that number, 21 were chosen for interviews. Fowler said shooting ability was part of the process, but she also was asked about her community service and scholastic achievements.
After what seemed like forever, Fowler finally received the good news. She was going to Colorado. She was more than a little nervous.
"I'm not that good of a shooter; I shouldn't have gone," said Fowler, who admits she's a bit of a perfectionist. "I love shooting, but I get frustrated. But I told myself be open-minded, soak up everything, and you'll be fine."
This reporter watched Fowler, under the lights, take her male coach's gun, which is set up for the opposite hand from which she shoots, and hit all 10 of the clay targets at which she aimed.
In Colorado Springs, she learned the international style of trapshooting. It seemed that each of the 10 coaches had different teaching styles, Fowler said. Some were encouraging; others were more apt to find things to correct.
"I think they were looking at how you adapt to change and how willing you are to change," she said.
Overall, Fowler was happy she went.
"It was a great experience going out there," she said. "I learned a lot of things. I would love to go shoot again and have fun with it."
Fowler has some ideas for the upcoming season.
"My goal this year is to have fun," she said. "That's the thing about shooting. It's a lifelong sport that you can enjoy at any age, any time."
Originally published November 28, 2005
News-Messenger