Today was the air rifle championship for NCAA Rifle and, just like in smallbore, it came down to the last shot for the individual crown.

The NRA All-American banquet and ceremony are about to begin, but here are the final standings for each category:

More...

NRA-ILA's Suzanne Anglewicz addressed the troops here at Club University in Orlando, Florida with a focus on Grassroots. "We've seen a lot of activity in Florida over the years and plan to keep up our vigilance for years to come."

When asked about ILA's primary message for the crowd, she had two. "You have to hunt where the ducks are," said Suzanne. "Know your people, know where they are, and know how to keep them informed."

Number two on the list was the importance of everyone getting involved early. "If there's an issue you feel passionate about, you need to organize early. Waiting until two weeks before decisions are made is waiting too long. Start right away and your chances for success are increased dramatically."

As ILA's Manager of Political & Legislative Activities, Suzanne also appreciates those who take the time to volunteer. "We're also looking for those willing and able to actively assist our fight to protect the Second Amendment."

There's a lot for NRAblog to see out here on the road. SHOT Show in Vegas, Eastern Outdoors in Harrisburg, and now Ron Rosenberg here at Club University in Orlando, Florida.

If you haven't seen the man in action then you don't truly understand what it is to market. What message are you trying to share? What market are you trying to reach? Are you using the same pitch to every group? Why?

These are the questions to which Ron has the answers. He pulls you in, gains your trust, and shows (instead of tells) you your real business goals. A nationally recognized, award-winning expert in marketing and customer service, Ron has been speaking at Club University events for almost a year.

If you'd like a high-energy, high-impact marking guru to speak at one of your events, contact Mr. Rosenberg at 800-260-0662 or email him at info@qualitytalk.com to receive proven step-by-step strategies to help your group significantly improve their bottom-line results.

Across the nation, more than 65,000 people hold certification as NRA Instructors. Only about 3,000 of these NRA Certified Instructors are women, and the  NRA wants to know why. 

A woman-only Focus Group is underway at NRA Headquarters this weekend. Eleven of the top female NRA Certified Instructors traveled from all over the country to participate.

Education & Training Division Director Bill Poole says once they know more about this trend, his staff will be hard at work to reverse it. “We've noticed women, and youths of either gender, are more receptive to female NRA Certified Instructors,” Poole said, noting that both female instructors and students have been increasing "gradually" over the years.

“We're interested to hear from women about how we can further encourage women’s participation in both the shooting sports and the Certified Instructor Program," Poole said. 

"Hearing from women" is exactly what's happening this weekend. Among other things, E&T is seeking the female perspective on how to increase women’s participation in the Certified Instructor program.

Upon conclusion of the session, E&T staff will meet to discuss the results. One idea they are already considering is the creation of a business model specifically geared towards women. The business model will provide women with a targeted plan to incorporate the Certified Instructor program into their already busy lives.

Stay tuned to NRAblog.com for more on this topic.

He's been with the NRA for about three years, his title is "Range Services Coordinator," and he was one of the more popular speakers here at Club University in Orlando, Florida. Why do I think he was one of the more popular speakers? Because Eric Whitescarver was taking so many questions that we had to pull him off the stage.

"Sometimes they're interested and sometimes they're not," said Eric. "It all depends on the priorities of the crowd."

Range Services provides assistance for general range topics such as design, construction, maintenance and operations. And sometimes they can provide a little bit more.

"We've got a guy who is an audio design specialist -- he's an expert on sounds," Eric explained. "Most of his days are spent working on-site at race tracks, football stadiums, airports -- any place where there's a lot of noise. We like to call on him if a neighbor is complaining about the noise coming from your range. He can either show you how to fix or dampen the sound or demonstrate if your range falls within state or county parameters. How's that for service."

Though thousands of firearm-related groups throughout the United States are NRA Club & Association members, there are still some out there who haven't joined. Probably because they don't know about the benefits. But Jack knows.

Marketing Coordinator Jack Baker spent the better part of an hour telling Club University attendees here in Orlando why their operation should be more involved with the NRA.

"There are dozens of advantages when businesses become part of the NRA. They can learn how to set up additional shooting programs, increase membership, run an official match, find the right insurance, receive discounts from Federal Express -- it's great. And when they come out to Club University, we can run down all the details for them in person."

But if you weren't able to make it to Club U this weekend, you can still find most of the info at http://www.nrahq.org/clubs/ or call (800) NRA-CLUB.

The smallbore portion of the NCAA Rifle Championships went off without a hitch yesterday and we'll bring you a full re-cap early next week.

It must be mentioned that the finals for smallbore individual had a spectacular ending when Sarah Scherer from TCU posted a 10.9 on her last shot to clench the win. The crowds that had gathered around monitors displaying live updates were very impressed -- congrats Sarah.

Today is the air rifle leg of the championships and you can follow the scores online here or here. 

Check below the jump for a photo of the score display for the last shot in the smallbore individual final. More...

The first Club University of 2010 kicked off this morning as our unofficial emcee Son Nguyen introduced Herb Lanford of Columbia, South Carolina. As the NRA Board chair of Clubs & Associations, Mr. Lanford travels to all Club U events to welcome the crowds and answer their questions.

"We are here to answer your questions," said Mr. Lanford. "We have to answer your questions and ask you for more. That's why we provide services like Club University to our members. It's a fabulous way to spend a little time and money so you can improve you operations and increase the benefits to your members."

Curious what the fuss is all about but can't make it to Fort Worth this weekend?

Tune in to watch the 31st annual NCAA Rifle Championships live.

NRA's Disabled Shooting ServicesManager Vanessa Warner sent NRAblog an update last night upon arriving at the latest Disabled Shooting Sectional match.

I arrived in Dallas Thursday night for the North Texas adaptive shooting clinic and Disabled Indoor Air Rifle Sectional Championship. Upon arrival, I drove to the Bachman Recreational Center to meet with North Texas Chapter Director for Turning Point Nation Jason Swanson to view the site and make sure that my equipment arrived unharmed.

Friday we held the adaptive shooting clinic and practice. We arrived at the Bachman Rec. Center at 11:00 a.m. to set up the Creedmoor Range. Competitors began arriving at 12:30 for the clinic. By 6:00 p.m., when we closed the range, we had 14 participants.

Turning point will run both International and 3-Position air rifle matches that start at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday. We have six people scheduled for the International Match and 22 scheduled for 3-P. Competitors have come from as far away as California to take their shot. And it should be something to see as Turning Point has been running practices for the past month in preparation for today's matches. And, needless to say, everyone is really excited to compete.

The following is excerpted from the Competitive Shooting Division's E-Newsletter:

Notes from Competitive Shooting Division Director Mike Krei 

Added Awards for the NRA Silhouette Championships We are spending a great deal of time looking at our National Championships awards schedules and making changes where we think changes are needed. NRA Competitive Shooting Staff members have recommended that our National Silhouette Championships need to be provided more in the way of awards.

We will initiate a new Visa Gift Card program for our 2010 National Silhouette Championships. Starting this year we will provide a $400.00 Visa Gift Card to the Champion of each Silhouette Championship, $200.00 Visa Gift Card for 2nd place and a $100.00 Visa Gift Card for our 3rd place winners. This will mean a $10,000.00 increase in the National Silhouette Championship award schedule. NRA Visa Gift Cards will be added to the current award schedules.

Two New Trophies to be Awarded at Camp Perry Two new trophies have been presented to the NRA as awards for the National High Power Long Range Championships. 2010 will be the inaugural year for the new Bert Rollins Trophy and the "Band of Brothers" Trophy.

Remington Arms Company donated the new "Band of Brothers" Trophy to be awarded to the winner of the shoot-off in Match 532, the 1000 yard Any Sight match held the first day of the Long Range Championships. This trophy is a beautiful bronze statue of four servicemen in a Jeep traveling across the battlefield. This is a limited edition bronze by sculptor James Muir. Only 50 of these beautiful bronzes have bee produced. The NRA would like to thank Remington Arms Company and Ken Roxburgh for donating this masterpiece.

Team members and Friends of Bert Rollins donated the resources to provide the new Bert Rollins Memorial Trophy to the NRA for the winner of the National Long Range Championship using a Palma Rifle. The new Match 502 will consist of the aggregate of matches 531, 532, 536 and 540. This trophy is supported by the Bert Rollins Memorial Trophy Fund and donations can be made through Palma Promotions, Inc in Mineral, Virginia.

Would you like to receive this monthly newsletter? Sign up here! (And a special thanks to both John Parker and Woody Arenas of the Competitive Shooting Division for passing this to us!)

With the NCAA championships beginning tomorrow, we'll be posting news items of interest:

Columbus State shooter aims for national title

Fresh off his top finish in the NCAA Sectional Qualifier last month, Columbus State shooter Jonathan Hall was selected to compete as an individual qualifier in air rifle for the 2010 NCAA Rifle Championships.

Hall and CSU coach Mike Greene will be in Fort Worth, Texas, this weekend for the championship, hosted by Texas Christian University.

“I was excited,” Hall said of the moment he learned he was one of only eight individual shooters chosen to compete. “I felt relieved from the hope of wanting to make it.”

The 22-year-old rifleman was selected after posting the best scores in the smallbore and air rifle events in the NCAA Sectional held Feb. 13-14 at The Citadel. Hall shot a 592 in the air rifle competition and a 581 in the smallbore out of a possible 600 in the sectional to take top honors.

“He’s probably one of the top five air gun shooters in the country,” Greene said. “It’s exciting just to be a part of this and to have him. He’s a team leader, but it’s great to have somebody of that caliber open so many doors for him, for me and for CSU.”

Though the university’s first-year rifle program as a whole had much success this season and in last month’s qualifier, it did not make the cut for the national championship, meaning Hall will be the lone representative.

“I was really disappointed in the fact that we all didn’t make it,” Hall said.

Continue reading here. 

The troops are on their way to the SpringHill Suites by Marriott Orlando International Airport for the first Club University of 2010. We'll be talking about everything from insurance to range specs to membership benefits to those interested in pepping up their firearms club operations.

NRAblog will be on hand to share some of the details while we blog live from the event. Hopefully, it will be enough to convince you to attend our next events in Indianapolis, Indiana or Albuquerque, New Mexico. It's the least you can do to ensure that your club or association is operating at top efficiency.

For all the details on the next Club Universities, go to www.nrahq.org/clubs/club_university or call (800) NRA-CLUB (672-2582) to register today.

Above, check out some of the shots snapped by Brownells/NRA Youth Ambassadors Ben Hayes and Jessy Hagy during their time in Vegas for the 2010 Shooting Hunting Outdoor Trade (SHOT) Show.

"The best part about the SHOT Show?" NRA Youth Ambassador Ben Hayes repeats the question. "Having the chance to see the most up to date and new products in the firearm, ammunition, and outdoor gear industry along with opportunity to test a few at Media Day on the range."

"Plus, what 20 year old male would not want to spend a week in Las Vegas having fun with guns?" the Ohio State University student adds.

And stick around -- Claudia Olsen tells us all 7 youth ambassadors will make an appearance at the NRA's Annual Meetings in Charlotte!

Written by Larry Summarell, NRA Field Representative for Kentucky:

Friends of NRA: Kentucky State Meeting

Volunteer committee members from around Kentucky all came to Elizabethtown, KY again this year for the annual Friends of NRA Kentucky State Fund Committee meeting. We were honored again this year to have Mike Webb, NRA Field Representative for Tennessee, with us to share ideas for our events to continue to grow and achieve new levels. Richard D’Alauro, NRA Field Rep Specialist, also took time to come and give us new game ideas for our events. We also recognized twelve committees around the state by awarding them achievement banners to mark their success in 2009.

After lunch, the Friends of NRA grant committee and officers of the local committees stayed to distribute the funds raised in 2009 to qualified grant applicants. In 2009, Kentucky committees raised a net of $192K to support the shooting sports. $97K stayed in Kentucky and the balance went to support grants on a national level. Larry Summarell, NRA Field Representative for Kentucky, was recognized with a special gift in appreciation for his leadership and dedication to improving the Friends of NRA in Kentucky. He was presented with a Kimber Ultra Carry II “Freedom Defender."

Hats off to Kentucky Volunteer of the Year Scott Smith from the Big Rivers Friends of NRA committee in Owensboro! His tireless dedication to support the shooting sports and selfless volunteer spirit earned him this much-deserved award.

A big thank you to all our friends who attend our events and made our efforts a success! Find information about an event in your area by using this map.