2020 MARKHAM SKEET AND TRAP FEBRUARY NEWSLETTER

Markham Skeet, Trap, and Sporting Clays Volume 11 Issue 2

Sporting Clays March 15th Trapshoot Feb. 23rd Skeet Shoot Feb. 15th

Febuary 2020

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February 2020

Club News - Magazine Review

OFFICERS AND BOARD MEMBERS 2019

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SOUTHEAST REGIONALS AND FOR SALE

14-15

Calender of Events

16-17

OFFICERS •

PRESIDENT—Vacant

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VICE PRESIDENT—Vacant

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TREASURER—Vacant

•

SECRETARY— Joe Loitz

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RECORDING SECRETARY—Vacant

DIRECTORS:

Club Calender

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Palm Beach Trap/Skeet Pro Shop—Sporting Calender

20-21

Sporting Clays Program and Re- 22-23 sults 24-25 Skeet Program and Results Inside this issue: FSA Skeet Calender

26-27

Trap Program

28-29

Trap Results

30-31

Youth Program

32-33

Greg Ritch Sporting Chair

Contact info: Markham Skeet, Trap, and Sporting Clays 11873 NW 30th Street Coral Springs, FL 33065 954-857-5278 •

www.markhamsportingclays.org

•

E-mail: jloit@bellsouth.net

•

Newsletter: jloit@bellsouth.net

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Next General Meeting Thursday May 7th Starting at 7:00 PM

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Club News Well, looks like we are getting some activity from the Palm Beach Gun Club. I recently received notice they are interested in having people complete job application forms! I assume this means they will be hiring Range Officers within the next month. Add a few weeks for training and we may be looking at this facility opening soon. May not be a full facility, rifle and pistol first. We are getting close!

We saw a nice turnout of 62 shooters at the Snowbird Open. Rodrigo shot a lone 92 to win. Gary Gray was close behind with a 91. Luis Herrera and Charles Alvarez both turned in respectable 89’s. I think Cary Keshan deserves a shout out for a nice outing with 84! Good shooting Cary!

I think the good turnout is a testament to Gregg Ritch and his wife’s effort to run our program. Thanks, to the Ritch family!

A good turnout of 11 shooters for the skeet shoot, firing at

1,850 targets.

Joe Bianculli led the 12 with 48. Bruce Gordon followed in 20 with the same score.

Michael Gelles showed up everyone with a 49 in the 28.

Ed Ford took the .410 with a lone 45 and won the Doubles and HOA also.

Twelve shooters shot at 2,200 targets at the last trap shoot. Alex Riera led the Singles with a lone 96. Henry Ovares, Michael Vera, and Oracio Riccobono all followed with 89’s. Angel Estevez won the Handicap with a lone 86 and Paula Keim won the Doubles with a lone 77. Nice shooting Paula!

Most of the Sporting Clays shooters are no doubt at the Gator Cup this week. Last I heard, the club has received an offer. All we can hope is that the new owner likes owning a gun club on his property.

See you at the club.

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CLAY TARGET NATION – January 2020 Wow, I honestly don’t know how to react to Paul Giambrone III’s article. It flies in the face of all established athletic philosophies. I always preach, make shooting athletic! Lean into the gun, no locked knees, shoot and pivot off the balls of your feet.

Bender always encourages swinging from the ankles up. I agree. Just as you would in any other sport. There aren’t many sports moves you want to do or initiate off your heels. To hit a tennis ball correctly you step into the shot, knees bent, and push off the balls of your feet. Same in golf. You don’t stride into the ball, but you end up with your rear heel in the air.

What is it that football commentators always lament? The quarterback threw the ball off his back foot. This usually means he threw off his heel. The ball usually sails high, doesn’t it? Swing off your heels and the barrels usually swing high.

Paul shoots off his heels. This may be fine for him. If you learn how to shoot that way and you are very, very disciplined you may be successful. Paul obviously is. He has bad knees. He may have to swing off his heels. I don’t recommend it.

Sorry, Paul.

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Magazine Review CLAY TARGET NATION – January 2020 Don Currie likes the Modern Stance and so do I. He is asked about stance this month and delivers with an easy to understand description of the Modern Stance positioning.

Let’s get a little more expansive. First orient yourself to your breakpoint. Your shoulders should be at a 45o angle to the breakpoint. So, if you set up a break point at 12:00, your left shoulder should be at about 9:30 and your right at 3:30. That’s 45o to the breakpoint. My right foot is pointed at about 12:30. Not right at the breakpoint, just slightly to the right of it. My left foot is 2:30. Your foot positioning will vary in line with what feels comfortable to you. Comfort is the key.

Don’t do it exactly like Don or me.

Get comfortable!

shooter, then your right shoulder is in front of your left foot. Leave your shoulder behind your left foot and you are susceptible to shooting off your heels. Sorry, Paul.

Don and I agree, trap style targets launched inside 25 yards should be approached with a pre-mounted gun. Slow incomers coming in beyond 35 yards are best dealt with using a long slow draw. Should you dismount between shots on a true pair? Depends on the timing and distance between shots. This is a personal choice. If you are a trap or skeet shooter you are accustomed to staying in the gun between targets. A sporting clays shooter may want to practice some skeet doubles to perfect this skill.

This is in line with what Don suggests. I like to orient my swing arc to the breakpoint, then I think about my feet. Feet follow how you orient to your swing arc and your relationship with the break point. Most of us have a good 60o of swing arc.

You want the target’s breakpoint to be in the center of that arc.

Don likes a 60/40 weight distribution on his legs. I agree. The lead leg gets 60% of your weight, your trailing leg gets 40%. Nose over toes and always remember, keep your gun shoulder in front of your trailing foot. If you are a right-handed

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CLAY TARGET NATION – January 2020 Commit to the breakpoint. This is Clayton M. Rue’s suggestion this month. Observe the target from every possible angle, choose a best breakpoint, and commit to it. Execute the shot exactly as you imagine it and commit to the break point. That’s it.

TRAP & FIELD – December 2019 Bob Palmer is in fairytale mode again. His whole article boils down to his mantra on imagining yourself as a giant and your competitors as Lilliputians. He also gives a good piece of advice as to your cell phone.

Turn it off when you go to the club.

It’s an unnecessary distraction.

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Magazine Review TRAP & FIELD – December 2019 For experienced shotgunners lack of visual discipline causes more misses than any other factor. For beginning shotgunners it’s a lack of fundamentals on the basics of swinging a shotgun. Visual discipline isn’t as important for them. At the highest levels of shooting, visual discipline is where everything breaks down no matter how good your pre-shot routine or your fundamentals are. Jim Blevins gives us some pointers this month on “soft focus” and visual discipline that we all should heed.

saccade and move to fixate on the target.

In a sport where the average trap or skeet shot is taken in less than a second after the appearance of the target, any fraction of a second is a lifetime. The visual confusion caused by having to release and refocus your vision throws off your normal timing for a shot. That’s a perfect recipe for a missed target.

Quiet eyes, quiet mind. Soft focus is a learned activity. Learn to settle your eyes into the distance over and beyond where the target is going to appear. This minimizes the time required to pick up and focus on the target.

Staring off into space is not the same as soft focus. We’ve all been deep in thought with our mind’s eye focused on our thoughts to the exclusion of the outside world. When this happens your awareness of the visual world around you is nil. Your eyes are still open, but they aren’t processing much. Soft focus is gazing into the distance without fixating on anything. Your “focus” is on picking up movement. To do this “Your eyes need to be still when you call for the target.” By still, Jim means your eyes need to be settled and gazing off into the distance, not moving. If your eyes are moving, they will automatically seek out something to focus on. Focused vision moves in saccades. This means they move in small steps from one object to the next.

Each step or saccade requires a fraction of a second to occur. If your eyes are moving in saccades as you call for the target you will lose precious fractions of a second while your eyes release their gaze from their last

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swing fast as they pull the trigger see no lead. Swing more slowly and you may see some daylight between the barrels and the target as the trigger is pulled.

Myth Two: Open chokes break more targets. There’s a reason the top sporting clays shooters are moving away from light mod. and IC. Tighter chokes tell you more about where you are shooting than open chokes. In trap a more open choke will get you an extra inch or two of pattern. Misses aren’t by an inch or two. Forget pattern density or holes in your pattern, open chokes won’t save you when you don’t have solid fundamentals. Chokes don’t get you more targets, improved fundamentals do.

Stick with Modified to Full.

Ian Darroch addresses some of the common myths tossed around gun club clubhouses. Myth One: some shooters claim to shoot right at the target and some say they see lead. Who’s right? Lead is dependent on barrel speed. If you swing the gun faster to a target than other shooters you won’t perceive any lead as you pull the trigger. A target flying at 40 mph travels three or four feet in the 0.084 seconds it takes to pull the trigger, for the shell to ignite, the shot to travel down the barrel, and for it reach the target. Stop your swing as you pull the trigger and you will be 3’to 4’ behind the target. Continue swinging as you pull the trigger and you break the target. People who

Myth Three: You need a gun that shoots high to break trap targets. Before the intervention of the Pat-Trap a gun that shot 60/40 was fine for trapshooting.

Pat-Trap thrown targets climb at a steeper rate than the old WinchesterWestern hand-set traps targets. For this reason alone, today’s trapshooters need a gun that shoots 80/20 or higher. If they don’t, they will have to contend with covering the target to break it. Covering a target is not good fundamentally. For trap, shoot a higher shooting gun so the target is always in sight when you pull the trigger. Skeet and sporting clays shooters are also going to higher POI’s as of late. The reason is simple, keeping daylight between the barrels and the target means the target is always in sight.

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Magazine Review TRAP & FIELD – January 2020 Jim Blevins addresses the question of altering your Point of Impact (POI) in this month’s issue. POI is a question of sight picture in most clay target sports.

The old philosophy says your gun needs to shoot where you look. This means each shooter requires a specific POI in relation to their barrel and the bird.

Where you look isn’t necessarily where the target will be when you pull the trigger. Under most conditions the Pat-Trap target is constantly rising even when you swing over to the angle as I noted in Ian Darroch’s last article review. In today’s trap world you need a higher POI than we did in the past.

Jim’s article is about when you need to adjust the POI. Loss or gains in weight can change your POI.

He makes the argument that aging means you slow down which could mean you need help with lead.

Yes, this will help you with straight-aways but it will not help you with lead on angles or quartering targets. All you’ve done now is create a situation where you need to see more daylight between your barrels and the target. Hmmm?

Ian Darroch continues this month with his discussion on Myths heard in the clubhouse. Myth Four: You should spotshoot the first target in Doubles. This is a revisit on Mark Taylor’s article.

No, don’t do that! Ian and I agree. Do not set up directly on the first bird’s line-of-flight and make a small move to intercept it. Myth Five: Slow pulls can’t happen with voice calls.

Some voice call systems have a delay. I can’t stand those delayed systems.

I’d rather have hand pulling!

Slow pulls happen for some people because of their voice inflection. They happen. Figure out a call that sets off the microphone at the correct time! Can’t tell you how many people never figure this out and blame the system. It’s you. Sorry.

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Myth Six: High ribs give you a heads-up stance. I have high rib guns and low. My stance doesn’t change for the change in rib. Monte Carlo stocks were designed to do this, not high ribs. High rib guns are usually adjustable which isn’t a feature in low ribbed guns. The adjustment is for changing you POI. For low ribbed guns you can get an adjustable comb and/or and adjustable pad to help change your POI or to give you a heads-up look. Talk to a good stock guy like Todd Nelson, the country gentleman. I know Todd and trust him.

Don Currie does gun fitting. Some day I am going to have to sit with him while he does an adjustment. Have heard nothing negative about Don and have always had a good relationship with him.

I like Ian’s final bit of advice: “Put your money into gun fit, practice, and maybe a good clinic with a pro.” I will say this. Clinics aren’t for the Advanced shooter.

Get some coaching.

You’ll be better served.

I always felt clinics were for intermediate shooters. These are shooters looking for new ideas and strategies they aren’t aware of. Beginners and Advanced shooters need one-on-one contact

with a coach who is experienced with their game.

Get the coaching you need. Clinics provide very little one-on-one coaching.

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Magazine Review TRAP & FIELD – January 2020

For Floridians planning for the upcoming season is something you should do in October, November or December. These are our down months. Part of your planning should include risk management. Ask yourself, What are my tradeoffs? If I don’t practice but one day a

week what is the risk to my skill level? Get it? Bob Palmer highlights some of the risk areas you need to plan around.

Risk Factor 1: People and conditions. Bob teaches his students to love conditions they usually wouldn’t and to minimize people that make them feel uncomfortable. Visualize and imagine these problems away or build an impregnable zone around yourself to minimize outside distractions.

Risk Factor 2: Diet. Be aware of what and when food affects you during a competition.

Risk Factor 3: Substances. Not just caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol. Prescription drugs can affect your performance. Observe how these affect your performance and work around them or change your behavior if you want the best shooting results.

Risk Factor 4: Technical Training.

Find your best practice routine and do it on a regular basis. Perfect practice makes for perfect performance.

Risk Factor 5: Fitness training. Get off your ass and go for a walk! Dry mount your gun at home. Do some dumbbell training. Tai Chi, yoga, stretch, do something.

Identify areas of risk and determine ways to eliminate or minimize them.

Good article, Bob!

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Help a guy out. He’s moving to California and wants to get rid of this Beretta A400 20 ga.

Lightly used.

Give a call to: Randall Craig 561-573-4590 15

10704 Wiles Road, Coral Springs, FL 33076 954-846-2336

Always bear in mind that your own resolu"on to succeed is more important than any other.

Abraham Lincoln

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Calender of events: Gun Shows:

Miramar National Guard Armory Feb. 29th-Mar. 1st.

Dick’s: They are running specials every other week. Watch the papers and

Skeet this month: Markham

February 15th

So. Florida

February 22nd

Trap this month: Markham

Feb 23th

Sporting This month: Quail Creek

Feb 10-16th

Gulf Coast

Mar 1st

Markham

Mar 15th

South Florida

Mar 18-22nd

Current shell specials: Cabela’s has Herter’s shells on sale for $549.90 for 10 flats. Shipping is $19.95. These are 11/8 oz., 7 1/2’s & 8’s, 1200 fps, 12 gauge.

Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do.

Pele

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Sun

Mon

Tue

Wed

Thu

Fri

Sat 1

2 Sporting Tourney

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3 Youth Program

10 Youth Program

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17 Youth Program

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Trap Tourney

Youth Program

4

5 Skeet Night

11 Skeet Night

18 Skeet Night

25 Skeet Night

6 Trap Night

12 Trap Night

19 Trap Night

26 Trap Night

7

8

14

15

Sporting Clays

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Skeet Tourney

Sporting Clays

20

21

22

28

29

Sporting Clays

27 Sporting Clays

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MARCH Sun

Mon

Tue

Wed

Thu

Fri

Sat

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Youth Program

8

9 Youth Program

15

16

Sporting Youth Tourney Program

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23 Youth Program

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Trap Tourney

Youth Program

Skeet Night

10 Skeet Night

17 Skeet Night

24 Skeet Night

Trap Night

11 Trap Night

18 Trap Night

25 Trap Night

Skeet Tourney

Sporting Clays

12

13

14

20

21

27

28

Sporting Clays

19 Sporting Clays

26 Sporting Clays

31 Skeet Night

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PALM BEACH TRAP/SKEET PRO SHOP FIREARMS ALL NEW FIREARMS WHOLESALE PLUS 10% TRADES INS ACCEPTED

AMMUNITION AMMUNITION WHOLESALE COST PLUS $2.00 PER CASE WITH 10 CASE ORDER $4.00 LESS THAN 10 DELIVERIES TO Ft Lauderdale/Miami CONFIRMED WITH ORDERS

CALL FOR CURRENT PRICES ON FIREARMS/AMMUNITION

561-793-8787 THANK YOU IN ADVANCE FOR YOUR BUSINESS JOE FORDHAM 20

2020 Schedule of NSCA Sporting Clay Tournaments

Date

Tournament

Saturday - Jan 18

Snow Bird Open

Sunday - Feb 2

Honest Abe's Birthday Bash

Sunday - Mar 15

St. Patrick's Day Open

Saturday - Apr 11

Gerry Stumm Memorial

Sunday - May 17

Memorial Day Open

Saturday - Jun 20

20th Annual Sunshine State Classic

Saturday - Jul 11

Super Sizzle Open

Saturday - Aug 8

Summers End Open

Saturday - Sept. 12 Markham Fall Fest Shoot Sunday—Oct. 11

Pumpkin Blast

Sunday - Nov. 1

Richard Merritt Memorial

Saturday—Dec. 26 Bud Wolfe Classic 21

SPORTING CLAYS PROGRAM

Markham Skeet, Trap & Sporting Clays Club

ST. PATRICK’S DAY OPEN 100 Targets Shot over 14 Stations

SUNDAY MARCH 15TH Registration: Opens 8:00 a.m. and will close at 10:00 a.m.

All scorecards must be turned in by 1:00 p.m. in order to be posted.

Entry Fee: $60 N.S.C.A., $60 Hunter, $40.00 SubJunior, Junior No Scorers or Trappers will be provided.

Shooters will be asked to squad themselves into groups of at least 3 and designate a field judge to verify scores for the squad.

Lunch will not be served.

COURSE RULES: All shooters and spectators are required to wear ear and eye protection on the course.

MAXIMUM LOADS PERMITTED: 12GA, 3 DR EQ, 1 1/8 oz. Shot 7 1/2.

For additional information contact: Greg Ritch (561) 271-5319 email: gregsritch@gmail.com

Please Preregister using: scoringpro.com

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SPORTING CLAYS RESULTS MAIN EVENT HOA 62 ENTRANTS

CONCURRENTS LADY CH MELISSA STURDIVANT LADY RU MEGAN THOMPSON JUNIOR MEGAN THOMPSON VET CH RODRIGO MEHICH VET RU JAMES SMALLEY SUPER VET CH CARY KESHAN S VET RU GARY AVEY SR. SUPER VETERAN W.T. MUIR HUNTER CH DICK McGREGOR HUNTER RU NAJEEB HABER HUNTER 3RD GLENN CRAWFORD

61 60 60 92 85 84 79 80 78 77 72

CH RODRIGO MEHICH

92

RU GARY GRAY

91

M1 LUIS HERRERA

89

M2 CHARLES ALVAREZ

89

M3 TED GRAY

84

AA1 GRANT GIRTMAN

86

AA2 JAMES SMALLEY

85

A1 MICHAEL STURDIVANT

82

A2 DONOVAN AMRITT

82

B1 JOHN PILCH

77

B2 BILL WEINGARTNER

77

C1 GARY AVEY

79

C2 RICHARD THOMPSON

75

D1 CARY KESHAN

84

D2 RON TREBBI

76

D3 RICHARD REBER

70

E1 LUKE FORD

80

E2 JOHN ALEXANDER

68

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MONTHLY SKEET PROGRAM Price per 50 targets includes $5/100 NSSA/FSA Fee

.410 gauge 28 gauge 20 gauge 12 gauge Doubles

50 Targets 50 Targets 50 Targets 50 Targets 50 Targets

$20.00 $20.00 $20.00 $20.00 $20.00

Shoots usually held the first Saturday of every month.

Gauges may be shot out of sequence with the permission of management. More than one 50 target program may be shot in the same gauge as a preliminary event.

AWARDS Break a 50, 75, or 100 Straight and get one of these guaranteed awards!

50 Straight Kennedy Half Dollar 75 Straight Eisenhower Dollar 100 Straight Morgan Silver Dollar 50 Straight Doubles Liberty Silver Half 24

Skeet Results

My greatest point is my persistence. I never give up in a match. However down I am, I fight until the last ball. My list of matches shows that I have turned a great many so-called irretrievable defeats into victories.

Bjorn Borg

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Trap Program Trap Program: SPECIAL NOTICE

Trap Tournaments are usually the fourth Sunday of the month.

100 target 16 Yd, Hdcp and Doubles events.

First 100 targets. $40.00 (Includes ATA and FTA daily fees)

ATA SHOOT SCHEDULE 2019-2020

Additional 100 target events.

October 27th

$32.00

November 24th December 22rd January 12th

See Joe Loitz for details: 954-857-5278

February 23rd March 29th April 26th May 24th June 28th July 26th

August 23rd

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WEDNESDAY NIGHT SHOOTING IS STILL POPULAR WITH THE SHOOTERS. SIGN UP WITH STEVE NORRIS AND THE REST OF THE REGULARS AND TRY YOUR SKILL AND LUCK AT ALL THE GAMES.

Come out and join the fun!

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TRAP RESULTS

16 Yards

SINGLES

CLASS

SCORE

ALEX RIERA

A

96

HENRY OVARES

D

89

MICHAEL VERA

D

89

ORACIO RICCOBONO

C

89

RAFAEL CARBALLIDO

D

88

GUISEPPE LACIACERA

D

87

ISAIAS VARGAS

D

86

THOMAS JETT

D

86

JORGE PUIGNAU

A

86

TIM COUGHLIN

D

85

PABLO GONZALEZ

D

76

NICOLA FONTANA

D

65

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Handicap HANDICAP

YARDAGE SCORE

ANGEL ESTEVEZ PAULA KEIM RUTHIE FLAYDERMAN PABLO GONZALEZ ISAIAS VARGAS

20.5 20 20 20 20

86 82 80 80 74

Doubles DOUBLES PAULA KEIM ALEX RIERA RUTHIE FLAYDERMAN ANGEL ESTEVEZ THOMAS JETT

CLASS D B D C D

SCORE 77

76 73 72 66

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Youth Program

Youth program continues to be busy. Reanna Frauens pictured above has joined us as a volunteer coach! Really looking forward to her assistance over the next six or so months as she prepares for her college career. I’m sure she will be relied upon to help whatever team she ends up shooting for during her college years.

Whatever team it is, they will be fortunate to have her!

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SPONSORS Professional and Industry Vendors

We are going to update this section of the newsletter on a continuing basis as requests come in.

If you would like to sponsor our newsletter: contact me at: jloit@bellsouth.net Joe Loitz at 954-857-5278

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