The Simpson College shooting team has spent the season putting in the work, with hours of practice, dedication and different challenges–leading up to one big moment: nationals. This team is more than just hitting the targets. It’s about focus, discipline and pushing themselves and their teammates to be their best. Now, the team is ready to display their talents, representing Simpson at the national level.
With the team preparing for nationals, their success reflects the leadership of Head Coach Dan Martin, who has been coaching since 19-years-old. Martin pushes his athletes to be the best.
“It’s about having the time and repetitive motions, muscle memories, just like anything else. So we work with the balance board, we do strength and conditioning, we do hand-eye coordination,” Martin said. “We’ve got a bunch of different drills that we go through. We have the VR simulator that allows us to help, allows me to help understand what they’re seeing, what they’re looking at and emotions that they’re going through.”
Despite being such a young team, mainly first-years and sophomores, the team is extremely strong.
“Having so many individuals qualify to go down to nationals is a big thing for us, and to have that, that many individuals qualify outright to head down there this year is a really great thing,” Martin said.
Audrey Gordon, a standout athlete and sophomore shooter, has become a consistent presence on the team and has shown steady progress since her first year at Simpson.
“I think the biggest thing has been just the confidence in my ability to shoot,” Gordon said. “I think just knowing your ability also just helps you shoot better because you’re even more confident in yourself. When you trust your team around, you can trust them to pick you up. I think that’s a big thing that the team’s been working on this year is growing that trust in each other, so when we go to nationals, we know we have each other’s backs.”
Senior Carson Cummings brings a lot of experience to the team, with several years of competition. Cummings has been on the shooting team and competed in nationals all four years of his athletic career at Simpson.
“It’s definitely a good feeling. It’s kind of bittersweet knowing that it’ll be the last one, but definitely excited to hopefully make something of it,” Cummings said. “I’ve been on two national championship teams so far, and then my sophomore year, we were the second-place team. So definitely want to see if we can get another national championship kind of keep it rolling.”
The nature of the sport is more than just skill and physicality, it is a mental sport, which requires a lot of control and repetition.
“There’s some different, like mental management stuff out there, so a lot of like journaling, especially with like the clothing you’re wearing, or like the things that you’re eating,” Cummings said. “Hydration and stuff like that is really important, just because of how important your eye movement is to being able to shoot and then just being able to do that same action over and over.”
The team is set to compete at a national tournament from March 18-23. Follow along and show your support as they take on the nation’s best.