Nease junior is on the mark

Nease High School junior Alex Shaffer is petite, quiet and just 17.

But she's intent on working for the FBI. She's a national air rifle shooting champion. And she's a possible future Olympian.

The Fruit Cove resident won the Secretary of the Navy National Championship competition last month at Fort Benning, Ga., and finished fifth of 50 shooters at the National Interservice competition at the same base.

Shaffer had mixed feelings about winning the Secretary of the Navy competition.

"I was happy that I won, but that meant that I had to go to the interservice match and I found out that day that I was going to miss prom to go to that match," she said.

"Because [the match] was Friday and Saturday and prom was Friday," she added in a disappointed tone.

Shaffer, captain of Nease's Naval Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps air rifle team, represented Florida at the Junior Olympics last year. She wants to represent the United States in the Olympics but has not decided which Olympiad she wants to attend.

Shaffer said her family is very supportive of her participation in the sport, but her friends think she spends "way too much" time shooting.

She practices four times a week for 1 1/2 hours a day at her home and at Nease once a week preparing for competitions where she has to shoot at targets as small as the head of a pin.

Nease High School junior Alex Shaffer has traveled across the country participating in shooting competitions. Gary Wilcox/staff

Shaffer said the thing she works hardest at overcoming while shooting is letting the subconscious take over the conscious mind to make the shot.

"A lot of what I do in shooting that I have trouble with is getting my head to stop talking," she said. "You have to have your mind not thinking about anything, which, honestly, I got pretty good at. If you have so much chatter in your head, you can't let your subconscious mind, which is what you are trying to achieve, shoot for you."

The Nease air rifle team has 18 members who practice on Monday and Wednesday afternoons and Thursday mornings. Before joining the team, students must pass a safety course. The shooting season runs from September to March.

The team competes in two ways. They have shoulder-to-shoulder competitions against other schools in the area or they hold air postal competitions. In the air postal meets, the team shoots at their practice facility at Nease and sends the scores in to the competition's host. Nease's score is then ranked with other schools to determine the winner.

Nease is one of a few Junior ROTC programs in the state that has an air rifle team since there is little funding for the teams. Master Chief Petty Officer John Duffy, who coaches the air rifle team, has received about $10,000 in grants from the National Rifle Association to purchase rifles, stands and other equipment.

Shaffer is not only the air rifle team's commander, she assists Duffy in instructing team members about technique and posture.

"She's a great kid and works hard at the sport," Duffy said.

Duffy said Shaffer has the perfect qualities for a good shooter. She is calm, cool and doesn't get excited.

Shaffer began shooting about three years ago at the Gateway Rifle and Pistol Club in Jacksonville. She was attending a week-long Civilian Marksmanship Program camp in Atlanta, where she learned the positions for new shooters. While at the camp, she met an instructor for Nease's Navy Junior ROTC. The instructor convinced Shaffer's dad to have her join the Junior ROTC program and shoot for Nease.

The instructor's convincing worked because Shaffer began her freshman year at Nease and joined the Junior ROTC and air rifle teams.

"My parents decided that I was going to go to Nease at noon the day before school started my freshman year," she said.

"That was nice," she added sarcastically.

When she started shooting, Shaffer was attending a competition every weekend. She now shoots for the Junior ROTC team and in other matches. She has also traveled across the United States participating in competitions.

Shaffer said the best part of competing is seeing her score posted.

"You shot your best and your best was good enough to be the best that day," she said. "I like that feeling."

She also said it's fun beating boys in competitions because when she is on the podium she can poke fun and tease them about winning.

Shaffer said women are better shooters than men because they don't come in with pre-conceived notions that they are good because they are a man.

Shaffer wants to earn a college athletic scholarship for shooting to the University of Nebraska and study criminal law. She also wants to continue practicing and improving her scores so that she can compete internationally.

"I think everyone should try shooting at least once," she said. " I know people say guns are bad. Guns are bad if you don't use them safely."

Staff writer Christopher F. Aguilar can be reached at (904) 249-4947, extension 19, or via e-mail at chris.aguilarjacksonville.com