Trigger happy

Not for the members of Anchorage's high school riflery teams, whose sport flies so far below the radar that many of their classmates don't even know it exists.

"They ask if we even have a riflery team," said Dimond High team captain Wade Minert.

Being unknown doesn't bother the shooters, even those whose work on the range is extremely high caliber.

Chugiak's Matt Martin is one of the state's top shooters. Along with his fellow A-team members Jimmy Zaken, James Klepzig and Megan Martin, Matt helped the Mustangs establish a new region scoring record of 1,162 at a match earlier this month. But unlike a record-breaking performance in other sports, the Mustangs marksmen didn't hear much talk in the hallway about their showing.

"That doesn't bother us," he said.

Martin wants to earn a college scholarship to compete in riflery and hopes to one day become an Olympian. To accomplish that, he said, he puts in work on the range nearly every single day, all year long.

"It never ends for me," he said.

Fans aren't common at riflery meets, mainly because it's nearly impossible to tell what's going on without a spotting scope.

"It isn't really a spectator sport," Minert said. "It's probably second-best to watching paint dry."

People not involved in the sport have very little idea how much work and preparation goes into riflery. It might not look like much is going on, but the shooters must go through a pre-match routine in order to calm their nerves enough to squeeze off a good shot.

Shooters must learn to steady themselves and slow their heart rates, watch what they eat and drink and do special exercises to strengthen their back and abdominal muscles. Then there's the shooting itself, a lengthy process that requires extreme levels of relaxation and concentration.

"It takes me about a minute and a half for one shot," Martin said.

The shooters wear special jackets, pants and shoes designed to keep their bodies as still as possible. The clothes are heavy -- the idea is to restrict body movements -- and shooters often finish their matches drenched in sweat.

To keep their hands and arms from shaking, shooters go into deep meditative states before their match begins. Most schools have special rooms near their ranges where athletes go to relax and prepare to shoot. On Friday, Dimond High's darkened team room resembled a teenage slumber party, with a dozen or so kids lounging on couches and quietly watching a movie. In an adjacent room, several others were taking naps.

"If I'm up and about, I'll notice I shoot worse than if I was just chilling out on the couch," Minert said.

Martin said he tries to rest as much as possible before shooting. He recalled a match earlier this season when he actually fell asleep on the range during his preparation period.

"By the time the match started, I was out," he said.

Athletes must be careful about what they consume in the hours leading up to the shoot. Caffeine and sugar are definite no-nos because they cause the heart to beat faster.

"They make you shaky," Martin said. "You have to really calm yourself, otherwise you'll be bouncing up and down."

Tension before shooting can mean the difference between a shot that goes off target and a "pinwheel," the name shooters give to a shot that goes directly through the center of the target. But just because their relaxation techniques are key to success doesn't mean they're lazy.

"You have to prepare your whole body and mind," Chugiak coach Marcy Gentemann said. "It's a very athletic sport."

It's also an expensive one. The .177 caliber air rifles can run as much as $3,000, while the jackets and pants are a couple hundred bucks each.

"You go into a match with 30 to 40 thousand dollars worth of equipment," Dimond coach John Snead said.

The teams provide scopes, guns and gear, but many of the more serious marksmen buy their own. Martin said that he's usually packing around $5,000 worth of gear.

Most riflery competitors get involved with guns as kids, then join the sport at the high school level. First-year shooter Cole Criswell of Chugiak said he was looking for a sport to join after suiting up for the Mustangs football team.

"It was something to do, and I enjoy hunting," he said.

Competition at meets is intense, although shooters often encourage their competitors and offer advice during the event.

It's also safe. Gentemann said riflery is far safer than, say, football or hockey, where athletes die every year from collisions.

"We spend the first three days to a week teaching safety," she said.

Although there's a big focus on safety, Gentemann believes the sport doesn't enjoy the level of support other sports receive because of the guns-in-schools issue.

"Columbine has given every shooting sport a bad rap," she said.

With Alaska's many outdoors enthusiasts, she thinks riflery is an ideal sport for kids growing up in the Last Frontier.

"In Alaska, there's so many activities that involve shooting, and this is a great way to learn," Gentemann said.

Despite the lack of attention their sport gets, the shooters of the Cook Inlet Conference are happy to practice and compete in relative obscurity, content in the knowledge that they're participating in one of the more unique games in town.

"It's really fun," said Criswell. "It's not like any other sport there is."

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Find Matt Tunseth online at adn.com/contact/mtunseth or call 257-4335.