SMA juniors prepare for air rifle Junior Olympics

Three years ago, Kinga Aletto had never so much as picked up a rifle, much less a gun of any kind. Two years ago, Lauren McMahan could have said the same thing.

In April, both Aletto and McMahan, juniors at Sarasota Military Academy, will travel to Colorado to compete in the 2017 Rifle National Junior Olympics. There, they will compete against 750 of the best shooters in the world, including Ginny Thrasher, the American who won the air rifle gold medal at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

The team itself has also found success, winning the 2016-2017 State Junior Olympics in Titusville in January and being named the Army JROTC champions. Performing well in the Titusville competition landed Aletto and McMahan the chance to fly out to Colorado.

How did the pair get here?

Aletto, who in her spare time is an artist and won a Scholastic Art and Writing award for her painting “Field of Flowers,” was given a choice by her parents as a freshman: She could either join the school’s Junior Raider program, or join the school’s rifle team, but she had to join one. She chose rifle.

McMahan, formerly a gymnast, was persuaded by friends to join the team for her sophomore year. They compete in air rifle, shooting their targets from 33 feet away.

There are typically three shooting positions in competitions, but in Colorado, they will only compete in standing position, which is exactly what it sounds like. There is no sling for support while standing, making it widely considered the toughest position, but also one where talented shooters such as Aletto and McMahan gain the upper hand on their competition. Aletto said that the best advice she ever received from SMA’s rifle coach, Sgt. 1st Class Riess Pellegrino, was “If you’ll learn to shoot standing, you’ll be golden.” Pellegrino could not contain himself, bursting with pride while talking about his shooters and emphasizing how difficult the sport is.

“I could not do what they do,” Pellegrino said. “I know the technique, I know what you have to do, but I could not do it with an air rifle.”

Aletto said her first time shooting a rifle did not quite go how she wanted. She shot “buckshot,” which means she scattered her shots wildly over the target instead of firing in concise groups. Accuracy would come later. McMahan said the sport came a little more naturally to her, but also admitted that she was filled with nerves before the first time she picked up her rifle.

“I remember we were in the classroom talking about gun safety,” McMahan said. “We were talking about the gun’s ‘action,’ and I did not know what we were talking about, what that meant. But it was cool (firing a gun for the first time), I liked it.”

The rifle team practices two to three days a week for two hours, give or take, each session. That is the easy part of the pair’s training. The harder part is the sacrifice Aletto and McMahan make to ensure their bodies run the way they want.

Pellegrino said keeping calm and stable is essential to high-level success in shooting. That means cutting out things that mess with mental states, including coffee and other caffeine- and sugar-filled treats. Aletto and McMahan lamented the loss of before-school Starbucks runs. Pellegrino also noted that managing relationships is important. If a shooter gets in an argument with a friend, family member or significant other the night before a competition, it can have a negative effect on their focus the next day.

On competition days, the pair will snack on Goldfish, oranges or cheese to make sure hunger does not strike halfway through the event. Once it’s over, Pellegrino will take the team out for doughnuts and ice cream as a reward for holding out for so long.

Aletto, who admitted to not being a natural during her freshman year, has created a new motto that she says to herself and her family: “Tokyo 2020.” It’s a reference to the next summer Olympics. What started as perhaps an overly optimistic goal has now become a realistic one. She used to wonder if it was really possible. Now, she believes it is, and although McMahan said she had not thought that far into the future, she has just as good a chance.

On top of being talented shooters, Pellegrino raved about what great kids both Aletto and McMahan are.

“They know they are not just representing themselves,” Pellegrino said. “They set this team above themselves. They are an integral part of the team, but they always put the team first.

“If you are truly committed, you can become the best with work and time. These two prove it. I know they will represent Sarasota with the utmost honor.”