ROGERS, Ark. — Shooters from around the country gathered in Rogers for the 2022 Daisy Nationals.
Lawrence Taylor, Public Relations Director of Daisy, said that the Daisy Nationals were the most prestigious BB gun competition in the world. The competition comes after a two-year break due to Covid.
Competitors shoot 10 shots each from the standing, kneeling, sitting and prone position at a target placed 5 meters away.
James Eberwein, Flint Hills Jr. Shooting Coach, says he's been coming to the competition for around 30 years. The Daisy Hall of Famer traveled from Alma, Kansas with his team and their family members.
"For some kids, this is the only opportunity they ever get to attend a national function," said Eberwein.
Andy Faulkner traveled from Conway, Arkansas to bring his team, the Central Arkansas Blackhawks.
Coaches and competition officials explained that because of the eight to 15 age requirement, some children missed their chance with the past two years of cancellation.
"Some of the kids who were looking so forward to coming to the last couple of years they aged out and they don't they just they don't get to come," said Taylor. "They've got to go to do some other competitions"
"We had some really good shooters that did not have the opportunity to compete this year just because they aged out of the program over the whole covid break," said Faulkner.
Taylor said that 55 teams registered for the competition spread through 16 states. Coaches say they have a diverse group of shooters in this year's competition.
"I get a lot of youth in my program that cannot play contact sports because of health reasons," said Eberwein. "This is their sport."
"You don't have to be a certain athletic ability to be able to shoot," said Andy Faulkner, Central Arkansas Blackhawks Youth Shooting Coach. "You can have people who have various kinds of disabilities that can still shoot, you have people who are small in stature that- you don't have to be big in stature be able to shoot, some of our best shooters are our young females"
Before shooting starts, the competition begins scoring with a written test which makes up 25% of their final score. It covers gun safety, marksmanship, and competitive shooting.
"I try promoting to the kids that that's just as important as their shooting score," said Eberwein
Competition officials said spectators were welcome to watch. For those not able to attend in person, there will be a Livestream of the competition starting with the opening ceremony on Friday at 4. The competition wraps up on Sunday.
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