BARTOW, Fla. — For the first time in school history, Summerlin Academy will send its rifle team to the JROTC National Championship in March. The team qualified as the sixth best Army JROTC sporter team in the nation.
- JROTC National Championship in Anniston, Alabama
- 2 other area schools sending teams
- More Polk County stories
“To make it to the JROTC National Championship is like the Super Bowl," said SFC (Ret.) Steven Beck, the team's head coach. "Imagine asking an NFL coach 'what does it feel like to make it to the Super Bowl?' They’re going to be ecstatic. I’m ecstatic. I can’t be more proud of these guys. They’ve worked hard, they’ve trained hard and now it's paying off.”
Tenth grader Madison Meacham took home the gold medal at the qualifying JRTOC Service Competition.
“It was really hard. I was so nervous,” said Madison Meacham.
“She was down several points going into the competition and it's extremely difficult to shoot in that type of high pressure situation and perform at 100 percent, and she did that and became a champion,” Beck said.
“It's not so much physical preparation as it is mental," Meacham explained. "You have to think you’re going to shoot good and you have to like have the will to win."
“It's a 10-meter range on an Olympic size target. It’s a two-inch circle and you’re trying to hit a little dot on that two-inch circle," Beck said. "It’s not as easy as people would think, that you just pick up the rifle and start shooting."
And something you might not expect — the majority of the team’s members are women.
“When I first took over I had zero [women]," Beck recalled. "As I was starting to travel to different competitions, I was starting to notice a lot of girls on teams. So I started walking around the school and talking to the kids saying, 'hey, try out for the team,' and slowly I started getting more girls on the team."
“They’re not afraid to get involved in this type of stuff, so we’re looking at scholarships for these young ladies as well as the young men,” said Commandant Cynthia Downing.
The team said all it can focus on now is bringing home the national trophy.
“I want to win this championship really bad," Meacham said. "That’s all we’re thinking about, that’s all we’re striving for right now."
The National Championship is March 20-24 in Anniston, Alabama.
Other teams in Florida participating are Sickles High School Air Force JROTC Sporter Team and Sarasota Military Academy Army JROTC Precision Team.