Cool article about Stroudsburg Rifle Team

**Dredly** · March 23rd, 2009, 03:31 PM

http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbc...ORTS/903230321

By Mike Kuhns
Record Sports Writer
March 23, 2009

Frank Manhart has been coaching for 19 years.

He's never blown a whistle.
Related Stories

* E-burg South's Maccubbin gives his best shot on rifle team

He's never recruited a kid for his team.

His teams don't run sprints, stretch or lift weights in the offseason.

The East Stroudsburg South rifle coach instead teaches techniques that improve focus, mental strength and calm breathing.

"My guys lay down there and they're focused on one thing," Manhart said. "They are focused on the target out there and the job that they have to do. The reward is a good performance."

Matt Maccubbin is a 17-year-old senior for the Cavaliers, who scored on average 99.25 (out of a possible 100) this past season, first on the team. Maccubbin is a four-year letter-winner.

And after he squeezed off shots at a target 50 feet away, Maccubbin explained how he learned to shoot so well.

"The gun is just an extension of your body," Maccubbin said. "It's learning to control something and knowing how the slightest little heartbeat or the slightest little move or nudge can take it from a center x bull's-eye to a minus-2, minus-3, minus-4 points."

Manhart's shooting experience dates back 50 years when he served in the Army. In 1979, the school district contacted Manhart and asked him if he would coach the team.

Ironically, Jay Armitage was a student on that team, and has served as an assistant coach with Manhart for the last three years.

Two districts in Monroe County offer rifle — East Stroudsburg and Stroudsburg — and Manhart said 26 districts around the state have teams or clubs through the school.

The sport attracts both boys and girls equally, and the average team consists of about 20 kids although sometimes upward of 40 to 50 kids try out each year at Eastburg South.

"It's an anybody sport, an equal-opportunity (sport). Male, female, doesn't matter," Manhart

And what's kept him involved all these years?

"The reward is touching 20 to 25 kids every year and seeing them succeed in a sport that is maybe not a visible sport, but it is a good sport," Manhart said.

It gives kids like Maccubbin, who maybe isn't the best 3-point shooter or baseball player, a chance to compete on another level.

"I've been looking forward to the rifle team since I was in seventh grade," Maccubbin said. "I've always had an interest in shooting, always had an interest in hunting."

Of course, safety is hammered home on the first day. There are specific cadences when rifles are loaded and fired. Shooters lay in a prone position when shooting the single-shot, bolt-action .22-caliber rifle with the help of only open sights.

Coaches sit behind shooters and look through a scope, revealing the location of where the bullet hit the target and how to adjust sights accordingly if needed.

Maccubbin says success lies in having a strong mental approach.

"You need to match your mental capabilities and sync them with your physical capabilities like good hand-eye coordination," Maccubbin said. "But more of it is a good mental game."

Good to see some schools still have rifle teams