The Spice of Life: Our Champ

Okay, we finally have all the pictures from our oldest's trip to the Olympic Training Center! It was a wonderful trip!

The drive through Colorado was beautiful! However, my husband said they did get stuck in two traffic jams on the way- who would have thought??

But they did finally arrive in Colorado Springs and quickly headed to the Olympic Training Center to check it out.

It was pretty cool, with each sport represented in one way or another...however, they were interested in one building in particular:

Of course the shooting center was spectacular. The shooting range was huge, with all the latest technology and equipment.

They enjoyed looking around, but couldn't wait for the first day of the Junior Olympics!

The biggest part of the first day involved equipment check...which took almost 3 hours. Every bit of equipment, clothing, and firearm was checked to make sure that it met international shooting specifications. He passed!!

The first and second days of competition was the Air Rifle Championship.

Our oldest quickly had his eyes opened to the caliber of athletes that he was competing against...very, very good shooters. He was in the youngest age group with the competitors up to age 20. He shot okay in the air rifle match, but was a little disappointed at the results. He finished seventh in his age category (sub-junior).

The next two days was the Smallbore Rifle Championship, which consisted of two matches: the Prone Match and the 3-Position Match.

He shot much better in the Smallbore matches and he ended the first day of Smallbore competition in the lead!

Who knew shooting could work up such a big appetite???

The second day the pressure was on to maintain his place and shoot just as well!

There was a room where fathers/coaches could watch the match, but they weren't allowed on the range. However, there was a screen that showed each shot so they could follow the competition quite closely!

This is what the screen looked like.

Finally the match ended and the results were posted!! He won the prone match, and it was close! One point separated first and second!

A sweet surprise in the 3-Position: he thought he finished third, but once scores were looked over (there is a process to check and re-check), he won the silver medal!