I, Roy Kern, am 57 years old. I was a competitive small bore shooter in my teens and early 20's. This statement is being written because I was such a highly competitive shooter and I had lost the concept of why I was shooting. Because I had lost the enjoyment and fun of shooting I decided to stop shooting, except for hunting.
Then 20 years ago I became a volunteer 4-H shooting sports leader. Shortly after the shooting sports was introduced as a project in the Wyoming 4-H program. I was nominated to the Wyoming State Shooting Sports Development committee, of which I am presently still on. I have helped develop the Wyoming State Leader Training Team and developed the training outline and criteria for the Rifle and Shotgun disciplines for certifying the Wyoming State 4-H Shooting Sports leaders. Also, I certify leaders in the Pistol discipline. I volunteer to help coordinate and run the Wyoming 4-H State Shoot event, which consists of an average of 550 kids participating in 5 disciplines. I was involved in the development of the senior award trip to the NRA Whittington Center. This is a 5 day trip, 2 travel days and 3 days of shooting. I have coached all shooters from the beginner shooter to the Olympic bound shooter. Presently I have one of my shooters shooting in the Olympics and others who have been awarded shooting scholarships to collages. I am a NRA and USA certified shooting coach and have certified over a thousand 4-H shooting sports leaders and instructed/coached over thousands of kids shooting.
This is where the Rocky Mraz Target comes into play. Over the years of experience between shooting and coaching I have seen many kids lose interest and enthusiasm in shooting. But I have also seen kids burn out. This is because there is so much stress put on competition and they lost the fun in shooting because they only shoot at paper targets. Rocky's target puts back the fun and enthusiasm because of the visual effects and not having to set up targets. Up until now all we have is metal silhouettes. With metal silhouettes you cannot visually see where you missed and you have to keep going down range to set them up. To me this target would be used more to keep the fun in shooting, and, at the same time develop the skill of shooting. I highly recommend the production of this product.
-Roy Kern