Bapties Earns Fourth In USA
Published 5:01 pm Thursday, April 18, 2013
CUMBERLAND – Hold this copy of The Herald at arms length and look at the period at the end of this sentence. Now imagine taping it to a wall near you and taking twenty steps backward. Can you see the period now?
Alex Bapties, a graduating senior at Cumberland High School, can. And he can shoot it with his air rifle without the aid of a scope.
Alex is the number one sporter air rifle shooter in the army branch of the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) in Virginia.
He is the fourth best shooter in the nation out of Army JROTC.
He is the seventh best shooter out of all JROTC teams internationally. That's Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps Junior ROTCs located all over the world.
Sgt. Steven Carrier, one of Alex's JROTC instructors, says that this is the first time a Cumberland cadet has made it to Inter-Service National Championships. In fact, he believes this may be the first time a cadet from a local school has advanced so far.
When asked what his greatest challenge is, Alex answers: “For me, it's keeping my nerves under check. Because, you know, you think about all the people you're shooting with, what the stakes are… It's nerve-wracking sometimes.”
To combat that, Alex says he cuts back on his sugar a few days before the competition and takes deep breaths before each match.
But, Major Peter Amico, also a JROTC instructor at Cumberland High School, says you would never know Alex was nervous by looking at him, “he always stays very calm… That's the mark of a good shooter, too, that calmness.”
Alex began shooting air rifle with 4-H in seventh grade. He started shooting as part of the JROTC program in the ninth grade.
He started out shooting at smaller matches, held in County gyms around the state. His first big match was his freshman year. He made it to nationals. He is the first member of the air rifle team to make it to army nationals four years in a row.
During the course of a competition, shooters fire, unsupported, from three different positions -prone, standing and kneeling – at a target that is over 32 feet away.
And the target? Well, it's small. The largest of the concentric circles making up the bull's-eye is less than two inches wide and worth only one point.
To earn nine points, the pellet from the air gun must fit into a space smaller than the circumference of a standard #2 pencil. To score ten points, the shooter has to knock out a dot in the middle of the target that is smaller than a pen-head, the size of a period at the end of one of these sentences.
Most people would have a hard time seeing that period-sized dot from 32 feet away, much less aiming and shooting.
What's the point of teaching students how to shoot at a tiny dot?
“To me, rifle marksmanship is a lot about focus. Focus. Attention to detail. You know, you've got to be able to control your body, control your breathing, control your mind. And that's going to be good for wherever you go, not just shooting a rifle,” says Major Amico.
Although any student at Cumberland High School is welcome to try out for the ten member team, Sgt. Carrier says, “they cut themselves, because they think it's easy, initially. And then after hours of practice and realizing that that dot is not going to get any easier to hit and it takes controlling your breathing and moving your hips and just lots of things to throw it off, they quit.”
Alex thought about quitting two years ago. “To me it was getting repetitive…But, I think what kept me in it is going to nationals every year and just looking forward to that and making a name for myself,” Alex says.
Competition is done over open sights without the aid of scopes. And, for Alex, and the rest of the Cumberland Duke's air rifle team, shooting is done without the aid of precision rifles.
Although JROTC competition is not sorted according to gender, it is sorted according to class, in a way. Sporter air rifle, the category that Alex and the Cumberland team compete in, is designed for those who desire to compete with “a minimum of equipment and expense.”
Sgt. Carrier explains that Alex's gear cannot cost more than $500.
Precision air rifle, on the other hand, is based on an Olympic-style shooting model and has no limit in expense, allowing the use of specialized target rifles and equipment. And very colorful uniforms. These programs are often found in “rich” schools, says Sgt. Carrier, where they are subsidized.
Air rifles can start as high as $28,000 in that category. Major Amico chuckles as he explains “you'll see the precision shooter teams come in to the nationals and they look like a traveling circus show. I mean…they're bringing in all kinds of suitcases and cases and everything else. It's unbelievable.”
When the JROTC program began at Cumberland over fifteen years ago, they were given basic guns as part of their starter package.
Using grants from Friends of the National Rifle Association, the team has been able to buy shooting mats, scopes, scope stands, rifle cases. Even the special type of rifle that Alex uses, which is just under the equipment price minimum for the sporter category, but nicer than the basic issue air rifles the team started with, was obtained through their support.
But, using sporter-limited equipment doesn't hold Alex back.
When he competed at the army nationals, Alex was shooting in a line with precision shooters, Sgt. Carrier says. Alex did so well, “people were looking at the scores and they thought he was a precision shooter.”
What's the key to his success? “A lot of practice,” Alex says, and his coach, Dan Pempel, “he's helped me out a lot. He's a real good coach.”
Perseverance and patience are skills that will serve Alex for the rest of his life.
Sgt. Carrier also thinks the temperament and supportiveness of his family has also helped Alex achieve the things he has.
As for Pempel, he says it is a pleasure to coach Alex.
Pempel has been coaching air rifle for 26 years. He worked with high school precision teams when he lived in Long Island.
After moving into the area ten years ago, Pempel says he saw a student in Wal-Mart one day wearing a Cumberland Dukes Air Rifle jacket. As the student disappeared around a corner, he told his wife, “I got to find that kid.”
Sgt. Carrier and Major Amico are thankful for Pempels' help coaching the team. “Our teams were competitive before he came on board. We were winning local matches and city matches. That kind of stuff. But we weren't getting to the next level.”
During an interview with Alex and his JROTC instructors, Sgt. Carrier pointed out that Alex has also been an asset to his team mates. He is impressed by Alex's selflessness.
There have been times when the team is at a big match and Alex will take a shot and then help his little brother and then go back to focus on his own target.
“We're talking about the lead, the best shooter in the state of Virginia. Everybody knows him wherever we go. But, he'll take his shot and then sacrifice his next shot to make sure his brother does well,” said Sgt. Carrier.
But, Alex quickly felt the need to explain, saying that missing a shot can get in his brother's head, “I just try to talk to him, help calm him down, so he can do better.”
Sgt. Carrier isn't convinced by Alex's ready explanation, pointing out that the events are timed. He smiles, “That just shows his character to me, because he's willing to sacrifice his time.”
Alex is the captain of the rifle team and battalion commander of the JROTC, which is the highest rank. It seems, that's just what you can expect of Bapties boys.
He has three brothers, two of which have already graduated from Cumberland High School. Both were battalion commanders, both were good shooters.
Alex graduates this year and hopes to study computer science and is completing his senior project by interning with the school's IT department.
How will air rifle marksmanship help him work with computers? “Patience,” Alex says.
He points out that it's not always easy figuring out how to fix a computer, “it just takes some time to figure the problem. Just like in rifle. You can't, you can't rush it. You just got to let it come naturally.”
He's looked into different schools, but currently plans to attend a local community college, earn good grades and transfer to a four-year school, in order to cut costs.
There are air-rifle scholarships out there, but most are geared toward precision shooters. The justification is that high school students on precision teams will already have experience with the high-end equipment used on college air rifle teams.
Alex isn't leaving his shooting days behind him. He will compete for a spot on the Olympic team this spring.
And, hey, he might have a chance. He says he feels pretty good, “I try not to be too cocky about it though.”
Sgt. Carrier says the competition for the Olympic teams won't be as stiff as the army matches.
And his coach, Pempel, has seen one of his shooter go on to compete in the Olympics.