By Jim Arnold
I was honored by the National Shooting Sports Foundation to offer my services to Team USA in the World Cup, FITASC event in Orville, France, held in July. The weather was a bit cold, windy and rainy, making hard shots harder.

[caption id="attachment_2712" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Mike Everson of Team USA Junior displays his Silver medals and gifts from the Gold and Bronze teams. Mike has been shooting since age 10."]<a href="http://www.beaufortislandnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Sports-Shooting-award.jpg"><img class="size-thumbnail wp-image-2712" title="Sports-Shooting award" src="http://www.beaufortislandnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Sports-Shooting-award-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" /></a>[/caption]

The World Cup is the Olympics of shotgun sports with all the pomp and circumstance. Each country’s team was paraded in with a flag carrier for the very formal opening ceremonies. The closing ceremonies were similar. Awards — Bronze, Silver and Gold — were presented in Olympic fashion with the countries anthems playing.
Our team in the Junior division took Silver — the only team medal won by the Americans.  Mike Everson shot a perfect Parcour. Thats very difficult to do. It was a team effort with emotions both flowing and under control. I was proud of their performance and was honored to be part of the program in some small way. It was a very humbling experience for me.

<em>Jim Arnold owns Custom Shooting Sports, LLC, which is involved in coaching, consulting, corporate entertainment and custom outfitting and is a one-stop shop for shotgun sports. He is the teaching pro on Brays Island Plantation and has lived on Cat Island for the past six years.</em>