Events & News

January 15, 2019

Ambassador Training Postponed

The 2019 Nebraska 4-H Shooting Sports Ambassador training originally scheduled for January 19-21 in Broken Bow has been postponed for program restructuring. More information will be available in the near future. Thanks for your understanding as we take time to improve our program!

Posted by Nick Bohannon, NESSAT Program Coordinator

September 21, 2018

2019 Ambassador Applications OPEN!

The Nebraska 4-H Shooting Sports Ambassador Program is currently accepting applications for the 2019 team! 4-H Shooting Sports participants with at least 3 years in 4-H, 1 year in a 4-H Shooting Sports Program, and 14 years of age are eligible to apply now! The group is looking forward to engaging a new set of youth to help develop their own leadership and communication skills while promoting and growing the Nebraska 4-H Shooting Sports program across the state. By attending an annual training ambassadors will learn how to share their passion for 4-H Shooting Sports project areas through training sessions on public speaking, program marketing, and Social Media usage. The Nebraska 4-H Shooting Sports Ambassador program strives to develop the next generation of leaders within the program and hopes to build the life skills necessary for youth to be successful in their future careers.

Youth who are enthusiastic about their involvement in 4-H and 4-H Shooting Sports and want to develop their leadership skills are encouraged to apply by November 1, 2018! Those who are interested in applying or want more information can visit the program website at https://sites.google.com/view/nessat/. All eligible youth are encouraged to apply to be a part of the next Nebraska 4-H Shooting Sports Ambassador team!

Questions about the program and application process can be directed to Program Coordinator Nick Bohannon at nbohannon2@huskers.unl.edu.

July 8, 2018

Ambassador Stories

As a part of our informational website the Nebraska 4-H Shooting Sports Ambassadors are going to continue to share their 4-H experiences, memories, and a little bit about their time as an ambassador. Every couple of weeks we will be featuring a new ambassador. Stay tuned for more great stories in the future! Check out this week's story by McKenna Darby!

My Nationals Experience

My National Shooting Sports Championship experience was amazing! I competed on the Muzzleloader team in the 2017 National Shooting Sports Championship. The first day we practiced for our following day of competition. The first day was also Opening Ceremonies which was FANTASTIC!! When you walk into the Danger Football arena at Fonner Park it is ecstatic. I got so nervous waiting for the volunteer to come in and tell us that it was Nebraska’s turn to take State photos and do the walk. They base it off of the Olympics. The main walk of Nations but here we have the walk of the States. You see and feel the enthusiasm and the power of State pride from the whole stadium. It is so cool to see everyone competing from the other states.

The following day we competed for the first time and had fun as a team. My team all three of them were from the same town and were in the same club together. It was a little scary to think that they might not like me, but as the week went along our team grew pretty close and we all became friends. That night was the first night of awards. When they called the Muzzleloaders up to form the tunnel. It’s symbolizing that everyone is there for each other. Even though it is a huge competition everyone supports everyone else. That night after awards was the Teen Social. Which is every competitor comes and talks to other people they have never talked to before. People who are out of the State. You get to meet new people learn where they are from and get to learn why that person is competing in that discipline.

The third day was just as awesome as the first. It was so fun. Everyday was so fun and getting to spend it with so many different people and make new friends it’s just an amazing experience. We had awards and every year Island Oasis opens up at night and for only all the National kids. That year they had to close it actually because of weather. It was still a super fun day.

Day four was almost the ending of Nationals. It was coming to the end but it was so fun. e had another competition that day as well. By then it was already normal. We would have a competition then we would practice for the next day competition. Day four was different though we didn't practice for the next day we simply got done shooting and put away all of our stuff. I was a little sad to see everything getting done with but you just try as hard as you can the last day and hope for the best. You hope that you can get this experience again.

Day five, final day, closing ceremonies. Closing ceremonies was absolutely breathtaking it was amazing as well. It is just so fun to be around people who are like you and enjoy the same things that you do. There's still so much excitement in the stadium from day one till now it is still crazy that there is so many people in out state. When you drive in Grand Island by Fonner Park. Hotels put up signs that encourage the national competitors to try their best.

I am so happy to get to experience all the excitement another year. I am so proud to say that I am competing on the hunting skills team at the 2018 National Shooting Sports Championships. I’m so excited to get to experience it all again with so people who are truly some of the best people ever. All those people have helped me through thick and thin and I’m so grateful to all those people.

Written by McKenna Darby, Nebraska 4-H Shooting Sports Ambassador

February 28, 2018

Ambassador Stories

As a part of our informational website the Nebraska 4-H Shooting Sports Ambassadors are going to continue to share their 4-H experiences, memories, and a little bit about their time as an ambassador. Every couple of weeks we will be featuring a new ambassador. Stay tuned for more great stories in the future! Check out this week's story by Elizabeth Kment!

I have been involved in 4-H ever since I was eight years old; however, I only first got involved with 4-H Shooting Sports when I was going into 7th grade. Now being a Senior, I have been in 4-H Shooting Sports for five years, been certified to instruct archery, and been apart of the National 4-H Shooting Sports Ambassador team. Of course I would love to be able to say that, along with all these great opportunities, I have also won a lot of awards and been successful in my shooting. However, that is not the case. I have never won any big awards for my shooting, nor have I ever made it to the national archery shoot, but I have won the greatest award 4-H has ever had to offer me, a family of amazingly accepting and helpful people. If I take a step back to my 7th grade year, I see a girl who lacked confidence and grace. Not to mention I was terrified going into junior high. Needless to say I did not fit in well to start. I tried volleyball, basketball, and even track, but when you combine clumsiness and a lack of confidence, the result is not a stellar athlete.

Still struggling to find my place in school, I stumbled across a man by the name Randy Latimer. With his incredible passion for archery and infectious smile, it didn’t take much convincing to get me to start coming to practices. Not long after, archery became my passion too. Randy, along with everybody else that I met through shooting sports, made me feel welcome and confident for the first time since entering junior high. As I continued on my path in shooting sports, I also continues to be coached by Randy and meeting so many new people. This experience has helped me become more social and confident in myself and my capabilities. I started fitting in better at school and because I became a certified instructor, and in turn a better leader, I started take up more leadership roles at school such as in FFA and Student Council. I even got the opportunity to be a state shooting sports ambassador.

Fast forwarding to my junior year, I hit a rough patch after the passing of my coach Randy about 8 months ago. It was so devastating for me that I found it was hard to go back to practice without him there. I haven’t been shooting as much as I use to, but as time goes by I have slowly started shooting again. Thanks to Randy’s encouragement and imprint he made on my life, I even got accepted onto the National 4-H Shooting Sports Ambassador team. Randy was an inspiration to me, and his passion for archery and 4-H Shooting Sports gave him the ability to teach me, help me grow, and succeed in my life. The most valuable thing he taught me was that as long as you better yourself it doesn’t matter what or how the people around you do.

My goal now is to help other kids in the way Randy and 4-H Shooting Sports has helped me. That is that is the whole reason I strived to be an ambassador in the first place. I want other people to be aware of the great things 4-H Shooting Sports has done for me and can do for them too. I want to be the person Randy was for me, for someone else; because it did not only help me in junior high, but it made me excited and confident going into high school. I am a completely different person than I was five years ago, and for that I have 4-H Shooting Sports and Randy Latimer to thank.

Written by Elizabeth Kment, Nebraska 4-H Shooting Sports Ambassador

January 1, 2018

Ambassador Stories

As a part of our informational website the Nebraska 4-H Shooting Sports Ambassadors are going to continue to share their 4-H experiences, memories, and a little bit about their time as an ambassador. Every couple of weeks we will be featuring a new ambassador. Stay tuned for more great stories in the future! Check out this week's story by Ashley Schulze!

Growing up I did not have a normal life, living with a single parent came with very limited opportunities. Life consisted of going to a YMCA kids program before and after school until I could be picked up by my mom. My life was like this for many years, I was shy and didn’t really have a calling for anything. When I turned 10 we moved to Norfolk to start a new life where I still didn’t really have much except swimming, I thought that was going to be my thing. Then in 2012 I had to move schools because nothing was working out for me, but little did I know my life was about to change for good. In P.E. class they decided to do an archery session for about 6 six weeks, at first I thought it was going be horrible because I was bad at everything else so I wasn’t ready to start. Getting through those six weeks started out slow, but little did I realize I was enjoying it as time passed on. I found myself getting better everyday I did it so when the program ended I told my mom about it and how much I enjoyed it. She saw how it affected me and went out to find a place for me to keep shooting. After a few days of searching she found a local 4-H club and took me to a practice to talk to the coach. As soon as I walked down there I had a feeling that I never felt before, and it turned out to be just what I needed. After six months of shooting I got my own bow and I was growing out of being shy. As I got better and started shooting competitions my step dad asked if I would have any interest in shooting trap since he shot trap in high school. I decided to try it since it sounded fun and it involved shooting. I fell in love with both and had a passion for shooting sports. I thought that was it, but was asked by my coach if I wanted to do more, of course I said yes! I became a junior archery instructor and was asked to be a pro staff shooter for a local bow shop. As I spent my time at that I got to know a really good friend through archery, he was like my big brother and helped me with everything. As 2016 rolled around I was chosen to shoot the 4-H National Shooting Sports Championship in recurve, but my life changed rapidly. In February of that year my friend, Brett, died and my life took a curve. I didn’t want to shoot anymore. I wanted to stop, but everyone kept telling me I needed to shoot. So I picked up the recurve and shot Nationals for Brett. I felt the love again and I realized that shooting for someone else gave me a new appreciation for everything. With that in mind I got back into everything and was told about the ambassador program through my coach. So without thinking too much I filled out the application and am a Nebraska Shooting Sports Ambassador today. Through this program the National Ambassador program was mentioned so I took a shot at that one and got in. I spent a week down in Florida perfecting my skills and creating a new 4-H family with all the other National Ambassadors. The passion and the fire has kept growing for shooting sports and has shaped me to be a better person with the life skills I will always need to use.

My story is a roller coaster of ups and downs, but the one thing I have always had is the family that stays with me through 4-H. I am forever grateful for every opportunity that 4-H has given me and for everything that is to come.

Written by Ashley Schulze, Nebraska 4-H Shooting Sports Ambassador

December 7, 2017

2018 Ambassador Team Selection

The application period for the 2018 Nebraska 4-H Shooting Sports Ambassador team has come to a close. Thank you to all of those who applied to be an ambassador as well as those individuals and Extension staff members that submitted recommendations on behalf of our applicants. We are very excited to see interest in this program continue to grow and become more popular across the state.

Ambassadors that completed an application, you will be notified by 8:00PM on December 15th, 2017. If you do not receive an email by that time, please contact Nick Bohannon at nbohannon2@unl.edu. You will receive an email regardless of selection status. Even though applications are closed for this year, we encourage active 4-H members to apply in the future! Applications for the 2019 ambassador team will open June 1, 2018 and be due December 1, 2018. For more information please visit our website page "Program Information" or our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/NE4HSSA.

Written by Nick Bohannon, NESSAT Program Coordinator

October 24, 2017

Ambassador Stories

As a part of our informational website the Nebraska 4-H Shooting Sports Ambassadors are going to share their 4-H experiences, memories, and a little bit about their time as an ambassador. Every couple of weeks we will be featuring a new ambassador. Stay tuned for more great stories in the future! Check out our first ambassador story below by Sam Hipke!

I started 4-H when I was nine years old. When I joined, my county had a shooting sports program but only offered BB gun and Archery. I participated in both events for two years before my county stopped offering shooting sports. I never really excelled at shooting and was slightly disappointed when they stopped offering it. However a few years after the program was stopped, a few new leaders went and got certified to be instructors and they restarted shooting sports. When they got the program going again, they could teach BB gun, archery and shotgun. I have been goose hunting for as long as I can remember, but I had never shot at a blue rock before. After the first couple of shots, I realized that I really enjoyed shooting shotgun. I like to shoot, but I wasn’t competitive. On average when I first started shooting, I would only hit a couple of clays. I like shooting shotgun so much, that I stayed active in my club.

Although I love to shoot shotgun, when I was asked to get certified in a discipline I choose rifle. I went to Ponca, Nebraska with my uncle and became certified. Before we went to this training, our county did not have a program for .22. We knew that getting a program started would not be easy and honestly we did not know where to start. We learned many things over that weekend that helped us get an idea of where to begin our program. There was a Nebraska Shooting Sports Ambassador at our training and he promoted the Shooting Sports Ambassador program. This is the first time I ever remember hearing about the opportunity to be a shooting sports ambassador. One thing I remember about the training is sitting there listening to the ambassador present about what the program is and what they do. While listening to the ambassador I was thinking about how I would never be able to do that because I did not like to talk in front of people. I’ll admit that I was pretty shy. When we left Ponca that weekend, I was sure that becoming certified in rifle was the last shooting sports training I would ever attend.

As it turns out that did not happen. About a year after I was certified, my county 4-H shooting sports coordinator approached me regarding an email he got. The email was about the Nebraska Ambassador program and I was strongly encouraged to apply. When I applied, I was not expecting to get accepted so it came as a surprise to me when I was. The training was in January and I was nervous to attend because I had no idea what to expect. After couple of emails to the Shooting Sports Ambassador Coordinator, I sorta knew what was going on but I was still pretty nervous. When I arrived at the training, I was immediately welcomed to play cards with other the ambassadors. We all became pretty close over that weekend and learned many things together.

Since that weekend, I have been pretty busy working on a county level to build our shooting sports program, competing in shooting competitions and teaching people how to shoot. I can proudly say that my shooting has improved from when I first started shooting and I can now hit more than a couple blue rocks while shooting shotgun. I was certified in Hunting Skills in March of 2017 and became president of our county club later that year. I really do enjoy getting to help kids improve their shooting skills and giving them the opportunity to grow skills that will help them for the rest of their lives. I have also been promoting the Ambassador program as much as I can because I want people to have opportunities to grow their skills and speak out about what they are passionate about. I believe that this program has been very successful in informing people about how shooting sports can help them grow, recruiting people to become active in shooting sports and recruiting shooting sports members to become ambassadors.

The point to my story is this; you don’t have to be the best shot to join a 4-H shooting sports club. They will teach you how to shoot, but they will teach you more than that too. Looking back, it is hard for me to recognize myself two years ago sitting in that classroom at my rifle certification not talking to anybody. 4-H, and especially 4-H shooting sports has helped me grow into the person I am today. My county leader and ambassador coordinators have been so helpful in teaching me new skills. It doesn’t matter if those skills include shooting a gun or writing a speech or maybe even proof reading an article at 11 at night because it’s due by midnight. These people have taught me so much and been so instrumental in growing my leadership skills to where they are today. None of this would have been possible without Nebraska 4-H shooting Sports and the Nebraska 4-H Shooting Sports Ambassador program.

Written by Sam Hipke, Nebraska 4-H Shooting Sports Ambassador

March 24, 2017

NESSAT 2017 Success

After a three day program the 2017 Nebraska 4-H Shooting Sports Ambassador Training has produced six new state ambassadors. Nebraska 4-H Shooting Sports has nearly 5,000 enrolled youth members across a variety of disciplines. To say the least, these six new ambassadors are some of the highest quality 4-H youth in Nebraska. These individuals displayed a true desire to take on a leadership role in their 4-H Shooting Sports career and have already begun promoting and growing the program in their counties and communities.

The Nebraska 4-H Shooting Sports Ambassador program strives to produce quality youth leadership within the 4-H Shooting Sports organization in Nebraska. These youth ambassadors provide and important youth contact point for current 4-H families and the general public. Their training consists of various public speaking, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, & Math), and shooting sports modules that help develop their skills for public presentations and promotional events. Each ambassador is required to complete three public (outside of 4-H) events and three 4-H event presentations throughout the year. Through these presentations we hope that they continue to recruit new members and promote 4-H and 4-H Shooting Sports enrollments across the state.

As an advisor team we are thrilled to have such wonderful youth involved in our program and we hope that we will be able to continue to help them learn, grow, and lead for Nebraska 4-H Shooting Sports. If you have any questions about or program or would like to donate please contact our volunteer Program Coordinator Nick Bohannon at nbohannon2@huskers.unl.edu.

Written by Nick Bohannon, NESSAT Program Coordinator