Highland Shooting Sports showcases new facilities at the Riverside VFW

By Molly Roberts
Posted 7/27/21

The Highland Shooting Sports team held their first event at the newly renovated facilities at the Riverside VFW Post #6414 on Sunday, July 25. The Shooting Sports Team received a grant from the …

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Highland Shooting Sports showcases new facilities at the Riverside VFW

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The Highland Shooting Sports team held their first event at the newly renovated facilities at the Riverside VFW Post #6414 on Sunday, July 25. The Shooting Sports Team received a grant from the Washington County Riverboat Foundation that allowed them to build a new trap house, a new thrower, wireless mics, a new shooting pad and a handicap-accessible sidewalk leading to the platform.

“Working with the VFW, they have been awesome, letting us come here and have our practices and hosting our home meets,” said Tammy Horak, the team’s secretary/treasurer. “They’re great people to work with and without them we wouldn’t have been able to do all this.”

Foundations Unlimited out of Kalona also helped with the renovation, even donating enough cement and labor to create the ADA-accessible sidewalks leading to the shooting pad.

Athletes from the Highland team shot rounds of 25 birds on Sunday, as well as other community members and members of the VFW.

Nicholas Oriano, a first-year member of the team shot 21 out of 25 birds. He said he joined the team after watching his older brother compete and also because his dad, Tony, is the team’s head coach.

“Our family has always hunted. Personally, I wasn’t that big into it, but I went out for trap because I thought it’d be fun,” Nicholas said. “You get a lot of time to talk with people and make friends. And then, when you’re on the line, it’s fun because you’re constantly challenging yourself.”

“It’s nerve-wracking when you’re getting down to the final few shells and you don’t know if you’re going to hit them all or not. It can be the difference between hitting 23 and 18.”

Tony Oriano has been the head coach of the Highland Shooting Sports team for three years.

“I really enjoy it,” he said. “I think it’s a good thing for the kids to learn about firearms, to learn how to use them safely and learn how to use them in a fun way.”

He said coaching a shooting sports athlete takes a lot of careful watching to correct mistakes with technique.

“It’s amazing, some kids do everything wrong and still break all the birds while some do everything right and just can’t get on it,” Tony said. “Working with them and watching them helps. You can catch bad habits and stopping down, raising your head off the stock and other more obvious things that will make kids miss, but mostly you’re just encouraging them and trying to push them in the right direction.”

Luke Miller, a senior on the team who has competed in two previous seasons (the team did not compete in 2020 due to the pandemic), said the new renovations at the shooting facility have made a big difference.

“It makes it a lot easier, not only with the wireless mics, but also with the backdrop with the trees,” he said. “It makes it easier to see the birds when they’re flying, making it easier to shoot. Overall, it makes it more enjoyable.”