# Leslie Kruger - Grant teen making a name in trapshooting



## Hamilton Reef (Jan 20, 2000)

Grant teen making a name in trapshooting 

http://www.mlive.com/outdoors/grpress/index.ssf?/base/sports-0/1168609527307970.xml&coll=6

01/12/07 By Howard Meyerson The Grand Rapids Press [email protected]

When Leslie Kruger began shooting trap four years ago, she did it as a lark and to make her father, Bruce, happy. He began shooting just two years before and hoped she would join him. 

But once the young woman got a shotgun in her hands, she found she had a natural ability. Before her first year of shooting ended, she managed to break 25 consecutive clay birds in major competition.

And this past August, four years and thousands of shells later, she showed the trap shooting world what she could do. 

Kruger, a Grant High School senior, won the Grand American Handicap Junior Championship at the prestigious 2006 Grand American in Sparta, Ill. She also was runner-up in the women's division for the celebrated George McCarty handicap shoot at the Grand Am, an event she won in 2005. After that she was named to the 2007 All-American Team. 

The Grand American is the largest trapshooting event in the world. It is sponsored by the Amateur Trapshooting Association, a national organization founded in 1900 with more than 50,000 members in North America. 

"Once I got into shooting, it was a lot of fun," said Kruger, who is ranked ninth in the nation for women shooters. "At first I told Dad I would do it for fun. I didn't want to give up my high school sports to travel and shoot in the spring. 

"But once we started traveling, it was a lot of fun. I got to go to different states and meet new people. I love the competition and I got hooked." 

Her father said he couldn't be prouder. He has loaded most of the shotgun shells she used this past year. 

He opted to shelve his own competitive shooting aspirations so he could better support her efforts. Both Bruce and his wife, Linda, Leslie's mother, coach young trapshooters at the Sparta Hunting and Fishing Club.

"She is a natural at this, more than anyone I've seen," Bruce Kruger said. "I get as much enjoyment sitting on the sideline watching her as participating." 

Leslie's 2006 shooting average was 95.7 (out of 100) shooting singles. 

She averages 87.8 at doubles and has shot five 100 straights. Each is made up of four perfect 25-target rounds.

Her handicap is the 27-yard line, where she joined her father and her brother, Frank, this past year. 

Shooters start out breaking clay targets at the 16-yard line. Once mastered, women move to the 19-yard line and men move to the 20-yard mark. From there, each earns yardage by shooting well, yard by yard, out to the 27-yard mark. 

"This is a wonderful sport for kids," said Linda Kruger, who coached 28 kids last fall, 22 of whom went to the state trapshooting championships. 

"Our senior team placed first and the rookies took second, so we took two teams to the nationals."

Linda said Leslie has the ability to remain calm under pressure -- a crucial quality when competing against the best shooters in the country. 

"I don't know if it's because of her high school sports or that she's been in enough shootoffs now," she said. "But she contains her nerves enough during the shoot and then goes through a little meltdown once she is done." 

Leslie has had a few hiccups along her road to success. Her colored contact lenses caused her vision to distort 18 months ago. She found she could see the targets but couldn't hit them. She thought she needed a new prescription.

But her eye doctor informed her that the colored lenses were not allowing her corneas to get enough oxygen. She switched to clear lenses and the problem disappeared. 

This past summer, Leslie found she was dealing badly with the recoil from her gun. She shot 15,000 shells in competition in 2006 and another 10,000 in practice. 

She began getting neck and head aches and sought the help of a chiropractor.

"The hardest lesson has been learning to not get mad at myself when I miss," said Leslie, who intends to go on to college and is considering medical school. "If I missed one I'd get upset and not do well the rest of the round." 

Leslie said her father tried to give her some advice, but being young and rebellious, she didn't want to listen. She often turned to her uncle, Fred Kruger, her father's mentor. 

"He would tell me the exact same thing, but I would listen to him. 

"It was rebellion but he (her father) was right." 

Being a female in the shooting sports, an arena dominated by males, is both a challenge and treat for Leslie. 

"There aren't nearly as many girls as boys and it's, like, a rarity to have good girl shooters," she said. "So you have got to show them. 

"The big thing they say is: 'You shoot like a girl.' But when I beat them I say: 'You wish you shot like a girl.' "


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## bob alfieri (Jan 9, 2006)

I think that is great nice job Mom and Dad


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