By Serena Juchnowski, CMP Guest Writer.
New Jersey – -(AmmoLand.com)- “I thought it would be a good promotion for the shooting sports to put together an all-girls team,” said New Jersey Garden State Gunners Coach Walter Bachmann. “This was the first year that we were able to do that while we were out at Camp Perry.”
During the 2018 National Matches, New Jersey fielded what, to everyone’s knowledge, was the first all-female team to ever compete in the National Trophy Infantry Team match, more commonly known as the Rattle Battle.
Bachmann first became involved in the shooting sports when his sons wanted to learn how to shoot. He took them to the Central Jersey Rifle and Pistol Club and asked if they offered a junior program. Two months later, Bachmann was informed he had been made chairman of the new junior program, much to his surprise, and subsequently, he went about earning all of his coaching certifications and credentials.
The Garden State Gunners junior team started off with smallbore, but in 2008, the team started into highpower when they were approached by another New Jersey club asking if their juniors would be interested in trying the discipline. That was the first year the team traveled to Camp Perry with two girls and four guys. A decade later, the Garden State Gunners traveled to the Camp Perry National Matches with enough junior shooters to fill two
