If North Atlanta’s seeming string of losses in the field of athletics is bringing you down, it might come as a welcome surprise to see that the school’s Rifle Team had one of its best seasons in North Atlanta history. In fact — this doesn’t always happen with Warrior athletics — the team went gloriously undefeated during its spring season of competition.

           This smashing achievement was owing to the efforts of the extremely — and accurate — members of the Rifle Team. To become a part of this squad of sharpshooters, there is a highly selective try-out process. Back in the early fall, 20 students tried out and just 10 made the team. There are of course a few standouts on the team, notably senior team captain Sparks Highsmith and freshman Amaya Bacon. Both team members led the team in points at its matches against other high schools.

While this was a technically perfect season it doesn’t mean the team did not see its own fair share of struggles. There were close competitions, for example, with Westlake and Grady high schools. But the team always managed to pull out victories in the end. During the season — which ran from January 9 to March 16 — the team won all eight matches.

Unsurprisingly many of the team members were very excited about the victory including freshman Grace Vigtel. “I was super excited about our season especially since this was my first season,” she said. “Our different personalities helped to contribute to a really fun year,” These kids are not just skilled, they’re also very fun to spend time with.”  

While most people might understand the basics of what riflery entails, specifically shooting at targets with a rifle, the finer details of the sport like elude the majority. For an example the did you know that the team uses three different poses in a competition: prone (lying down), kneeling, and standing. All of these entail different levels of difficulty with the standing viewed as the hardest.  

For a team that’s not always on everyone’s athletics radar, it would stand to reason there are misconceptions about the sport. In the school competitions, there are certainly no live rounds being fired. Instead, competitors use air rifles. Another common misconception is that all Rifle Team members are part of the school’s JROTC program. A prime example of this is Highsmith, one of the team’s most expert marksmen. He’s not in JROTC but joined the sport because target games are of interest to him. “I’ve just always been pretty accurate with my throws so I figured this would be a sport I could thrive in,” he said.

Despite the openness to all players, the majority of the team is still culled from JROTC ranks. The team’s faculty adviser and coach is Sgt. Major Corey Jackson and the first-year North Atlanta teacher said he’s been impressed with the work ethic of his team. “They put the work in and you can see the results,” he said. “It’s been a pleasure to be a part of this group.”

Not all Warrior teams that aim for the best make it. But where the school’s Rifle Team is concerned, its season objectives were right on target.