By Brad Haire
University of Georgia
Patrick T. Cannon extends his right arm and steadies the pistol
in his hand, takes careful aim and fires. It’s not a game to
him. He’s aiming for the Olympics, and he’s getting closer with
each shot.
Cannon, 16, is one of the youngest members of the USA Shooting
national development team. USAS is the governing body that
trains and selects the shooting teams that represent the United
States at World Cups, World Shooting Championships, the Pan
American Games and the Olympic Games.
Olympic development
Cannon has been invited twice to the Olympic Training Center in
Colorado Springs, Colo., to train with the USAS’s 10-meter air
pistol and free pistol teams. Picked from across the United
States, only 11 people are on the development team now. About 15
are on the national team.
Erich Buljung, an Olympic silver medalist in 1988, coaches the
pistol teams. “I think he likes me,” Cannon said. “But it’s
really hard to tell. It comes down to how you score.”
Cannon will return to Colorado Springs in April to compete in
the 2003 Junior Olympics. From there, it could be on to Athens,
Greece, for the 2004 Olympic Games.
4-H trained
Cannon was born and raised in Tifton, Ga. He began his shooting
career in the eighth grade when his mother and father, Patsie
and Carroll Cannon, insisted he get involved with the county’s 4-
H shooting program.
“I really didn’t want to do it at first,” Cannon said. But
shortly after joining, he learned he was better at shooting than
most of his peers. “I got more interested in it then.”
“It takes a lot of mental discipline, practice and focus on what
you’re doing. (You have to) blot out everything else,” said
David Haire, who coaches the 4-H shooters in Tift County. “And
Patrick T. can do all of this.”
Though the student now beats the coach most often, Haire still
advises Cannon on his shooting technique. Haire will be going
with Cannon to Colorado Springs in April.
Cannon blew through state 4-H competitions and became a state
winner, or master, at the air pistol. When a person masters a 4-
H event, he is ineligible to compete in that event again. Cannon
is on his way to mastering the 4-H air rifle and now helps coach
the county’s 4-H air pistol team.
Many would think a young boy from a rural area who shoots like
Cannon would be into game hunting. But he’s not.
“I’ve never been hunting. Don’t know if I have the patience for
it,” he said. “I just like shooting.”
The scores
Free pistol shooting, a men’s-only event, has been part of the
Olympics since 1896. With separate events for men and women, air
pistol shooting joined the games in 1988.
In the air pistol competition, the athlete fires lead pellets at
a bull’s eye target 10 meters away.
Cannon shoots a Morini compressed-air pistol, priced around
$1,100. Its trigger weight is very light, around 500 grams.
Men take 60 shots in 1 hour and 45 minutes. Women have 1 hour
and 15 minutes for 40 shots.
For men, a perfect score is 600, and 585 is world-class.
Cannon scores consistently around 540 but feels he’ll soon
be “at the next level.”
Cannon also shoots on the free pistol team, where athletes
shoot .22 caliber pistols from 50 meters at bull’s eye targets
with a 2-inch center. Cannon shoots his $1,000 German-made Steyr
for this competition.
The athletes take 60 shots in 2 hours. A perfect score is 600,
and 565 is world-class. Cannon is newer to this sport but
already scores in the low 500s.
