By Marin Murray.

Sophomore Michaela Velasquez and her dad started a shooting sports team for the school’s Future Farmers of America (FFA) chapter, the first in school history, and they will compete at their first competition later this semester.

“She’s been doing it a long time,” FFA advisor Sucinda Easley said. “I had some other kids that were interested in that, but I don’t have time to coach that or have practice or do any of that. So, Micheala’s dad volunteered to kind of head that up. And so they’ve had a couple of practices already.”

Michaela picked up the sport in 2018, around the age of 10, and has quickly grown in talent and skill. She currently holds one state championship and a national title in shooting sports.

“Origianlly I tried archery, and it was really fun,” Michaela said. “I did it through 4-H, but they said I was too young to actually go and compete. So the next year, I decided that I wanted to try shotgun, because it seemed a little more difficult, and I like difficult things.”

Shooting sports involves using a shotgun with a moving target, typically an orange clay bird, that is coming out of the ground. Other types of firearms are used in other categories of competitions, however, Michaela primarily competes in the shotgun category.

“She’s very driven,” Easley said. “She knows what she wants. She has goals, and she does whatever she needs to in order to accomplish those goals.”

In addition to competing in shooting sports, Micheala competes in creed-speaking and the wildlife competition. She is also the treasurer of the school’s FFA chapter.

“It’s been really fun so far,” Michaela said. “It’s just been fun because we’ve started to actually make progress on our team and start practices.”

Although the team does not know when their first competition will take place, Miachela and the two other boys on her team have already begun practicing, with the help of her dad.

“Unlike some other sports, it’s really close knit and you get really close to people,” Michaela said. “We have fun and talk, but once you get on the field, it’s all competitiveness. But it’s a good type of competitiveness.”

This sport has not only helped her grow closer to her dad, but also to other people. In addition to competing for the school’s FFA team this spring, Michaela will continue to compete on her own outside of school. Her main goal is to qualify for the Junior Olympics during spring break, a feat she fell just short of last year.

“It was really tough to handle not making it, because I thought I was going to really get close,” Michaela said. “Coming in seventh just defeated me a little bit. But this year, I’m back up again and trying to make the team.”