It was an ordinary day. Reading a story about an Indian woman who was a sharpshooter. As I began to read the story it brought back memories of my 1972 State Championship rifle team which had 3 teenaged girls on it. The team had 17 members on it the year we won the state title with the 3 girls as part of the top 10 shooters on the team. When we traveled to State College, Pennsylvania for the final meet for the title, my 3 girls were a big part of the team.
Suzi Zipperlein was a sophomore but probably one of my top five shooters as was Kristen Hill. Kristen, a senior, would have been the top shooter on the team had it not been for a young man named Dave Ament who fired a perfect 100 in every rifle match we had that year. He also fired a 200 in the finals at State College. Mary Eckman had joined the team the year before, but during her second season she slowly won a spot in the meets where only the top 10 shooters on the team can compete. That particular year the morning Lancaster Intelligencer picked my rifle team as the "Team of the Year" in Lancaster County. So, perhaps you might see why, while reading the story in today's newspaper titled "Indian Woman, 89, right on target" I found the article very interesting. The photograph that accompanied the story told about Chandro Tomar, 89, who was practicing with her air pistol at a range that was being built at her house in the village of Johri, India. I realized that she is almost 75 years older than the girls on my team back in 1972, which made her story even more amazing. She didn't pick up a gun until she was 65 which provoked derision and laughter among spectators and participants at the professional contests she entered. Since her first meet she has won over 25 medals for her accuracy with her weapon in competition with mostly male competitors. Made me instantly think of the guys on my team who competed years ago and how they must have felt when they saw the three girls on the team. The biggest difference being then and now is we used live ammunition while Chandro uses pellets in her competitions. And...she dresses quite a bit different being she wears a long dress and head scarf. The article went on to say that she takes great pride in having paved the way for countless women to take part in an activity that can be a ticket to a better life through sports scholarships and job opportunities. Wow...the same as it did for my girls years ago. One day Chandro took her granddaughter to the range with her. They were the only females at the range and her granddaughter Shefali, who was 12 years old, felt nervous handling the gun. Chandro fired a few shots and before long her granddaughter felt more at ease shooting the gun. But, Chandro feared that her family wouldn't approve of her granddaughter firing the gun. In Indian society it is expected for girls to marry young and have children. Shooting a gun wasn't part of that ritual when Chandro was young. She married at 15 and spent the next 50 years raising her family, never having gone to school. Her visits to the shooting range are now giving her a chance to do something that she could never do before. Perhaps she is hoping her granddaughter will not have to wait until she is in her 80s before she too has a chance to try something different. Oh how different life is in different countries with different cultures. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
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