Shooting for fun

by Phil Houseal
Oct 14, 2009
As published in the Kerrville TX Community Journal & Boerne TX Hill Country Weekly

When it comes to recreation, Americans spend the most money on exercise equipment. Do you know which sport comes in second?

Shooting.

"In 2006 spending on firearms and shooting gear overtook golf for second on the list," said Larry Arnold, one of two instructors teaching the Texas Concealed Handgun License Course in Kerrville and Boerne for Club Ed (details at end of article).

At clubs like the Buck & Bull Club, hunters can practice target shooting, skeet, trap, sporting clays. They have a hunting game where they shoot steel silhouettes of game in a realistic setting.

Larry Arnold started his own infatuation with shooting at age 11.

"I was kind of a nerd, and it was something I could do rather than play football," he recalled. "Besides, it was fun."

It was also a lot safer.

"The shooting sports rank below ping pong in injuries sustained as a sport."

Arnold - who recently won a national award for his course curriculum - has been a National Rifle Association instructor since 1982, and has taught hunter safety education since 1984. Arnold was involved in the long effort to have Texas adopt the concealed carry laws, working with six legislatures over 12 years.

Arnold actually taught his first concealed carry course on the very first day it was legally allowed to be taught in Texas, back in September 1995.

In the years since he has seen a parade of people from all professions who have their own reasons for taking this gun safety course. In the early days of the new law, he trained lots of professionals who traveled in their jobs, such as real estate salespeople. Students have been both young and old, and quite often whole families have taken the class together.

Regardless of background, their reasons are the same.

"A lot of it is just to be able to protect yourself," he said. He also gets students who want help navigating the national background check system. While protection is the reason many take the class, for Arnold, guns are just fun.

"It is a lifetime sport. We have people in their 80s who have won trophies. Shooting is one of the few sports that are completely coed. It's where soccer moms can take their kids and watch."

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Club Ed offers monthly courses in the Texas Concealed Handgun Course in Boerne and Kerrville. Constable Don White is instructor in the Boerne course. For information or to sign up, click www.clubed.net, or call 830-895-4386.

Club Ed is the Community Education program of the Kerrville Independent School District. Each year, we offer more than 400 classes throughout the Texas Hill Country, along with online courses, business and individual training, and after-school and summer camps. Comment online at clubedcomments.blogspot.com, or follow us on Twitter @clubedtx.

Football for Femmes?

by Phil Houseal Published in the (Kerrville TX) Community Journal, Sept 3, 2008

Most football players might have quit after their coach told them they were not the fastest player on the field, nor the best player on the field. Brendan Wilson's coach said both those things to him back in his playing days. But his coach also told him something else that changed Wilson's life.

"He told me that in spite of those limitations, I always knew where I was supposed to be on the field," Wilson said. "He said I ought to get into coaching."

After 11 years in the Army, Wilson did just that. He coached more than 10 years at all levels from junior high to college. While an assistant high school coach in Georgia, he helped lead his team to three state championships.

Never a super-sized person, Wilson played at around 180 pounds. He mastered literally every position, from long snapper to returning punts to doing a stint at quarterback. This journeyman approach helped him understand the game at a deeper level.

A self-described "football freak," Wilson loves the game and loves to help other people love it. He will teach a class this fall called "Football for Femmes," helping "football widows" gain an appreciation for the game. He plans to teach the basic terms, identify the positions, and explain the rules. Using tapes from his coaching days, and doing what he calls his "Chalk Talk," Coach Wilson will even draw up some basic strategies and plays.

At the last session, he'll have the class watch a televised professional game, complete with Super Bowl-style snacks and refreshments.

Why would someone so schooled in the intricacies of the game want to try to teach X's and O's to novices?

"I just love football so much," he said. "It just comes natural to me." And despite his love for the game, teaching it is not always easy. "It took about 10 years for my wife to understand the game. During one state championship game I coached, she finally realized what a first down was!"

Wilson now works at the Kerrville VA hospital as Division Manager for Environmental Management Services. But he is still involved in the sport, working as the TV analyst for all Tivy High School football games. He invites anyone wanting to share this love to sign up for his class.

"Because it will be fun and interesting," he said. "I will be open to any type of questions about football."

And he promises not to tell you how slow you are.

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Brendan Wilson will teach Football for Femmes starting Sunday, Sept 14. To learn more about this and hundreds of other lifelong learning classes, call 830-895-4386, or visit www.clubed.net.