Loading ...
IDPA Shooter Paul Chern Dampac
Posted by Junior Shooters
By: Feliza Dampac (Republished from Vol 16 Junior Shooters)
Paul Chern Dampac is16 year old from Rock Hill, South Carolina. Growing up, he had seen me and my husband go to local International Defensive Pistol Association (IDPA) club matches on the weekends and one day asked us to bring him to the range. My husband, who is also a safety officer, introduced him to gun safety, proper gun handling, and finally the mechanics of shooting IDPA which he quickly adapted to. He learned that it is important to love the sport in order to be able to stay on the game. His first classifier was at age 12; as a novice. With strong determination and proper mentoring, he won his division and became a Stock Service Pistol (SSP) Master and garnered high junior at the 2012 SC State IDPA championship (probably the youngest active shooter to reach Master classification at age 15 in IDPA).
With continued hard work, he earned his 2nd Master classification, this time in (Enhanced Service Pistol) ESP and also won high junior at the recently concluded 2013 Virginia IDPA Championship. He hopes to be a 3-Gun Master before he turns 18. Interestingly, his younger sister also became interested in the sport so we go to matches as a whole family. Thankfully, most sanctioned matches offer junior discounts.
This sport has given him the chance to meet good people from different walks of life at a young age. He is happy that Icarus is currently sponsoring his competition shirts for future matches. He also goes to steel challenge, (Glock Sport Shooting Foundation) GSSF matches and in beginning to venture on to other shooting discipline like United States Practical Shooting Association (USPSA.) He hopes that his achievement will be noticed so he can go to more matches that will help him develop his maximum potential.
He goes to local club matches basically every weekend including sanctioned matches. Our family is a member of the Central Carolinas Shooting Club and we also shoot with the Spartanburg Practical Shooting Association, Mecklenburg Wildlife Club and Greenville Gun Club. We usually bring him to sanctioned matches in our nearby states like Georgia, Virginia, Alabama, North Carolina, and Tennessee and goes to GSSF matches when able.
Paul basically started with IDPA and steel challenge which he enjoys but has been focusing mainly on IDPA because it is what we can afford right now. Shooting as a whole family has been expensive. Although recently, we started bringing him to local USPSA matches at a nearby club. .He tries to balance school and the sport. He is now a junior in high school. He has been doing Army marksmanship in ROTC since he started high school
He states,” I love the shooting sport mainly because it is fun and I enjoy it. I also like all the cool people I get to meet and talk to in the range. The sport bridges the generation gap because I can talk to anyone who has common interest and will understand each other regardless of the age. This also gives me an opportunity to travel to different states with my family, doing a thing we all enjoy.”
“Juniors like me should get involved in this sport because it is fun and competitive. It gives a sense of responsibility and discipline at a young age. I also want tell you that it is good to know and be familiar with the basics of shooting and proper gun handli
Comments
Leave a Reply
Please note: Comment moderation is currently enabled so there will be a delay between when you post your comment and when it shows up. Patience is a virtue; there is no need to re-submit your comment.
You must be logged in to post a comment.