Nearly 2,000 people will travel to Rogers to compete in and watch the 51st Daisy National BB Gun Championship Match.
The event, the largest national 5-meter BB gun match in the United States, begins Friday and extends throughout the weekend at the John Q. Hammons Center. The 59 teams participating each have five competitors and two alternates who range in age from 8 to 15, typically two coaches, and hundreds of additional family members there in support of the shooters.
Swap Meet
The Daisy 130th anniversary Swap Meet at the John Q. Hammons Center on Saturday will include limited edition items:
• An anniversary BB gun with walnut stock and forearm, red satin finish and a red, black and silver medallion inset to the stock. Only 500 were made
• An acryllic obelisk that was laser engraved on the inside with a windmill and image of the first Daisy gun ever made
• Two stand-alone medallions
• 130th anniversary ball point pen
• A hunting knife
• A watch
Source: Daisy Airgun Museum
Web watch
For more details on Daisy National BB Gun Championship Match events visit
Teams qualify for the championship by placing first, second or third at their respective state championships.
"The Daisy Championship is the icing on the cake for the shooters who tried really hard to shoot well. It's their reward to go to nationals," said Howard Baker, a shooting coach in Forest Grove, Ore., whose team returns each year. The team earned first place at the Oregon state championship this year.
Compared to other sporting events, which are stemmed on physical strength, the shooting championship is a more inclusive one dedicated to getting as many young people involved as possible, said Joe Murfin, vice president of public relations for the Daisy Airgun Museum in Rogers.
"You don't have to be the biggest kid and the fastest or strongest," Murfin said. "It's more of a mental sport. Anyone can do it, but to do it well, you've got to practice a lot."
Not all 50 states are represented at the championship, but many are, with Baker's Oregon team the farthest west and a team in Pennsylvania as the farthest east.
Having a venue for the sport is a delight to teams such as Baker's because their home state has few shooting teams and opportunities, he said. It pushes them to stay focused during the match.
"I think they look forward to the shooting events most," Baker said. "They know that if they want to go to Arkansas and represent all the other young shooters in [Oregon], they have to do their best and come home proud of their performance."
All shooters compete with the same type of gun, the Daisy Match Grade Model 499 Champion, and are tested in four positions -- standing, kneeling, sitting and prone, which is to lie down and prop yourself up on elbows. External supports, such as a cast on the arm, heavy leather jackets or shoes that extend above the ankle are prohibited.
Winners are determined by scores for individual events and aggregate, overall score, which includes a written exam on the Daisy curriculum.
The young shooters take six-week courses rooted in the Daisy curriculum teaching information about firearms, gun safety, gun handling and field carries.
The written exam quizzes shooters on the definitions of gun parts, types of action of a rifle, the varying gauges of shotguns and practical knowledge for competing in a match, such as what you can and can't do in a firing line and what range officer calls mean.
"It brings them up to a level of competition with return shooters," Baker said. "We don't need any other curriculum because Daisy has done very well with the manual and the information in it."
Each competing team receives a $1,000 to $1,500 travel grant, which can be used for airfare, renting a vehicle, hotel rooms, paying for meals along the way or even purchasing guns for the next year's match. For groups such as Baker's, the trip wouldn't be possible otherwise.
Many teams take the opportunity to sight-see along the way and some use it as a hybrid family vacation.
In 2015, a team from Virginia took a detour to the Grand Canyon before arriving. That festive, vacation-like spirit doesn't stop when they arrive to Rogers.
"There are more teams at this championship than ever. I believe that increase is because of the experience it opens up," Rogers Mayor Greg Hines said. "Teams visit city hall, the Daisy Museum and Rogers Historical Museum. It's obviously a nice tourism boost.
"Some sporting events you will maybe see one parent [with an athlete], but this one is truly a family event."
"It's a great experience getting here and it's a great event for this area," Murfin said. "They all spend money in Rogers, in Northwest Arkansas by eating meals and shopping while they're here."
Murfin said Rogers, now in its sixth year to host the championship, is the ideal location because most competitors are excited to visit the Daisy Airgun Museum. Prior to 2010, the city simply didn't have a facility large enough for an event of this size. To have 50 firing points that could be in use simultaneously meant needing a building that could accommodate 200 linear feet to the firing range.
The first match in Northwest Arkansas was outdoors at Rogers High School. The following year it was transferred to the Hammons Center, where it has since held all its events indoors.
The shooting practices, which take place all day Friday and Saturday morning, Swap Meet, silent auction and ceremonies are open to the public, Murfin said.
NW News on 06/30/2016