What "Shoot Like A Girl" Means To Me

I have been so fortunate and blessed to call Shoot Like A Girl my job for four years now.  With the help of great industry support we travel the country with a 52ft gooseneck shooting trailer introducing women to archery, pistol and rifle.  Our mission is empowering women to participate in shooting sports with confidence.  A lady that has never had the opportunity to experience shooting sports can literally get a quick full taste of what shooting sports is all about in a short amount of time.  With a full team of women instructors we strive to create a comfortable and enjoyable environment that makes even the totally inexperienced feel relaxed. We all learn differently but there is just something about women helping other women to gain the confidence to try something that once was foreign.

Watching women’s faces light up after they fire their first arrow or confidently execute there first firearms shot is something that has always brought me great joy. Its defiantly why we “do what we do” as I like to say, but there is something much more deeper than that.  Shooting sports isn’t something we look forward to trying and then check it off the “I did that list.” An introduction into shooting sports changes lives!! Every time we open the trailer doors at a new location theirs at least one story that will bring tears to your eyes. A little dramatic you might think? How about a lady terminally ill who’s husband of 40 years has been trying all this time to get his wife into shooting sports. She gets a quick taste of shooting and wishes she had gone shooting with her husband years earlier and now wants to spend what time she has left shooting with him whenever possible. Or when we talk to a younger couple with small children who’s 5-year-old daughter is jumping with joy watching mom shoot. 

The old cliché “Its not personal, its business” does not apply here for me. I easily reach a personal connection with so many.  I have so many countless hours of family memories that have been created through hunting and shooting sports.  I can still remember the excitement on my husbands face when he surprised me with my first bow. He was so proud and so excited that I showed real interest in getting into the sport.  I knew this not by the words he said but by the big lights in his eyes. I relive that memory every time I talk about bows to a young couple. The excitement on the husbands face and lights in his eyes when his wife shoots her first arrow then turns and says, “ I have to have one of these.” Knowing that they both now have the ability to enter so many quality memories into their memory banks all because of the quick introduction into shooting sports.  We were able to play a big part in making memories in their lives, strengthening their personal relationships, and creating life long experiences.   For me “Shoot Like A Girl” is all that rolled into one big package.  Its empowering women to have the confidence to take shooting sports where ever the road takes them and all the wonderful memories it creates along the way.

Cristy Crawford is the Chief Operations Officer for Shoot Like A Girl. To read more about Cristy and other instructors, go to www.ShootLikeAGirl.com and click on Pro Staff. This article along with others like it can also be read at Scentblocker SOLA Shield In The Field: The Ultimate Outdoor "Girls Club."
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