Kuper represents Nebraska at 4-H Shooting Sports Nationals
By Samantha Goff
Grant Tribune-Sentinel
Receiving a flyer at school several years ago changed the course of the Kuper family’s lives, as a family of course, but in particular, their 14 year old son Koltyn.
Ryan Kuper and his wife Jamie received a flyer sent home from school about joining the 4-H shooting sports club in Ogallala and thought their son Koltyn, then a 4th grader, might enjoy trying it out. Fast forward to 2025 and Koltyn is still participating in 4-H shooting sports, and in June, he got the chance to shoot at the National 4-H Shooting Sports.
After joining the club and enjoying his time as a member of the Keith County Sharp Shooters in Ogallala, a few years ago Koltyn decided he’d like to try traveling to other meets within the Panhandles’ Best League.
Koltyn has traveled to meets throughout the panhandle for three years now. He has branched out to other meets this past year and he explained that things started to get exciting for him at Pressy which is a Game Fish and Parks match, and he said that is where the talks of going to nationals started.
With the support of his parents, the rifle team coach Dave Thomsen and other club ambassadors, Koltyn made his way to Nationals this year, something he says he knows is shaping him into who he will be in the future.
Making the team for state wasn’t easy either, he said. “I don’t even know how many people were there, but it was quite a few!” Kuper said the tryouts were held in Grand Island, where he shot all three disciplines, and his combined scores put him in the top four.
All members that ended up on the rifle team with Koltyn were from the Panhandle’s Best league except for one. “The Panhandle represented Nebraska well at Nationals,” Jamie Kuper, Koltyn’s mom, said.
The 4-H Shooting Sports Nationals are held each year at the end of June in Grand Island, Nebraska. During the event, held at the Heartland Public Shooting Park, 4-H youth from across the country compete in what are known as “disciplines. They include: compound archery, recurve archery, air rifle, air pistol, .22 rifle, .22 pistol, shotgun, muzzleloading, and hunting skills.
Koltyn competed in the .22 rifle this year, where he took 26th overall and said, “this was just an experience run for when I do air rifle in two or three years, so I’ll be more prepared for Nationals.”
Of the experience and what it felt to compete with other athletes of that caliber he said, “I’ve competed in a lot of matches, and I always have high expectations for myself, and I do get nervous,” but he reminds himself, “it’s just shooting” he said.
Koltyn hopes to go back again, though he explained you can only go for each discipline one time, so “In the future I want to go for air rifle for sure, next year we are thinking about trying out for bow or pistol,” he said.
He said he wants the world to understand that the stigma around “shooting” isn’t what the 4-H group is about. “Shooting isn’t ‘bad’ as the world wants to make it, it actually helps with multiple areas in life. Since I’ve joined, I’ve improved in my communication, focus and discipline. A lot of your life skills, and I think that’s what 4-H is about. It’s not about making a great competitor, its about making a great young adult, which is exactly what I’m getting out of shooting.”
When asked what advice he would give to youth interested in the sport, he said, “It all starts at a small level, like I started with BB guns, and then I ended up getting into all this,” and added, “Contact your local clubs who are into shooting, like the Platte Valley Sharp Shooters.” Kuper explained that is the closest place for him to travel to be a part of a club. There are hopes of starting a club locally, but the group has yet to find a location suitable for practicing that will allow the group in.
Koltyn said he hopes someday in the future, Perkins County will have a shooting team of their own, and he said “I’m not stopping this sport any time soon and appreciate the support I get from our community.”
For now, practices are held in Keith County on Monday nights through the winter with Platte Valley Sharp Shooters and Koltyn said he practices in his basement or wherever he can around home also.
Next year he said he plans to be an ambassador. The ambassador program is dedicated to developing leadership skills while providing an opportunity for youth to assist in the betterment of the Nebraska 4-H Shooting Sports program. The ambassador program at Nationals is open to youth ages 14-18 who are enrolled in the 4-H Shooting Sports projects, according to the 4-H website. Locally, anyone 8 years and older can join the Platte Valley Sharp Shooters 4-H club in Ogallala.
“I’m already a junior instructor for rifle, so when I turn 18 I can take the recertification to be a registered instructor,” and he hopes to do that and someday be a certified instructor in Nebraska.
Coming into his freshman year at Perkins County Schools, Koltyn said he’s looking forward to the shooting competition at the fair next week, playing football this upcoming school year, and continuing practice and competition to grow in the 4-H Shooting Sports Program.
About the 4-H Shooting Sports Program
The focus of all 4-H programs is the development of youth as individuals and as responsible and productive citizens. The 4-H Shooting Sports Program stands out as an example. Youth learn marksmanship, the safe and responsible use of firearms, the principles of hunting and archery, and much more. The activities of the program and the support of caring adult leaders provide young people with opportunities to develop life skills, self-worth, and conservation ethics.
The focus of the Nebraska 4-H Shooting Sports programs are the total development of the 4-H member. The shooting sports and related natural resource activities are utilized as a vehicle for human growth and development. It uses the skills and disciplines of shooting to assist young people and their leaders in obtaining knowledge and developing skills. Development of skills within the discipline of shooting and life skills is implicit in the program curriculum and explicitly stated for volunteers. 4-H Shooting Sports promotes positive youth-adult interaction and peer leadership.