Three former Georgia 4-H’ers are in Tokyo, representing the U.S. in the (finally here) 2021 Summer Olympic Games in shooting sports.
James Hall of Carroll County, Vincent Hancock of Putnam County, and Katelyn Abeln of Douglas County got their start in the Georgia 4-H Project SAFE shooting sports program. The program uses shooting sports to teach life skills and firearm safety to students, as well as teaching teamwork and community lessons.
“The skills these students acquire are irreplaceable,” Faye Belflower, the volunteer air-pistol coach for Georgia 4-H, told the University of Georgia. “Of course they learn about safety, but they develop soft skills such as communication and goal setting. Having this development at a young age lays a foundation for future success for Project SAFE participants.”
Hall is on the U.S. National Team in air pistol. While Hall’s mother was anti-gun growing up, she wanted her children to learn about firearm safety, so she signed them up for the Georgia 4-H Project SAFE.
“She ended up being a 4-H coach and sent three of her four boys off to college on athletic/academic scholarships for shooting,” said Hall, now the director of development for the Scholastic Shooting Sports Foundation.
Hancock is returning to the range for the men’s skeet shotgun competition. Now a resident of Fort Worth, Texas, he has previously won two Olympic gold medals, as well as a silver medal in men’s skeet and a gold in the skeet mixed team last month at the International Shooting Sport Federation World Cup in Italy.
“And as a small-town Georgia boy, who never thought he would ever really leave the Southeast, traveling all over and talking to different people and experiencing different cultures, I am very thankful that I had what I had to be able to do what I am doing now,” Hancock said.
Abeln is a second-year student at The Ohio State University, and an alternate for the UGA women’s sport and air pistol team on the National Junior Team. She won the women’s division of the National Junior Olympic Air Pistol Championship last month.
