An atmosphere of boisterous camaraderie filled the van of Seattle University Marksmanship Club members on its way to the Interlake Sporting Association. The students chose a crisp, chilly November afternoon to hold their final session of the quarter. Instead of gathering for a typical open shoot day, wherein newcomers may join their ranks and travel with them to the a range in Renton, the Marksmanship Club members in attendance would soon take part in a competition meant to test their skill and accuracy with a longrifle.

Founded in 1983, the group will celebrate its 30th anniversary in 2013. Almost three decades later, the club's current members remain as committed to learning about how to properly handle and fire rifles, pistols and shotguns as the founding students of the 1980s.

"The Marksmanship Club focuses more on the sport of shooting guns," said junior Kyle Vanderstoep, the group's transportation secretary. "It's very much about being accurate."

Each new attendee participates in a safety course taught by the club's faculty advisor, associate English professor Andrew Tadie, before they may handle a gun.

"[The safety course] includes a lot of information you should know about the basics," said Ana Garza Granados, who joined the Marksmanship Club last year. "Hopefully the more [Tadie] says, the more you'll absorb."

Once on the shooting range, every member must abide by the safety guidelines.

"We have a set of rules we need to follow to make sure everyone on the range is comfortable with us," said senior Kelvin Luu, one of the club's co-presidents. "These are very dangerous weapons, and if you're doing something that's making other people on the range uncomfortable, nobody is going to be happy with you."

Many members join for the opportunity to learn how to shoot and discover that the sport teaches them patience and discipline.

"If you rush your shots, you miss everything, so you have to slow down, concentrate, focus, block out everything around you," said sophomore computer science major Brendan Miller, who also serves as the club's publicity officer. "It's a great way to learn how to focus on one small point... and you also have to learn how to be centered and balanced."

Miller's centeredness and balance served him well during the day's competition.

After arriving at the Interlake Sporting Association and mixing some hot chocolate in the facility's clubhouse, the Marksmanship Club members in attendance headed down a steep slope to one of the forested shooting ranges. Redmond's City Hall sits on the other side of the range's woods, so to prevent bullets from traveling into the neighboring city, the targets hung in front of a giant mound of dirt.

For the sake of the competition, three club members would shoot at the same time, each aiming for their three respective fist-sized balloons. If they succeeded in hitting all three balloons, they would aim for a bright orange clay pigeon. The first person to shoot the clay pigeon won the round.

Miller managed to complete the feat twice: once in an initial round and then again in a run-off competition with two other round winners.

The members of the Marksmanship Club varied in their responses when asked if they felt there was a stigma associated with belonging to a shooting club.

"A lot of my friends have raised their eyebrows, especially when they've heard that I'm the president of Markmenship Club," Luu said. "But then they say, ‘I see how that can work.'"

When his friends express a deep fear of guns, Luu recommends that they come out for a shoot to familiarize themselves with how to use the weapons. He has found that often a better understanding of firearms can help people be less afraid of them and their function.

Throughout his tenure as the faculty sponsor for Marksmanship Club, Tadie has helped the club to grow and overcome challenges. Several years ago, the Interlake Sporting Association, which makes traveling to a shooting range affordable for the club, shut down for a year and Tadie struggled to find another area that could accommodate the group. Eventually he arranged a deal with an outdoor range in Renton that allowed the Marksmanship Club to continue.

Tadie said he's always been surprised out how supportive the university has been of the club.

"Since 1983, the person I've had to deal with in Recreational Sports has been fully supportive, to a point that just amazes me," he said.

The club will hold its first pistol and rifle shoot of winter quarter on Jan. 6. In the upcoming year the Marksmanship Club's officers also hope they can begin to assemble a trap shooting team.

Sam may be reached at skettering@su-spectator.com