What do tennis, hockey, baseball and rifle shooting have in common?
“In every one of those sports, we use a piece of sporting equipment — be it a racket, a stick or a baseball bat — to propel a projectile to an intended target,” Keith Hein said. “And if you think about shooting, that’s all we’re doing.”
The difference is that no one is asked to stand between the projectile and the target, he joked.
Hein is the program director of the John and Marnie Demmer Shooting Sports Education and Training Center. The center has indoor archery and firearms ranges and meeting rooms for range safety briefings and introductory classes.
Hein is responsible for training the range safety officers and instructors and developing standard procedures for how the facility is operated and inspected. He ensures that the indoor firearms ranges are properly ventilated to prevent smoke and lead particles from bullets from being inhaled. The ranges, which must be cleaned regularly, are airtight rooms sealed off from the rest of the facility to prevent contamination.
Hein’s goal is to provide a safe and comfortable learning environment for everyone to participate, including families, the MSU Rifle and Pistol Team, MSU Archery Team, people who have never participated before and those who wish to participate competitively.
“We had a gentleman come in for his 86th or 87th birthday with three generations of his family,” he said. “They came and shot rifles that day with him. That was fun to watch.”
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