Clarke Central High School JROTC Senior Army Instructor First Sergeant Antoine Clark poses with a rifle in the JROTC building on Feb 27. The CCHS riflery team was reintroduced during the 2024-25 school year after being first founded in 1963, and CCHS junior Ezra Long, who joined when he was a sophomore, has benefited from the team. “(I hope) that what I’ve learned (in riflery) will help me stay steady and keep a calm mindset,” Long said. “(I will) treasure all the skills that I’ve learned through practice and a safe environment, (which) will transfer into a real-life scenario.” Photo by Maypop Wren
The CCHS riflery team, which was reintroduced during the 2024-25 school year, provides students with the opportunity to learn rifle safety and attend competitions.
As a technical skill and three-position sport that is an official part of the Georgia High School Association, the Clarke Central High School riflery team teaches members how to properly handle rifles and hone their shooting skills.
The original riflery team was founded in 1963, but later disbanded until JROTC Senior Army Instructor First Sergeant Antoine Clarke reintroduced it in the 2024-25 school year after JROTC cadets expressed interest in a space to use marksmanship training outside of the JROTC class. Any CCHS student, including those not in JROTC, can join the team.
“(CCHS) just never fielded (another) team (until I came to CCHS seven years ago) because it’s a (GHSA) sport, so there’s a lot of guidelines, rules and regulations that (the team) must abide by,” Clark said. “(But) once we had everything in place, we said, ‘Hey, why not make it official?’”
“I joined the (team) because I want to go into active service. I wanted to make sure that I would already be trained on how to be safe while utilizing a rifle.’”
— Ezra Long,
CCHS junior
In reviving the team, Clark is hoping to expand the program, have more students try the sport and develop the skills required for students to perform in riflery competitions. Currently, the team has four members.
“We teach (safe handling of rifles) because there could be an instance where you’re at a friend’s house and they have firearms laying around,” Clark said. “We teach (students) the safety of rifle marksmanship, (so they) know to treat every weapon as if it’s loaded. (They) know not to ever, under any circumstances, point that weapon at anyone.”
A graphic indicates the three standard shooting positions in riflery competitions: standing, kneeling and prone. The Clarke Central High School JROTC riflery team competed in many competitions during the 2025-26 school year, all of which included shooting at a 10-millimeter target in each pose. “(If the school has it), there is a computer that will grade (the competitors), and then it will add (the scores) from all three positions,” CCHS riflery member Ezra Long, a junior, said. “We take the four highest scores from each team, because each team will usually have five shooters, and then add them up against the other teams, and (the) team (that) has the highest score is the winner.” Graphic by Andréas Dillies
During riflery competitions, up to five team members participate in three rounds shooting at a 10-millimeter target in standing, kneeling and prone positions. The judges determine the winner by taking the top four scores from each school.
For CCHS riflery team member Ezra Long, a junior, who joined the team during the 2024-25 school year, his participation allows him and his teammates to apply their marksmanship skills in a competitive, rewarding environment beyond JROTC’s general standards.
“Marksmanship and rifle safety is something a lot of people need to learn. We recently had a class (in JROTC) about rifles, and a lot of cadets said that they have handled rifles, but when they were actually handling them, they were not handling them (safely),” Long said. “I joined the (team) because I want to go into active service. I wanted to make sure that I would already be trained on how to be safe while utilizing a rifle.”
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