The sport of precision air rifle shooting hasn’t just been a way for Redmond High School junior Destiny Ambrose to attend competitions. She sees it as an important part of life.

“It’s kind of like my therapy,” Destiny, 16, said. “As soon as I step out there, it’s not about what happened at school or what’s happening at home. It’s about me and that rifle — I’m not thinking about anything else that happened. I’m thinking about that one perfect shot.”

Destiny’s shooting brought her to the Feb. 12-14 national Junior ROTC competition in Provo, Utah, where she finished 32nd in the country, in the field of 51.

Destiny joined the Marine Corps JROTC after moving to Redmond from Salem her freshman year because she admired an uncle who served in the Army, she said. The program made a major difference in her life.

“The class taught me how life really works,” she said. “It taught me leadership skills. It improved my life so much — it’s kind of a big family rather than a team.”

Retired Master Gunnery Sgt. Michael Trammel, Redmond’s JROTC teacher, has noticed the improvement in traits like self confidence since Destiny started in the program.

“Her improvement the last couple years has been tremendous,” he said. “For her, personally, her grades have skyrocketed. Most of the (school) staff knows she has made tremendous personal improvement.”

JROTC also brought Destiny to the sport of air rifle.

“I wouldn’t have any of this experience without JROTC,” she said. “Prior to JROTC, I didn’t really know this was a sport.”

Destiny decided to join JROTC’s marksmanship team two years ago. She started with lighter-weight sporter air rifles and moved to the more elaborate precision rifle six months ago.

The trip to Utah was a new experience for Destiny. She had to go through a gear check after the 13-hour drive, where the platform on her shoe was found to be a millimeter too long to meet the stringent requirements for the competition. The problem was solved — rather humorously — by her coach going outside and scraping the shoe on the sidewalk to wear it down.

“It was kind of nerve-racking, being my first competition,” she said. “I didn’t know how everything works, so I had to follow everybody else.”

Destiny wasn’t feeling well as the competition started Feb. 13 and felt worse after having points deducted when she accidentally pulled the trigger on her rifle too soon.

“If you lightly tap the trigger, it goes off,” she said.

But she recovered and had a satisfying score of 552 out of 600 possible points, she said.

“I think most people would have collapsed after that,” she said. “I told myself, ‘I trained for this; I can bring myself back.’”

She scored 560 on the second and final official day of competition.

“I was definitely a lot more calm,” she said. “I told myself one of the worst things that happened already happened.”

Beyond the competition, Destiny got to meet new people from across the country. She was positioned next to a boy from Alaska.

“It was cool to hear everybody’s stories about the dedication and commitment they have to make for the sport,” Destiny said.

People weren’t surprised to see a girl at the competition, since girls are typically better shots than boys, Destiny said. She did say it was unusual to see someone from Redmond as the only representative from Oregon.

Destiny has long wanted to join the military but is now deciding whether to attend college first. She is considering going to college because of possible rifle scholarships, but she might still join the Marine Corps first to earn money for her studies.

Destiny still wants to do more in her high school shooting career. She was scheduled to take part in another competition in Salem on Feb. 20 and will go to Yakima, Washington, to compete next weekend. She will return to Provo for a regional competition in the spring.

Ambrose practices 2½ hours a day, three days a week. She said her role as team captain will be crucial next year, after her coach, Lt. Col. Robert Wendel, who is already retired from the Marine Corps, will also retire from teaching.

Trammel will coach the marksmanship team, along with volunteer coach Mark Ferro.

“It’s kind of my duty to introduce the new coach,” she said.

— Reporter: 541-548-2186, gfolsom@redmondspokesman.com