Robertsdale High School (RHS) hosted 159 students representing 20 schools at its annual Battle of the Gulf air rifle match for regional Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (JROTC) groups the weekend of Jan. 9.

Lt. Commander Frank Starr, who teaches Navy JROTC at Robertsdale, said his team was the only one to compete at the Precision Class level, so essentially they just had to “shoot against ourselves.” All other participants shot in the Sporter Class level.

In the Sporter Cass, the gold medal went to a Navy unit from Picayune, Mississippi. In second place was a Marine Corps JROTC group from Mandeville, Louisiana, and in third place was a Pace, Florida, school’s Navy shooters. In fourth and fifth place were Navy units from Pascagoula, Mississippi, and Slidell, Louisiana, respectively.

The 37 Sporter Class teams traveled to Robertsdale from Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana and other Alabama schools — including Daphne High School — to compete in the shoulder-to-shoulder air rifle match, where shooters stand side by side and are separated from teammates.

Starr said a shoulder-to-shoulder match is often considered a tougher environment.

“Because now you’ve got kids right next to you that you don’t know, and you’re wondering what they think of you, or maybe some cute little girl or guy catches your eye, or somebody’s parent is in the stands watching when nobody ever watches you practice,” he said. “The environment is different. It’s a lot more stressful.”

Shooting competitions, and the sport in general, requires mental focus and control. Starr said it’s important for shooters to remain calm and levelheaded.

A rigorous safety course on gun use is required for students before they can even try out for the team.

“It takes a different kind of athlete,” he said.

Certain body types are not particularly beneficial to the sport, as shooters don’t have to be a "bulky football guy.” Girls typically dominate the sport, Starr said.

This is the fourth year Robertsdale has competed with a shooter team, which is also made up of some Elberta High School students. The team has progressively placed higher at regional competitions and has won the state championship the past two years.

Upcoming competitions for Robertsdale include one in Anniston on Jan. 16, and a few students will be going to Helena on Jan. 24 to a competition that is “pretty hard to qualify” for, in which students take 60 shots while standing — the hardest position to shoot in. Later in February is the national Navy JROTC championship in Missouri, and the state championship is in March.

Starr said the school plans to continue to host an air rifle shooting match at the beginning of each spring semester, especially as schools are interested in visiting Baldwin County.

But despite the white sand beaches or local attractions like USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park, schools seem to keep attending Robertsdale-hosted competitions for one thing.

“You know what the biggest draw is for coming here I think? I hear this from school after school, year after year: they want to go to Buc-ee’s,” Starr said.

He knows one school that drives by two other Buc-ee’s on the way to Robertsdale and still visits the one where I-10 meets the Baldwin Beach Express.