Brookline Boy Has Junior Olympics in His Sights

Pen Hallowell has the Junior Olympics in Colorado Springs in sights. The 14-year-old is an expert-ranked trap shooter, but hasn’t been able to talk about his passion for fear of public reaction.

“This sport is not popular where I live or in my school. It isn’t popular because of the reputation guns have for shooting animals and people,” Pen wrote in an essay from last year on sport shooting.

Pen was first introduced to sport shooting at a young age. He wanted to go skeet shooting for his 12th birthday. It was here that the range monitor noticed that Pen was a naturally talented shot.

“I had only shot a gun two or three times before. That first time I went out, I thought I shot poorly. But I never knew what it was like to not hit a single clay,” Pen said. “I’m usually a mellow kid, so the movement was natural.”

Pen’s mother, Benedicte, introduced him to sport shooting. “ I watched Pen with water guns and so forth for over a year to see that he never aimed it at anyone or their face. I told him he was under review and that I needed to see if he could understand that he must never aim at anyone. I needed to know if he understood how serious it was and if he had the respect to bring on a range with others at age 12,” Benedicte said. Once Pen passed this test, he was permitted to try sports shooting.

Pen learned about the trap shooting team at Fins, Furs and Feathers in Millis, MA, and joined their team. Trap shooting involves five stations where the shooter is shooting at small, circular clay pigeons the size of saucer plates with a 12-gauge shotgun. Pen practices three or four hours every Saturday for five months. During his career, Pen has shot a personal best of 23 out of 25 pigeons during a shoot. He usually averages about 18.

Pen said that sport shooting is a mental game where the shooter has to block out the crowd and the activity around them. “During the Massachusetts State shoot events, you get a lot of people. Parking lots are full as far as the eye can see. It’s pretty nerve wracking. There is a judge and a puller and 25 to 50 people watching you. I try to block it all out and make it feel like I’m all by myself,” Penn said.

“I think about the clay, how I’m going to hit it. You try to block it all out and focus on the bird. This is a physical game because your brain has to tell your finger to pull the trigger, but it’s mostly it’s a mental sport.”

Pen said that his strategy is to bring himself to an inner calm. “I start off shooting poorly and work my way up,” Pen said. “I get a really bad score at the beginning and kick it up a notch. I get into a rhythm and it usually takes me some time to find it. Once I find it, I know how to do things after that. Most people start hot and die off. I never panic in the face of a bad score. I tell myself, ‘It happened.’”

He qualified for the Junior Olympics in Colorado Springs, CO, in June. His scores at the tryouts will allow him to compete against shooters from all over the country who have trained at similar clubs and have similar experience levels.

“There is so much that goes into shooting. You respect your coach and your equipment. You have to love your gun,” Pen said.

“At the beginning of every practice, you go through the three main rules: 1. Always keep the gun pointed in a safe direction. 2. Keep the action open or the barrel breaks open, unloaded unless you’re going to fire. 3. Finger off the trigger until ready to fire. Always show the broken barrel/empty shell holder to everyone. Don’t cover it up.” 

Pen said that there are significant differences between “the unneeded gun, the law enforcement gun and the sports shooting gun.”

“The law enforcement gun is very appropriate for law enforcement only,” Pen said. “For example, Newtown: That should not have happened. That man should not have been able to possess that gun because there is no reason for him to have it, or anything like it. As for sporting guns, it’s a sport, that’s what it’s made for the same way you’d use a Lacrosse stick or a baseball bat.” Pen said that he has no interest in hunting, though he is an avid fly fisher. “I do not want to kill animals,” Pen said. “I have no reason to kill them.”

Pen and his family have felt that his participation in sports shooting is not something they could openly talk about. They have been concerned with the reactions from the school and the neighbors as well as his friends and peers. Pen is the only member of his team from inside Route 128.

The Athletic Director at the Park School encouraged Pen to talk about it with the right people, and not to hide it. “Enough people have offered encouragement and out effort into supporting both Pen and this sport,” Benedicte said. “His respect for safety and the sport are immense. It has given him so much that we are O.K. talking about this.”

Pen will compete in the Junior Olympics in Colorado Springs on June 15 and 16.