PINE COUNTY, Minn. (Northern News Now) – A local small-town teen has been taking the shooting competition scene by storm lately, and his success is now sending him to international competitions.
Varick Beise has been shooting guns for competition since he was 12- years-old, now at 18-years-old his passion for the sport and community has only grown.
“So, I kind of got hooked then and I’ve been shooting ever since, this will be my sixth season of shooting and it’s kind of spiraled out of control from where I was going to one local match here and there to now, I’m traveling and shooting 20 plus major matches a year,” says Beise.
Beise was recently in Thailand for the World Shotgun Competition where he placed 5th in the men’s open section and top junior in the entire match out of nearly 700 competitors from 40 countries.
And while the competitors around him battle to be the best they have also become a tight-knit family over time.
“I don’t think when I started, I had any less than 10 mentors at a match that were always willing to help me out, my family has been great in that too, my dad has helped me with shooting and my mom is always there supporting me,” says Beise.
And it’s true, Beise’s family has been by his side since the very beginning.
“It went from him and I going together and shooting and just having fun, to where I kind of became I guess you’d say more of a caddy. He still does his thing but I’m there as just support, and you know typical dad stuff like hey did you remember this, this, and this, he manages it very well,” says Luke Beise, Varick’s dad.
But it’s not just about managing the competitions, Beise often attends memorial events for fallen special forces operators and shoots at matches in their honor.
“It’s the only time I’ve ever been in a room with 450 grown men crying,” says Beise.
The competitive shooting scene is often made up of former military personnel who become mentors within the field, perhaps a clue as to why this sport hits the target for so many.
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Source: Local teen competing in shooting competitions around the world
