December 7, 2011

Chavis Named MAC Air Rifle Shooter of the Month

Philadelphia, Pa. (December 7, 2011) - University of the Sciences sophomore  Shakira Chavis (Bensalem High School/ Bensalem, Pa.) has been named the Mid Atlantic Rifle Conference (MAC) Air Rifle Shooter of the month for the month of November 2011 as announced today by the conference. 

Chavis is the sixth shooter from USciences to earn this honor since the award’s inception in 2008.  Previous winners include Courtney Cavalieri (Smallbore, February 2009); Hannah Goess (Smallbore, November 2008); Deborah Booth (Air Rifle, October 2008), Brad Driscoll (Smallbore, November, 2010) and Nicole Churchill (Air Rifle, February, 2011). The award was created in 2008 and honors two shooters (one smallbore, one air) each month. The award is not necessarily based on the highest scores fired that month but to award outstanding performances (personal bests, recording scores well above season averages, gritty performances despite extraneous duress, etc), leadership, work ethic, classroom work and community service. 

Currently Shakira is in her 3rd year as a Doctorate of Pharmacy student-athlete who is currently holding down a 3.39 cumulative GPA. Besides her participation on the team, the Bensalem, PA native is active in the USciences Black Student Union on campus. Shakira is another one of that long line of students that found out that she had an interest in rifle after taking the three week mandatory physical education marksmanship class. After red shirting and training the rest of her freshman year she found that she had made the right decision. Her second year (her first year of eligibility and competition) she “paid her dues” as most young inexperienced do, but never missed an opportunity to compete.

During the 2011-2012 season she has been improving each match. In the month of November she shot a 536 at Akron (a career high) followed by a 528 against John Jay and then another career high of 541 against Wentworth. Currently she is averaging 523.57 in seven shoulder-to shoulder matches. Former USciences head coach Paul Klimitas stated “Shakira is just fun to coach. She listens to everything that you say – and if you have shooters that listen to what you say – and there is ‘buy-in’ – the coaching is so much easier.” Current coach Pete Dalidowicz is not surprised with her progress. “Shakira works hard for every hold and every shot – it’s always fun to watch young shooters when the light bulb goes on and they see the pay back for their hard work when they see their scores go up.”