Athletic Director Tom Kleinlein announced that women’s rifling will be added as a Georgia Southern University varsity sport in the 2013-2014 season.

The women’s rifling team will use the shooting range behind the Recreational Activity Center until the Georgia Southern Shooting Education Center is complete in the fall of 2014. This facility will be 20,000-25,000 square-feet and will host indoor firing ranges and archery as well as outdoor archery, according to the news release

This 16th collegiate sport addition was necessary for the upcoming move to the FBS. Kleinlein also acknowledges that the addition of more female scholarship opportunities is positive for GSU.

Master Sgt. Tim Parks has been designated as the first head coach, and tryouts for the women’s rifling team will be held on May 1 from 3-6 p.m. at the shooting range behind the RAC.

The first competition the women’s rifling team will be a part of is the Air Rifle discipline. The women will be using .177caliber pellet 10 meters away from 40 targets. The shooter gets one shot per target and will be scored from 1-10, with a perfect score being 600.

The five declared shooters will get a total of one hour and 15 minutes to complete all of their targets. The four best shooters’ scores will be counted and totaled for the team’s overall score.

Other schools that have women’s rifling as a varsity sport in the Southeast are The Citadel, the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the University of Mississippi. Wofford College, North Carolina State University and the University of Kentucky also have rifling teams, but these teams are coed.

All female students interested in trying out will need to bring a physical signed by a physician within the last six months and proof of medical insurance. Senior Woman Administrator Cathy Beene can be contacted for more information via her GSU email.