Please purchase a subscription to read our premium content. If you have a subscription, please log in or sign up for an account on our website to continue.
Please log in, or sign up for a new account to continue reading.
Thank you for reading! We hope that you continue to enjoy our free content.
Welcome! We hope that you enjoy our free content.
Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribe purchase a subscription to continue reading.
Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribe purchase a subscription to continue reading.
Thank you for signing in! We hope that you continue to enjoy our free content.
Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading.
Please purchase a subscription to continue reading.
Your current subscription does not provide access to this content.
Sorry, no promotional deals were found matching that code.
Promotional Rates were found for your code.
Clear skies. Low 57F. Winds light and variable..
Clear skies. Low 57F. Winds light and variable.
U.S. Army Sgt. Sagen Maddalena, who grew up in Groveland and is a 2020 Olympian and a marksmanship instructor/competitive shooter for the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit, celebrates after winning the gold medal at the 2022 USA Shooting Rifle Nationals in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Maddalena (center) won the gold medal and national championship in the women's 50m three-position rifle at the 2022 USA Shooting Rifle Nationals in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The silver and bronze medals went to Katie Zuan (left) and Ginny Thrasher (right).
A banner across Highway 120 in downtown Groveland welcomes Groveland-raised sharpshooter and U.S. Army Sgt. Sagen Maddalena during a trip she took back home last year after competing in the 2020 Summer Olympics in Japan (which were held in summer 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic).
U.S. Army Sgt. Sagen Maddalena, who grew up in Groveland and is a 2020 Olympian and a marksmanship instructor/competitive shooter for the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit, celebrates after winning the gold medal at the 2022 USA Shooting Rifle Nationals in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Maddalena (center) won the gold medal and national championship in the women's 50m three-position rifle at the 2022 USA Shooting Rifle Nationals in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The silver and bronze medals went to Katie Zuan (left) and Ginny Thrasher (right).
A banner across Highway 120 in downtown Groveland welcomes Groveland-raised sharpshooter and U.S. Army Sgt. Sagen Maddalena during a trip she took back home last year after competing in the 2020 Summer Olympics in Japan (which were held in summer 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic).
When Sagen Maddalena stepped up to the line on the first day of qualifying rounds for the U.S. air rifle national championships, her eyes briefly wandered to the periphery of her vision, passing over the countless spectators whose eyes were intently fixed on her and the target.
“It wasn’t just me caught up in the moment, it was everyone else,” Maddalena said. “It was really cool.”
Maddalena, 28, who grew up in Groveland, hasn’t always had that level of recognition paid to her shooting, but now the whole world is watching. Maddalena won both rifle events at the 2022 USA Shooting Nationals, including 10-meter air rifle and 50-meter smallbore.
Part of the Army Marksmanship Unit based in Fort Benning, Georgia, Maddalena is also an enlisted soldier. She is very experienced on the rifle circuit — placing fifth at the Tokyo Olympics for the United States in the 50m three-position rifle, also known as smallbore, but these two wins mark Maddalena’s first-ever national titles in her many years of competition.
“Going through so many national championships and being so close so many times, getting second, this time I was so into the process, into the moment,” she said. “Just going through the things that I’ve been working on for these past couple of months, process-wise, within the shooting — the outcome of it wasn’t in the front of my mind.”
Maddalena said that in the air rifle event, the target isn’t far from the shooter, but it’s maddeningly small. Competitors aim to stack pellets essentially on top of one another within the very center of the target to achieve the maximum score.
“It’s the size of a period on a newspaper,” Maddalena said. That’s what we strive for, is to hit that every single time.”
After winning the 10m air rifle event, which was contested first, Maddalena turned her focus to the smallbore competition — her less-preferred event.
Maddalena fell in love with air rifle shooting in college, after growing up shooting .22 caliber rifles with her grandfather at the Mother Lode Gun Club in Jamestown. Maddalena would continue to shoot smallbore, but only to get to keep shooting air rifle, becoming an eight-time All American for the University of Alaska, Fairbanks.
But despite her love for the event, Maddalena says she actually performs better in competition shooting smallbore. She compares her relationship with both events to an Olympic runner spending their week sweating it out on the track, but heading to the woods on the weekend to run on trails — their real passion.
“We make it a joke (that) small bore is jealous because I love air gun more,” Maddalena said with a smile. “I seem to take more medals and perform better in small bore than I do in air gun. I just think it’s because (smallbore) is jealous and trying to prove to me that it’s worth my attention.”
Evidently, it’s working. Following a slow start in the beginning of the smallbore final, Maddalena wasn’t in great position, but once she got to her feet, the final position, she had a good series of five shots and started to smell blood in the water, winning the second of two events at the championships.
While it’s extremely uncommon for a competitor to win both air rifle and smallbore, Maddalena said that for her, part of the beauty of shooting comes from enjoying the differences between the two — the routine order of air rifle and the unpredictable chaos of smallbore.
“It seems very monotonous — for some people it’s like watching paint dry,” Maddalena laughed, when describing the 10m air rifle competition. “For someone like me who has been doing it for a long time, when you watch someone do it who is really connected, it’s almost like watching them dance.”
Smallbore, on the other hand, is usually contested in the elements, leaving shooters to make adjustments based on what nature throws at them.
“It’s held outside, so you have the conditions of wind, lighting, rain, sandstorms. I have been in a sandstorm before — that was epic,” Maddalena said. “That’s actually what I love about 50m rifle, is the fact that you are shooting outside in conditions where it could be 95 degrees with 100-percent humidity and you are still trying to take very quality shots.”
In a sport where ritual and routine are ubiquitous, Maddalena says her process is simple. She likes to take some time on her own, walking around the venue, to clear her head. Being in the moment is essential for Maddalena, who says focusing on the process, rather than the outcome, is always the best path to success.
“In the end, they’re competing with and against themselves. It’s all about, ‘How perfect can I be without being perfect?’” Maddalena said. “It’s really beautiful to watch.”
As she prepares for the ISSF World Shooting Championships in Cairo in October, Maddalena said she is excited for the chance to make finals and compete for medals. She feels particularly supported by the community of Groveland, her hometown, who has supported her on her competitive journey.
“Groveland is awesome. I love Groveland, man,” Maddalena said. “They are such a supportive community. Wherever you go, they know you.”
Contact Dominic Massimino at dmassimino@uniondemocrat.com or (209) 588-4526. Follow him on Twitter at @DominicUDSports
Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos.
Sorry, there are no recent results for popular commented articles.