FORT A.P. HILL, Virginia, (August 4, 2010) – Ask any scout at the 2010 National Jamboree about his favorite activity and you’ll get a virtually unanimous answer, shooting. At this year’s 100th Anniversary Jamboree, airgun shooting is the domain of Crosman Corporation. Long known for innovation and quality in the shooting sports, Crosman began working with the Boy Scouts of America in the 1980s as a provider of airguns and advisors for their shooting programs.

Says Crosman’s shooting services prostaffer, Bob Soldivera, “The 100th Anniversary, 2010 National Scout Jamboree has been the high point of nearly thirty years of work. Since the 1980s, when scouts learn to shoot, they’ve often done it with a Crosman airgun,” said Soldivera. The guiding principal of all Crosman’s work with Scouting is a mutual commitment to providing a safe, supervised shooting environment while making shooting accessible to scouts.

According to Soldivera, “The shooting events at the National Scout Jamboree remain ever-popular. Since shooting in our country is typically conducted at an event or is often only an occasional activity for kids, the opportunities they have to learn safe shooting are limited and shrinking,” said Soldivera. “Not only did scouts learn how to shoot safely at this and other Jamborees, they were sufficiently excited to come back to the air rifle shooting venues over and over again. It truly becomes a lifetime sport for them.”

One shooting activity commonly revisited by scouts was the Crosman Bikathlon. This shooting and cycling event has been a mainstay of this and past National Jamborees. “The Bikathlon requires scouts to ride a bicycle along a timed course, stopping to shoot a Crosman air rifle at a target, and then continuing on the bike to the finish line. While speed on the course is important, accuracy on the range makes all the difference for the competitors,” said Soldivera. “The great thing about the Bikathlon is that it can be set up in a parking lot as easily as it can be placed in the woods. This Jamboree afforded more than 23,000 scouts a chance to learn about shooting safely in a relatively short period of time. The 2010 National Jamboree had four Bikathlon courses that were constantly busy.

Other Jamboree shooting venues using Crosman air rifles included air rifle ranges at the four Action Centers which put through about 22,000 shooters, the Exploring and Venturing air rifle ranges that handled about 18,000 shooters, and the Boy’s Life range with about 12,000 shooters. Said Soldivera, “Over 1,000,000 Crosman pellets were shot during the Jamboree. That’s a lot of smiling scouts.”

The 30-year partnership of Crosman and Scouting has fostered shooting as a lifetime sport. In fact, in January of 2010, the Boy Scouts of America received the prestigious Crosman Friend of Youth Shooting Award, presented annually to “an organization or individual whose commitment to excellence in youth shooter education and dedication to a lifetime of safe shooting, has enhanced the future of the sport.”