Southern Scribes: From Nentershausen to the NCAA Rifle Championship
3/7/2024 12:30:00 PM | Women's Rifle
Learn more about rifle team sophomore Emma Pohlmann and her impressive 2023-24 performance
STATESBORO - Like most sports, there are many different ways to get started in rifle shooting. From clubs to safety courses to high school teams, everyone has a slightly different experience getting into this sport. For Emma Pohlmann, this experience began at the German equivalent of a fair.
Emma is from Nentershausen, a smaller town in Northeastern Germany. She attended a small village party—or fair—and went to play a shooting game where you could win prizes. She liked the game and decided to join a shooting club.
"I went to it because in my village, we have little village parties, like fairs, and I was shooting at one of these," Emma explained. "I kind of liked it, so I started in a club. I didn't shoot any competitions in my first year; I think I started shooting competitions after about one and a half years."
Once Emma finally did start competing in the sport she excelled quickly. She qualified for the German National Championship and, because of this, was able to join the State Team. She continued to grow after joining this team, in no small part because of the support and effort of her coaches. She has been working with Luc Dingerdissen since she first joined the State Team in Germany and, after her first year began working with new head coach Bill Murray. Both of these coaches were international level athletes themselves.
"When I came into the state team, I was practicing with Luc Dingerdissen," she said. "He was my coach since the first day. He taught me all the important things about shooting. Without him, I wouldn't be here because he helped me a lot in the process. He was talking a lot to [Georgia Southern head coach] Soren [Butler] and helping me get here. Our head coach changed after my first year on the team, and I got Bill Murray as my head coach. He also helped me a lot. They're both really proud of me for being here. Also, fun fact, Luc and I, he was my coach, but the last year we shot together as teammates in Bundesliga, which was pretty fun."
The Bundesliga is a popular shooting league based in Germany. The league consists of 40-shot, head-to-head air rifle matches, where teams earn points for winning their one-on-one matchups. Emma believes this type of competition has prepared her for collegiate competition and allowed her to deal with nerves and stress. Bundesliga is very spectator-heavy, and people are not afraid to be loud and cheer during competitions.
Two years ago, Emma started exploring the possibility of coming to America to compete in NCAA rifle. She had talked with two former NCAA athletes, David Koenders and Henri Junghänel. David was a member of the West Virginia University rifle team, a multiple-time All-American, and CoSIDA academic honoree. David now competes at the international level for Germany. Henri graduated from the University of Kentucky in 2013. He was a vital member of their rifle program and went on to win the Olympic Gold in 50m prone for Germany in 2016. These two men gave Emma advice and information on what it is like to shoot in the NCAA and what you can get out of the experience. She decided that coming to the U.S. was something she wanted to do.
"Two years ago, I was talking to David and Henri," Emma said. "Henri told me about his experience here in the U.S. So, I was looking into how I could do that and if I could do it. I applied to some universities here, and David helped me a little bit in the process. He was telling me things about West Virginia and what he liked about college shooting and everything."
As she went through the process, Emma applied to several schools. Late in the 2023 spring semester, she visited Georgia Southern, which was the deciding factor in her decision to compete in the NCAA.
"I think I picked Georgia Southern because when I was here for my visit, I really liked the coach," she said. "I also really liked the campus and the weather here. It was really nice; I like the warmth. Soren seemed to know a lot about shooting and like he could help me a lot. And this was really important for me: to improve my shooting."
Since arriving in Statesboro, Emma has made her mark on the Georgia Southern rifle program. She left no stone unturned, breaking school record after school record. Emma is the owner of the smallbore and aggregate school records and has tied the air rifle school record of a 599, just one point off perfection. She led the team to a record-shattering 4,738 team mark at Murray State University earlier this semester, where she shot an aggregate record that she later broke.
Emma's dominance did not end in the regular season. At the SoCon Rifle Championships last weekend, Emma claimed individual titles in both smallbore and air rifle, earned first-team all-conference honors in both disciplines, and was named the Southern Conference Air Rifle and Smallbore Athlete of the Year.
Despite all of these incredible accomplishments, winning was not Emma's favorite memory from this season. Traveling to different places with her team was the highlight of the season for her.
"I think our traveling competitions," Emma said when asked about her favorite experience. "I really liked Winter Air Gun. It's not an official competition in our season, but it was a pretty fun competition for me in the U.S., and I did pretty well. There were also some new shooters to see and meet, some newcomers, and some other shooters from teams we don't get to compete against. In general, I think our competitions in Murray were really good, and I liked the competition in Nebraska as well."
After all of this, you could ask, what is left for Emma Pohlmann?
Well, on Feb. 17 at the NCAA Qualifier, Emma shot an air rifle mark of 595, earning herself a ticket to the NCAA Championships in Morgantown, West Virginia. Emma will compete on Saturday for a chance at a national title.
We asked Emma what her experience has been like going from finding out that the team missed the qualification mark by a very small margin to learning she would be taking on Morgantown as an individual.
"So, first, I was really sad that we didn't qualify as a team," Emma revealed. "I think all of us were really down, and I think everybody was also kind of sad and frustrated. And that we also only missed it by 0.3 points, that was really frustrating. I don't know. I was also kind of questioning myself—if it was my fault. I was really not expecting to qualify on my own. I also didn't watch when they released the names, and then Soren texted me. I was in class, and I saw the message. I was really happy. I am still sad that we're not going as a team because I think going alone is a little bit harder, and I don't know anyone there, so it's going to be a little bit tough. I'm really excited about going, and I think it's a fun experience and also an experience I can learn a lot from."
As she was preparing for the SoCon Championships and NCAAs, Emma had one more surprise in store before she traveled to West Virginia. She found out that her parents and her twin sister were planning to fly all the way from Germany to watch her compete in the NCAA Championship.
"It was really unexpected," Emma admitted. "I didn't think that they would want to fly for three days. It's a really short time. I'm really excited to see them. It's been three months now since I saw them. It's kind of fun to see them again and talk to them, and I'm really excited that they're coming. This is their second time seeing me in college shooting."
As she prepares for the biggest competition in NCAA rifle, we asked Emma what she was thinking about competing at this level. She put the match in perspective of her larger goals and embraced the challenge of trying to make the final (top 8).
"In general, I would say this match is not my most important match this year. It is still important to me, but if I win, nothing happens, and if I lose, nothing happens. I hope I just go there, have a good time, spend time with my family, and also have a good match. I want to shoot the match the way I want to and have a good performance. My goal would be to qualify for the final, I hope I do, but we will see."
You might think there is no way that the NCAA Championships wouldn't be the biggest match of the year, but Emma has bigger goals than becoming the National Champion.
After she competes at the NCAAs, Emma will take a short break before going right back to training for another match in the summer: the German National Team Qualifications.
Emma has tried to qualify for the team for the last three years but has fallen short. This year she has been working hard to improve her shooting skills and hopes to have a solid shot at making the German National Team this coming July.
"Yeah, I am practicing for the qualification for the National Team," she told us. "I hope I'm going to make it this year. It's two tournaments in July that are four days each."
Although her experience thus far at Georgia Southern hasn't been exactly what she expected, Emma has been able to excel both in sports and in the classroom and will forever have her mark on the Georgia Southern record books … and she's only a sophomore.
Tune into the live feed of the NCAA Rifle Championships on March 8-9 to watch Emma compete!
Addy Burrow is an All-American on the Eagles' nationally ranked rifle team who is pursuing a Master's degree in professional communication.
Emma is from Nentershausen, a smaller town in Northeastern Germany. She attended a small village party—or fair—and went to play a shooting game where you could win prizes. She liked the game and decided to join a shooting club.
"I went to it because in my village, we have little village parties, like fairs, and I was shooting at one of these," Emma explained. "I kind of liked it, so I started in a club. I didn't shoot any competitions in my first year; I think I started shooting competitions after about one and a half years."
Once Emma finally did start competing in the sport she excelled quickly. She qualified for the German National Championship and, because of this, was able to join the State Team. She continued to grow after joining this team, in no small part because of the support and effort of her coaches. She has been working with Luc Dingerdissen since she first joined the State Team in Germany and, after her first year began working with new head coach Bill Murray. Both of these coaches were international level athletes themselves.
"When I came into the state team, I was practicing with Luc Dingerdissen," she said. "He was my coach since the first day. He taught me all the important things about shooting. Without him, I wouldn't be here because he helped me a lot in the process. He was talking a lot to [Georgia Southern head coach] Soren [Butler] and helping me get here. Our head coach changed after my first year on the team, and I got Bill Murray as my head coach. He also helped me a lot. They're both really proud of me for being here. Also, fun fact, Luc and I, he was my coach, but the last year we shot together as teammates in Bundesliga, which was pretty fun."
The Bundesliga is a popular shooting league based in Germany. The league consists of 40-shot, head-to-head air rifle matches, where teams earn points for winning their one-on-one matchups. Emma believes this type of competition has prepared her for collegiate competition and allowed her to deal with nerves and stress. Bundesliga is very spectator-heavy, and people are not afraid to be loud and cheer during competitions.Two years ago, Emma started exploring the possibility of coming to America to compete in NCAA rifle. She had talked with two former NCAA athletes, David Koenders and Henri Junghänel. David was a member of the West Virginia University rifle team, a multiple-time All-American, and CoSIDA academic honoree. David now competes at the international level for Germany. Henri graduated from the University of Kentucky in 2013. He was a vital member of their rifle program and went on to win the Olympic Gold in 50m prone for Germany in 2016. These two men gave Emma advice and information on what it is like to shoot in the NCAA and what you can get out of the experience. She decided that coming to the U.S. was something she wanted to do.
"Two years ago, I was talking to David and Henri," Emma said. "Henri told me about his experience here in the U.S. So, I was looking into how I could do that and if I could do it. I applied to some universities here, and David helped me a little bit in the process. He was telling me things about West Virginia and what he liked about college shooting and everything."
As she went through the process, Emma applied to several schools. Late in the 2023 spring semester, she visited Georgia Southern, which was the deciding factor in her decision to compete in the NCAA.
"I think I picked Georgia Southern because when I was here for my visit, I really liked the coach," she said. "I also really liked the campus and the weather here. It was really nice; I like the warmth. Soren seemed to know a lot about shooting and like he could help me a lot. And this was really important for me: to improve my shooting."
Since arriving in Statesboro, Emma has made her mark on the Georgia Southern rifle program. She left no stone unturned, breaking school record after school record. Emma is the owner of the smallbore and aggregate school records and has tied the air rifle school record of a 599, just one point off perfection. She led the team to a record-shattering 4,738 team mark at Murray State University earlier this semester, where she shot an aggregate record that she later broke.
Emma's dominance did not end in the regular season. At the SoCon Rifle Championships last weekend, Emma claimed individual titles in both smallbore and air rifle, earned first-team all-conference honors in both disciplines, and was named the Southern Conference Air Rifle and Smallbore Athlete of the Year.
Despite all of these incredible accomplishments, winning was not Emma's favorite memory from this season. Traveling to different places with her team was the highlight of the season for her.
"I think our traveling competitions," Emma said when asked about her favorite experience. "I really liked Winter Air Gun. It's not an official competition in our season, but it was a pretty fun competition for me in the U.S., and I did pretty well. There were also some new shooters to see and meet, some newcomers, and some other shooters from teams we don't get to compete against. In general, I think our competitions in Murray were really good, and I liked the competition in Nebraska as well."
After all of this, you could ask, what is left for Emma Pohlmann?
Well, on Feb. 17 at the NCAA Qualifier, Emma shot an air rifle mark of 595, earning herself a ticket to the NCAA Championships in Morgantown, West Virginia. Emma will compete on Saturday for a chance at a national title.
We asked Emma what her experience has been like going from finding out that the team missed the qualification mark by a very small margin to learning she would be taking on Morgantown as an individual.
"So, first, I was really sad that we didn't qualify as a team," Emma revealed. "I think all of us were really down, and I think everybody was also kind of sad and frustrated. And that we also only missed it by 0.3 points, that was really frustrating. I don't know. I was also kind of questioning myself—if it was my fault. I was really not expecting to qualify on my own. I also didn't watch when they released the names, and then Soren texted me. I was in class, and I saw the message. I was really happy. I am still sad that we're not going as a team because I think going alone is a little bit harder, and I don't know anyone there, so it's going to be a little bit tough. I'm really excited about going, and I think it's a fun experience and also an experience I can learn a lot from."
As she was preparing for the SoCon Championships and NCAAs, Emma had one more surprise in store before she traveled to West Virginia. She found out that her parents and her twin sister were planning to fly all the way from Germany to watch her compete in the NCAA Championship.
"It was really unexpected," Emma admitted. "I didn't think that they would want to fly for three days. It's a really short time. I'm really excited to see them. It's been three months now since I saw them. It's kind of fun to see them again and talk to them, and I'm really excited that they're coming. This is their second time seeing me in college shooting."
As she prepares for the biggest competition in NCAA rifle, we asked Emma what she was thinking about competing at this level. She put the match in perspective of her larger goals and embraced the challenge of trying to make the final (top 8). "In general, I would say this match is not my most important match this year. It is still important to me, but if I win, nothing happens, and if I lose, nothing happens. I hope I just go there, have a good time, spend time with my family, and also have a good match. I want to shoot the match the way I want to and have a good performance. My goal would be to qualify for the final, I hope I do, but we will see."
You might think there is no way that the NCAA Championships wouldn't be the biggest match of the year, but Emma has bigger goals than becoming the National Champion.
After she competes at the NCAAs, Emma will take a short break before going right back to training for another match in the summer: the German National Team Qualifications.
Emma has tried to qualify for the team for the last three years but has fallen short. This year she has been working hard to improve her shooting skills and hopes to have a solid shot at making the German National Team this coming July.
"Yeah, I am practicing for the qualification for the National Team," she told us. "I hope I'm going to make it this year. It's two tournaments in July that are four days each."
Although her experience thus far at Georgia Southern hasn't been exactly what she expected, Emma has been able to excel both in sports and in the classroom and will forever have her mark on the Georgia Southern record books … and she's only a sophomore.
Tune into the live feed of the NCAA Rifle Championships on March 8-9 to watch Emma compete!
Addy Burrow is an All-American on the Eagles' nationally ranked rifle team who is pursuing a Master's degree in professional communication.
Players Mentioned
/ Women's Rifle
/ Women's Rifle
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