I watched her scramble up the substantial slope before us and was almost overcome with guilt. It dawned on me that I was possibly doing this remarkable young lady a great disservice.
I have written about Makayla Scott before, and if you haven’t read some of those articles, I am not sure where to start to explain the amazing phenomenon that is this talented teenager from White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.
A quick rundown: As Scott shares in the bio on her fundraising page, she was adopted at age 9. However, this followed years of neglect, abuse and tragedy – including her birth mother’s death from a drug overdose – and so she struggled to trust in others and believe in herself.
She may have had a less than fortunate start in life, but Scott quickly made up for it by finding her own niche under the guidance of her adoptive dad, Telford. After trying several different sports but not really clicking with any of them, she picked up a shotgun and never looked back.
She is now, at 16 years old, a known name in the world of shotgun sports – someone who has won several events, qualified for the Junior Olympics in trap shooting and last fall participated in shotgun guru David Miller’s second Guinness World Records event for most clay targets shot by a five-person team in 12 hours. That’s right: I witnessed Miller, Scott and three teammates shoot almost continuously for 12 hours.