Portsmouth Teen Danielle Makucevich Readies Her Rifle Skills for Junior National Olympics

Portsmouth teen Danielle Makucevich will soon shoot for gold, literally.

Makucevich, 13, a student at the , has recently been selected to compete at the United States Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. This Portsmouth teen will vie for medals and attention from the U.S. National Team coaches, alongside 100 of the best 20-and-under Women Shooters in the country, including many NCAA scholarship athletes.

Competing for the Newport Rifle Club Junior Team since the age of 9, Makucevich is no stranger to national level competition, according to her mother and coach of the Newport Rifle Club Junior Team, Michele Makucevich.

"Last season, Danielle accrued five individual and two team national records," said Makucevich in an e-mail. Her daughter has also placed in the top three in the 14-and-under category at both the National 3-Position Air Rifle Championships in Anniston, AL, and the NRA National Conventional Prone Championships at Camp Perry, OH.

However, her invitation to the National Junior Olympics is even more impressive due to the obstacles she's overcome recently. 

"A multi-sport athlete, Danielle is also an ice hockey player," wrote her mother. "In September, while playing with the Newport Whalers Bantam Boy's Team, she took a hit into the boards at Brown University's Meehan Rink."

Danielle was transported to Hasbro Children's Hospital and was treated for a concussion, whip-lash, a broken wrist and a fractured tailbone.

For the next 10 weeks, the young Portsmouth teen was unable to skate or shoot while each day the Junior Olympic selections grew closer. For eight weeks, she went through physical therapy in order to regain full range of motion for her neck and wore a wrist brace.

"She had only six weeks to prepare," her mother said.

Practicing at both the rifle club and a basement range, Danielle jumped back into her training just in time to accompany her team to a match in Port Clinton, OH.

"She's been building momentum ever since," her mother said.

In this weekend's Junior Sectional, she handily won the Sub-Junior class for the fourth year in a row while setting a personal best. She also returned to hockey as a member of the state runner-up Rhode Island Panther U-14 Girl's team.

Danielle competes in both smallbore rifle and air rifle disciplines, which are both NCAA and Olympic sports. Women fire 40 shots in the standing position for International Air Rifle, which is the first gold medal given at the Summer Games.

Danielle also shoots a conventional smallbore rifle, which goes out to a distance of 100 yards. And, as a member of the junior team, she competes in 3Position Air Rifle, which is modeled after the smallbore event.