Kaiserslautern sophomore Amanda Garcia fires from the standing position during a DODEA Western Conference marksmanship meet in Wiesbaden, Germany on Jan. 11, 2025. (Bradley Latham/Stars and Stripes)

Amanda Garcia didn’t believe her grandparents when they told her she had won the DODEA European marksmanship championship.

The Kaiserslautern sophomore checked the results board before realizing she had claimed the individual title Jan. 31 with 586 out of a possible 600 points. Garcia defeated her nearest competitor, Vilseck’s Camdyn Deese, by nine points, and she helped the Raiders defend their team crown.

This wasn’t feigned modesty from Stars and Stripes’ 2024-2025 marksmanship Athlete of the Year. It’s a part of her personality.

“Every single time I shoot, I’m always like, ‘Oh, I did not shoot my best,’” Garcia said. “I was like (when I found out I won), ‘Wow, that’s kind of cool.’”

Her coach, Bill Conley, seeks to change that mentality every day.

Her results should take care of her confidence issues. Garcia finished 13th at the Euros her freshman year and followed that up by collecting a regular season co-crown with Stuttgart’s Aurora Mayo after the two totaled 1,442 points over five matches.

Then, two weeks after taking the European individual title, Garcia went to the JROTC Service Championships on Feb. 13-15 in Anniston, Ala., and qualified with the highest total for the finals with 1,177 points – five ahead of her nearest competitor – and 88 bull’s-eyes.

She finished fourth in the finals.

Despite these performances, her coach often still must point to the Bible verse taped onto her weapon (Psalms 62:7) to give her a boost when he can tell she’s struggling.

“She has the capability,” Conley said. “She knows her craft, and I think having that extra little bit of confidence just to say, ‘I’m doing this,’ and doing it … just recognizing that she’s really good at this.”

Garcia’s a far cry from where she was when Conley first met her.

According to the coach, Garcia was attached at the hip to her sister, Alessia, when the daughters of Chris and Raquel joined the JROTC program after they moved to Kaiserslautern.

Alessia, a junior, was expected to focus on marksmanship, while Amanda anticipated being in drill. Yet the pair flipped, with Amanda’s exploits on the firing range well documented and Alessia being the drill team commander.

“Amanda’s comment to me was, ‘I have to do it,’” Conley said of first meeting his future sharpshooter. “Now, they both have found their niche and they both have fallen in love with all things JROTC. And it shows.”

Despite Amanda Garcia’s individual success throughout, the Kaiserslautern team was slightly off target for much of the campaign.

The defending European champions finished the regular season in second place in the Western Conference and third place overall behind Stuttgart and Wiesbaden.

As underdogs at Euros, though, they didn’t panic. The Raiders shot in the last group and knew what they needed to win, eventually trailing Wiesbaden by 12 points heading into the standing position, the last of the competition.

In the hardest position, Kaiserslautern completed a 23-point swing to defeat the Warriors 2,291-2,280.

“I think we all just tried to be relaxed and do what we usually do, like try to have fun, take the pressure off each other,” Garcia said. “Each of us had different levels that we felt, but as a team together, we shared it.”

Garcia led the charge with a nearly perfect performance. She started with 10 straight bull’s-eyes before finishing with 194 out of 200 possible points.

It didn’t surprise Conley at all. He noticed throughout the season how Garcia inspired her teammates as she filled the void left by last year’s No. 1 Katelyn McEntee, who moved to Florida.

“I never did fear Amanda stepping up,” Conley said. “What was nice was bringing the rest of the team with her. Not only did she do phenomenally well, but she also drew some energy and shared that energy with other shooters on our team.”

The squad still is not done. Kaiserslautern won the Air Force JROTC title last month and qualified for the all-service championships March 20-22 at Camp Perry, Ohio.

The Raiders placed eighth at last year’s national championships, trailing winner Granbury High School of Texas by 73 points.

The team’s goal this year: improve on those positions.

“I just hope that we do pretty good and we don’t suck because we’re the Air Force team,” Garcia said. “I hope we do better than last year.”