ESS Perspectives: We are proud to introduce two members of the ESS professional athlete team, competitive 3-Gun shooters Jen Blake and Reanna Kadic. Both women have reached the podium, they compete all over the country in what is traditionally a male-dominated sport and similarly share a pioneering spirit and passion for shooting sports that ESS is proud to celebrate. Jen and Reanna were interviewed by ESS in July 2021.

Reanna (@3gunreanna) is a 22-year-old senior at Texas State University majoring in advertising and business. She grew up hunting deer, duck, dove, and wild boar with her dad starting at the age of eight. When she was 14, he encouraged her to enter her first competitive match. She was intimidated, but with his encouragement and positive reinforcement, she continued progressing in the sport.

Reanna has traveled as far as Sweden for Rifle World Shoot, is an aerial consultant for Heligunner, an outfit that offers aerial gunnery shooting at targets and helicopter hog hunting in Texas, and is grateful for her dad introducing her to the sport. Her grace and ease are evident. She says, “I’m confident I can protect myself and my family, and I have my dad to thank for that.”

Jen (@gun_girl_jen) is from Southern Ohio and is obsessed with all things outdoors. She grew up around firearms with her dad and grandma hunting elk. She owns a kayak and canoe tour company, Salt Creek Kayak Adventures, and she discovered shooting as a form of protection and a source of self-confidence when she began selling real estate in her 20s. Jen was initially unsure of how to enter the world of competitive shooting, but a friend at an NRA pistol class told her she had to come to a match. Slowly, she started saving up for each gun and acquired more equipment along the way. She has slatwall in her living room that allows for her copious gun collection to be on display. She shrugs when she considers that her home might not look the way you’d think a woman would traditionally decorate, but it is an absolute representation of her interests.

Jen leads her local Friends of the NRA chapter, which focuses on fundraising for firearms education for women and juniors. Jen has NRA certifications as a training counselor, for basic rifle and pistol, and for personal protection inside and outside of the home. She is also certified by the NRA as a Refuse to be a Victim Counselor and is a Chief Range Safety Officer. Jen uses her credentials to teach and has also begun introducing her boys – now ages 10 and 12 – to the world of sport shooting.

3-Gun got its formal start in the U.S.A. in 1979 and is a high-adrenaline, timed event where competitors are running and gunning. They navigate physically intense obstacle courses while shooting pistols, shotguns, and rifles. The matches have an average of 10 stages that require shooters to control their heart rates and breathing in order to hit targets at all angles. Match directors have created stages that include shooting from roller coasters and moving vehicles. The sport requires intense physical conditioning as well as strategic planning to hit the targets and pick a route that completes the stages in the fastest time.

The competitive 3-Gun community is like a family to Jen and Reanna. While still a predominantly male sport, strong ties to each other and core values are evident in each of the competitors. When starting out, both Jen and Reanna recall feeling very intimidated to enter their first event. However, once they took those initial steps, they found the community was extremely welcoming. Jen remembers she showed up to her first match with just a pistol. Other shooters saw her predicament and overwhelmingly offered to loan out their rifles and shotguns so that she could compete.

“Getting started I didn’t know how to sign up or what gear I needed,” she says. “To be a competitor, I used to think you had to be really good and practice all the time. But many people also sign up for a match after taking a class like ‘Intro to Rifle’ or one that teaches you how to stage plan. There are loaner guns and everybody is very inviting. Everyone holds their hand out to help. If my shotgun goes down, people will offer theirs so I can stay in the match. There’s also a social aspect of seeing other people’s guns and enjoying that camaraderie. We’re competitive, but it’s also a lot of fun. All of my best friends are 3-Gun shooters all over the country. We’re really family.” Reanna agrees.

Reanna’s dad went to all of her junior matches, and their bond helped her feel more comfortable as a young shooter when she was just starting out. She says, “When my dad got me into the sport, he wanted to show me there’s nothing I can’t do. Whatever I set my mind to and whatever goals I set, I can do it. The sport helped me come out of my shell, and the self-esteem I developed in shooting has had a real-world application for me too.”

Jen has a special story about the community of 3-Gun that stems back to when she was invited to attend the Gundies, the annual community-voted awards that spotlight the best firearm-centric content creators and influencers. She had been voted Most Influential Female and was offered an opportunity through DriveTanks.com to shoot a Sherman tank. She’d been shooting all day, and was surrounded by photographers as she went for the tank. She shot it, and with her hair blown messily from the percussion, when the dust settled she saw that her then-boyfriend, Derrick, was down on one knee ready to propose. (She said yes!) Jen was wearing her ESS eye protection when Derrick popped the question, and she recalls she was wearing it when they met too.

While Jen and Reanna both compete against each other in individual events, they also can pair up and shoot as a team. Coincidentally, Jen and Reanna both discovered ESS at the same time, when the company had a booth at the Girl & A Gun Festival in Atlanta in 2015. Reanna was at the event with her dad and remembers a rep coming up to them. As she says, “The rest is history.” Jen was also at the event that happened to be her first match ever. Her friend Annette was there doing a photoshoot, and Jen took note of how authentically ESS was committed to protecting the athletes.

As an experiment, Reanna and her dad embarked on a mission to test ESS’ durability. They dressed up a mini watermelon with a pair of Crossbows and took it to the range and fired birdshot at it. She holds up the pockmarked glasses as she recounts the story to point out that while the lenses took plenty of hits, structurally, they withstood the impact and survived.

“No BB’s passed through the glasses which proved to me that ESS was a brand that I can trust with my life,” she says. “We only have one set of eyes, and they’re very important to protect. In 3-Gun, you should be focused on your stage plan and where you run next, not if your eyes are going to be protected. It’s such a relief that I have a product that I can trust will keep me safe.”

Reanna’s go-to pair of ESS are black frame Crossbows with a photochromic lens. “My ESS gives me peace of mind shooting out of helicopters, doing 3-Gun, and competing in different shooting sports in all elements and weather conditions.”

Jen recalls one of many times she was glad to be wearing ESS while shooting. She was at Gunfight Academy teaching a class with hydraulic targets. One of her students accidentally hit the pipe with the air that made the targets turn, and there was a large explosion.

“Rocks went everywhere, hit my glasses, and scratched them pretty deeply. I can’t imagine what it would’ve been like if I hadn’t had my ESS eye pro on,” she recalls. Her favorite style is black frame CrossBlade Eyeshields with a Hi-Def Copper lens. She also loves wearing her Heritage Series Matte Olive CDI Sunglasses at the lake or beach.

As part of their legacy as female 3-Gun athletes, both women share some advice for those looking to enter the sport. Jen is welcoming and also offers the wisdom that aspiring athletes should be cognizant of what they’re putting on social media. Ever a teacher, she explains, “Take classes, and be careful of how you are posting with guns so that you are taken seriously as an athlete.”

Reanna encourages amateurs to believe in themselves. “My advice is never be afraid to put yourself out there. It can seem scary at first, but once you get out there it’s worth it. Be yourself. I have that tattooed on me. That’s all you can do.”