The walls of his office are plastered with plaques and ribbons recognizing his career success, but amid the many achievements, trap and skeet coach Van Boerner retrieved his most prized award: a thank-you card from a former student. He read it aloud, reflecting on his last 22 years at Trinity before retiring at the end of the semester.
“That is what it’s all about — why I did it for 22 years. We never won a national championship,” Boerner says. “But I always told them, I said, I don’t care how you shoot … Just give it everything you have.”
Despite his humility, his accolades are nothing to scoff at. Before recently being inducted into the Texas Skeet Shooters Association Hall of Fame, Boerner won both a state and world championship in 2023 and has been a member of various All-American teams since 1996.
Before ever working with students, Boerner had extensive experience in both shooting sports and teaching. He grew up in North Carolina and took up his father’s hobby in skeet shooting at 12 years old. By the time he turned 14, he was competing.
A few years later, in 1975, he enlisted in the Marine Corps. Eventually, this hobby became his professional career, as he said he was stationed at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia to shoot skeet for the Corps.
Following the Vietnam War, the skeet team was cut, so Boerner transferred to the rifle team. After some time at Quantico, Boerner, now with a wife and children, said he decided he did not want to “become a permanent trigger puller” and opted for a career shift with more upward mobility.
He was then stationed in Georgia, where he was an instructor for reservists. While teaching, he didn’t shoot competitively for almost 15 years. That changed, Boerner said, when he attended a skeet club 10 minutes from his house on a whim. He’s now been active in the sport for 34 consecutive years.
To begin each semester, he tells students that he intends to run the class like boot camp and asks them to “drop and give [him] 20.” While he said this is simply a skit, he still credits his service for his firm, yet fun class environment.
Boerner’s military experience also assisted him in taking over at Trinity. Boerner was hired in 2003, about two weeks before the spring semester began. On day one, he found a disorganized and demotivated program. However, he said, his experience as a Marine instructor helped him quickly divide the class by skill level, create lesson plans and bring a team to nationals by April.
Since his restructuring, Boerner has created a program that focuses not on finding the best shooters but the best people. From requiring extreme punctuality with his class to putting his team’s novices through a lengthy and difficult tryout program, Boerner said he can develop sharpshooters with dedication.
“I like to see how badly you want to do it,” Boerner said. “If you show me that you’re willing to put in the time, I don’t care how you shoot. I can get you to shoot, but what I can’t get you necessarily is inspired.”
One example of this, Boerner said, was one of his favorite moments at Trinity. He had a student who was in tears and terrified to shoot a shotgun. Yet, throughout the semester, both she and Boerner remained devoted to her success. She ended up as one of the top shooters in the section, and Boerner said the most fun he has is watching students grow.
“I still remember coming up to her, and I said, ‘Do you realize how far you’ve come in 15 weeks?’ And she had the biggest smile on her face,” Boerner said. “She was just so thrilled to have been able to get beyond the fear and learn a skill.”
The student’s confidence did not come out of thin air. While Boerner’s coaching style does follow a military-style regimen, he said it’s simply tough love. He described the calm instruction he provides at the firing line and said his priority with the team is building lasting friendships before fierce competitors.
“I find the worth in people who thought they weren’t worth it,” Boerner said, returning to the letter from a former student. He said this student wrote that he helped her find her home on campus, as she was considering transferring without him and the trap and skeet team.
As Boerner has impacted many more people beyond these two students in his career at Trinity, he said it is now time for him to rack his gun and move to the next stage of his life.
“I can’t thank them all enough for the memories and the place in my heart that each and every one of them has taken residence in for all of the years to come,” Boerner said. “I would hope that my successor finds that ability to grow the team and bring about the types of change that will only make things better.”
