Jason Sargent’s introduction to target shooting came at an early age. His grandfather, Roger Sargent, took him to the Blue Hill Rifle and Pistol Club when he was young.

“He paid attention,” the elder Sargent said of his grandson. “Some of the young guys, in two weeks they know it all. But he listened to the old-timers.”

Sargent’s early training years paid off for both grandson and grandfather on Feb. 17 when the younger Sargent won the Maine Gallery Pistol Championship at the Hampden Rifle and Pistol Club. It was the same event his grandfather won in 1959.

The 30-year-old Sargent, a trooper with the Maine State Police, scored 882 out of a possible 900 to win the event.

“I think he’s proud because it’s something he won in the past,” Jason Sargent said. “My grandfather actually taught me the basics of competition shooting. I’ve been competing ever since, off and on.”

The Maine Gallery Pistol Championship is a National Rifle Association-sponsored event and is open to the public. Competitors fire 90 rounds from a .22-caliber target pistol at a bullseye target 50 feet away. Each round is worth 10 points.

“Strictly it’s a precision-shooting event,” Sargent said.

Sargent, a 1990 graduate of Ellsworth High School where he played varsity basketball and baseball, lives in Mariaville with his wife Cindy and their two sons Nicholas, 5, and Andrew, 3.

He has been a state trooper for a little more than a month after graduating from the Maine State Police Academy on Jan. 11. Prior to that Sargent spent seven years in the Army, the last three years of which he spent on the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit at Fort Benning, Ga. During that time Sargent represented the Army in a variety of team shooting competitions around the country. Target shooting was a full-time job for him in the Army.

In 1998, while home on leave, Sargent won the outdoor version of the state championship.

“My grandfather taught me to shoot. I got to put it to use in the Army,” Sargent said.

His grandfather, at age 73, still competes in the state championships, but the Trenton resident doesn’t expect to win another title.

“The last one was 43 years ago. That’s quite a while. When you’re young, your shooting is pretty good. As you get older it starts getting away from you. But Jason’s doing OK,” Roger Sargent said.

Ferriero wins table tennis title

Paul Ferriero is either a lobsterman who plays table tennis, or a table tennis player who traps lobsters. Either way, Ferriero is no longer an urchin diver.

“No. Too vigorous. It’s a young man’s sport. I had to give it up,” the 49-year-old Ferriero explained.

But table tennis fits him. So much so that Ferriero has ventured to the Boston area to compete in tournaments where earlier this month he won the under-1,450 singles championship.

“I’ve been playing off and on for 30 years. Most recently, I’ve been playing steady for about five years,” the Harrington resident said.

Ferriero is among a little-known group of people who meet once each week at the YMCA facility on Taft Street in Bangor to play table tennis with other members of the Bangor Table Tennis Club. Each session runs 6-8 p.m. and costs non-YMCA members $5. YMCA members play for free.

Players at the club earn a rating, according to Dianna Ripley, who is secretary and treasurer of the club.

“Players are rated according to ability, not by age,” Ripley said. “What you’re trying to do is build your rating up, and you do that by beating people who are rated higher than you.”

Ferriero had a rating of 1,311 before winning the tournament. Lou Soo, Ripley’s 16-year-old son and a junior at Bangor High School, is rated in the 1,700s. He also travels to Boston for tournament play.

Ferriero says Soo is a much better player and envies his youth. He sees room for improvement in his own game and admits he has picked up some bad game habits along the way.

“I love this game. It’s great exercise. If I’d had some coaching when I was young, who knows?” Ferriero said.

Don Perryman can be reached at 990-8045, 1-800-310-8600 or dperryman@bangordailynews.net