60By Robin Taylor, USPSA Staff (copyright 2010)Photos by Roger Maier

Young, beautiful, and supremely skilled, 24-year-old Jessie Abbate has turned ladies’ practicalshooting on its ear since coming onto the set in2006. The black-clad angel from Glock has wonevery title in sight, becoming one of few true “pro-fessionals.” Her soft voice, gentle demeanor, andGeorgia accent seem out of place, but this ex-cheerleader and ex-“girly-girl” is fierce.

“Jessie is on a whole new curve relative to mygeneration, it’s a true profession for her,” saysUSPSA great Lisa Munson.

A junior at Clayton State University, Abbatesplits her time between home, school and shoot-ing professionally.

“Shooting is my job,” shesays matter-of-factly. “I livefor guns. Four to five days aweek I’m training, or doingsomething shooting-relat-ed….Other than that I’m whatmost people consider ahousewife, which is certainlya full-time job in itself.”

Abbate got her start as acowboy shooter before switch-ing to modern firearms. That’sno surprise, as she’s the daugh-ter of Five-Time SASS WorldChampion Clyde Harrison –better known as “Easy Rider.”

“We’ve got baby pictures ofme at the range with him, andI’m not walking yet,” she laughs.

Though she wasn’t particu-larly interested in “the gunthing,” she tagged along untilshe finally got bitten by theshooting bug at age 15.

Nine years later, to under-stand Jessie, you have tounderstand a little bit about what I call “TeamAbbate.”

In the NASCAR world, there are sponsors, andthere are racing organizations. If you own a largesoft-drink firm, and you want to get involved inNASCAR, you don’t run out and buy a car. Instead,you have a sit-down with a group like Joe Gibbs’Racing. They manage race teams, including driv-ers, support staff, race management, AND cars.

“Team Abbate” looks a bit like Joe Gibbs Rac-ing. Billy Abbate is a driver in his own right (forAtlanta Arms & Ammo), and acts like anowner/manager. He flies his personal aircraftcross-country to matches, taking the entire teamalong for the ride. He’s the pilot, coach to Jessie,decision-maker, and until recently, agent.

Jessie’s father races with the team, as do Cana-dian master Ken Kupsch, USPSA and SASS Cham-pion Randi Rogers (Glock), Bianchi Cup specialist

Jason Koon, and Randi's protégé Tori Nonaka.Glock’s David Sevigny also trains with them fromtime to time. It’s this combination of people, allchampions and Grand Masters, pooling their skillsand resources to work together that makes “TeamAbbate” such a force.

For those of you who think you shoot a lot,consider this: Jessie’s personal ammo consump-tion hit “about 60,000 rounds” last year, notcounting rimfire ammo. She competed in “18 to20” major tournaments in 2009, along withdozens of smaller local events. Together, those“half a dozen” people burned roughly a quarter-million rounds and spent perhaps $20,000 inmatch fees alone last year. Travel costs double or

triple that. Each is using/con-suming multiple firearms,each tweaked to win specificgames. Keeping that effortgoing demands support.

Jessie just signed withAugust Sports Promotions,which takes some of the load offof Billy, and “brings a level ofprofessionalism that really needsto be there,” says Jessie (Seejessieabbate.com). Jessie’s moth-er Sherry Harrison occupies alarge support role both at homeand on the road. “She hasalways supported me, no matterwhat road I have taken. Eventhough she works behind thescenes, she is just as much apart of my success as my hus-band and father are,” says Jessie.

I’ve written profiles aboutshooting pros for many years,and one of the questions Ialways ask is: “What makesyou so good?”

Jessie Abbate won’t “toother own horn.” She talks about drills the group isdoing, and says things like, “We always start outshooting groups.”

That her answers include “we” and “thegroup” reveals her strength. Jessie is strong-willedand talented, yes, but her “secret” is who she sur-rounds herself with.

As she puts it: “The more you surround your-self with good people, the more of a good per-son you become. The same applies in shooting,the more you surround yourself with good shoot-ers, the more you learn, and the better shooteryou become.”

Jessie’s world is filled to the brim with top-flight shooters, all with high work ethics, posi-tive attitudes and high standards. It’s a perfectincubator for a champion racer like Jessie, andone with potential to feed/fuel a stable of cham-pions for years to come.

Raceguning with Jessie and “Team Abbate”

July 10 Blue Press Section 3 5/10/10 1:23 PM Page 60