High School Trap Shooting Nationals

[hawkenhunter50]

I'm out in Mason MI for the trap shooting nationals for high school trap teams. My boy got invited to shoot. Been out here for 5 days. Yesterday was the qualifier. He shot 90 out of 100. Only the top 400 kids qualify for the championship. 400th place kid shot a 93. Heading home today unfortunately. I'm not a trap or even shotgun shooter but the range they have out here is amazing. 44 stations for shooting. With all the practice days, the amount of kids and the amount they had to shoot I figured it was well over 1/4 million rounds fired this week, it was amazing to be a part of. My boy shot a 24, 24, 21, 21 during the qualifying round, was pretty proud, way better than I could have done. Had to have above a 15 average for the year from the High School team, he had a 16.8 average and had to have a certain grade level in school to be invited. So he bested his season average in the qualifier. This place reminds me of Ridgway rifle range but for trap shooting.

[kbstenberg]

Hawkenhunter Please shake your sons hand for me. Even to be invited would have been an Honor. Kevin

[StuBach]

That is a great accomplishment. Give him a kudos from me as well.

Wish I’d known it was going on, might have brought my family down to check it out (I live 30min from there).

[bedbugbilly]

Give him a hearty congratulations for all of us! These High School teams are such a terrific thing - all of these fine young men and women should be very proud of their accomplishments and all of you parents who support and encourage them also deserve a big pat on the back! Enjoy!

[MrWolf]

Congrats! Please make sure you reinforce how great he did, stressing he may not have had as much practice, etc as the others. He did great. My son won the NJ ATA State handicap shoot as a Junior about 10 years ago. Shot a 94 or 96, don't remember but he tied me that day. He was feeling good until a younger kid shot 200 straight in another event and it deflated him for some reason. The kid was from PA as the event drew folks from the surrounding states and had been shooting since he could stand from what we were told. My son did not like to practice and was only shooting for about two years. We did not have trap offered in any of our schools nor did I even know you could get a scholarship from one. I tried everything to boost him up. I pray you have better luck with your son IF that is what he wants to do. I have some great memories watching my son shoot, I hope you get the same. Good luck.
Ron

[Hogtamer]

Great job! I have an 11 yr old grandson who started shooting and competing this year. He loves it and keeps me reloading 20 ga for seceral months a year. Hope someone picked up the hulls!

[Gator 45/70]

Congrats !!! Keep him at it by all means !
Friend of mines boy took up skeet shooting in high school. He ended up with a collage scholarship.
He shoot his way thru 4 years of collage and is doing pretty good for himself. Just got married a few months ago, He's doing it right !

[richhodg66]

Awesome!

Several of the local high schools here have trap teams. The one I work for does not, but they at least seemed receptive to the idea when it was brought up before Covid suddenly dominated everything. They'll need a faculty member to take charge of it, would obviously be me, but the nature of my job has me real busy and I already coach the air rifle team. I need to see what I can do to make this happen, I'd love for them to start one up.

[rking22]

Richhodg66, my BIL was the school representative/coach for near a decade. It is really an administrative position unless you really want to coach actively. Organization skills and being present at practices and events. Season, for us, is February thru July if they go to nationals in Ohio.
The SCTP program is a great start into competitive clay target sports. In Tennessee we have a good number of teams in the schools. I have been involved as a coach since 2003 and steering committee member and region 2 sporting clays/skeet and director since about 2010 or so. We ran the state junior Olympic shoots as well for a good while starting in 2008. I ran the sporting clays state shoot and we had 520+ athletes from 5th grade thru a few in college shoot the course over 2 days. Trap was probably 3 times that many with about 1000 shooting skeet. The 520 shot all thre disciplines as well as some shooting doubles skeet and doubles trap, think there may have had handicap trap as well. It’s a big program involving lots of volunteer adults and and has had a positive influence on many thousands of youth since the program started up. So far, knock on wood, there is a perfect safety record. There are graduates of the program shooting in the Olympics and having won Gold in the past. Program members are also well represented on national teams. A young lady from Columbia, trains at our club, just won the National Junior Olympics Skeet at Hillsdale, last week. She got started on her high school trap team. Knew we shot international skeet and wanted to try it. If anyone can step up and support the SCTP program, then know you are making a great contribution to our future!

[richhodg66]

Richhodg66, my BIL was the school representative/coach for near a decade. It is really an administrative position unless you really want to coach actively. Organization skills and being present at practices and events. Season, for us, is February thru July if they go to nationals in Ohio.
The SCTP program is a great start into competitive clay target sports. In Tennessee we have a good number of teams in the schools. I have been involved as a coach since 2003 and steering committee member and region 2 sporting clays/skeet and director since about 2010 or so. We ran the state junior Olympic shoots as well for a good while starting in 2008. I ran the sporting clays state shoot and we had 520+ athletes from 5th grade thru a few in college shoot the course over 2 days. Trap was probably 3 times that many with about 1000 shooting skeet. The 520 shot all thre disciplines as well as some shooting doubles skeet and doubles trap, think there may have had handicap trap as well. It’s a big program involving lots of volunteer adults and and has had a positive influence on many thousands of youth since the program started up. So far, knock on wood, there is a perfect safety record. There are graduates of the program shooting in the Olympics and having won Gold in the past. Program members are also well represented on national teams. A young lady from Columbia, trains at our club, just won the National Junior Olympics Skeet at Hillsdale, last week. She got started on her high school trap team. Knew we shot international skeet and wanted to try it. If anyone can step up and support the SCTP program, then know you are making a great contribution to our future!

I teach JROTC and if a guy is doing that right (and I am) he is busy all the time. I've done this at two different schools now, fortunately, both districts are open to having an air rifle team shoot on campus, a lot of school districts will not. Between that and all the other stuff, I start the day at 7:30 AM and usually don't go home til after 6:00, and there is usually at least one evening a week that has me working until much later. Add to that it's a rare weekend I don't have something work related going on. Don't get me wrong, it's very rewarding in many ways and the pay is good, but I really am not looking to add on any additional duties.

That said, the school I work for now is a good bit more conservative and common sense oriented than most and I bet a faculty member could be found to do it, I just need to figure out who that is and try to push it along if I can.

A young woman we watched grow up in church got a teaching degree and married a good guy way out in western Kansas and now coaches a trap team out there in the school district she works in. Just need to find somebody like her who is down to earth enough and has the right personality type for it.

[rking22]

Yes, your plate is already full, especially with the airgun program added in. There would be conflicts with competition likely as well. I was round about suggesting that the school “coach” only needed to know enough about shooting to allow volunteer coaches to coach and handle the administration side. Recruiting the right person is easier if you remove the hands on coaching part, generally get a stronger team as well. Really throwing that out there for anyone reading this, as well. Thank you for taking on the airgun program, suspect there is no $$$ incentive there.

[hawkenhunter50]

Thanks for all the kind words. I had him read through all the posts and he thought it was really neat that everyone congratulated him. He's already talking about what he can do different next year, talking about different guns, etc. So I think he's hooked. He's been shooting trap for a couple years but just locally. Had the state trap shoot this year but it was virtual, every club shot at their home range so he didn't get to travel for that. But this huge event impressed him. He's also the personality that does well under pressure. Thanks again.

[No_1]

Congratulations to him for a job well done in competition! It is encouraging to hear he is “planning” his strategy for next season.

[SCTPCOACH]

Congratulations to your son , you should be proud of him.

I will second that the SCTP program is top notch having been involved in it for a number of years . My son has gone from athlete to now being president of the shooting team , we usually have about 45-50 athletes on the team yearly .

[abunaitoo]

I wonder how long before it is banned by the gooberment.
Firearms in schools would be something on the radar.
Many schools used to have ROTC.
I think there are just two now.
Sad

[richhodg66]

I wonder how long before it is banned by the gooberment.
Firearms in schools would be something on the radar.
Many schools used to have ROTC.
I think there are just two now.
Sad

A lot of schools have JROTC to this day. It's very active program and I know there are several schools in Hawaii that have it. We're not allowed to have small bore rifle teams like when I was in it during the early 80s, but many do have CMP sanctioned three position air rifle teams.

[ruger1980]

The girlfriend was assistant coach this year for the high school she works at. They had 8 kids that traveled out for the nationals but she didn't go. One of the boys did pretty well I guess but I am not sure what he scored or where he placed.

[jaysouth]

Where does the ammo come from? I know of a trap program in a high school that could not field a team for lack of information.

[megasupermagnum]

Where does the ammo come from? I know of a trap program in a high school that could not field a team for lack of information.

Most schools around here do fundraisers, and sponsors. In my hometown, they always do a gun raffle, and the local shooting range sponsors them, although I'm not sure to what degree other than maybe free range access. They purchased both 20 and 12 gauge ammo. I'm sure the coach had some shotguns to loan, but for the most part students bring their own gun. Clays were bought and stored at the shooting range in a shipping container, so there is a lot of cooperation needed from the towns shooting range, which just about any shooting range is as helpful as they possibly can be for kids. I'm not 100% sure how the league works, as we didn't have a trap team when I was in school, but it sounds like it is a more individual sport. You need your team to get you to the state finals, but then the finals the top individuals form the team for the state from various schools.

[rking22]

Where does the ammo come from? I know of a trap program in a high school that could not field a team for lack of information.

The teams I talked to about ammo were just hitting every store possible every chance they could. Teamwork, when someone found ammo with a limit, they called other parents so they could get their quota. The state organization (TNSCTP) tried to get a quantity order from Federal but, as far as I know, the order has yet to be filled! I know that there were 520 who shot Sporting clays at the state shoot, 52000 rounds fired over 2 days, and skeet was going at the same time. They found ammo, but were unable to practice as much as years past. Parents can get creative and determined when their kids need something!

[dverna]

Have deep pockets if you intend to pursue this. Nothing about trap shooting is cheap. I used to give shells to a couple of young shooters when I was competing.

Regrettably, most of the “coaches” young kids get are next to useless. If you can afford it, have him attend a clinic by one of the really good competitors. I still have my notes from my first clinic with Frank Hoppe....yes related to the originator of Hoppe’s No 9. He has been shooting 100’s on the ultimate trap field for a while now.

Gun fit is critical for shooting good scores and to reduce felt recoil. Is you are not too far from Gaylord MI, I can help with setting up the gun for your boy. PM me.

[megasupermagnum]

Have deep pockets if you intend to pursue this. Nothing about trap shooting is cheap. I used to give shells to a couple of young shooters when I was competing.

Regrettably, most of the “coaches” young kids get are next to useless. If you can afford it, have him attend a clinic by one of the really good competitors. I still have my notes from my first clinic with Frank Hoppe....yes related to the originator of Hoppe’s No 9. He has been shooting 100’s on the ultimate trap field for a while now.

Gun fit is critical for shooting good scores and to reduce felt recoil. Is you are not too far from Gaylord MI, I can help with setting up the gun for your boy. PM me.

It's usually not bad for high school teams. They have to do work for the fundraisers, otherwise if you have a shotgun, I don't think it was over $100 for students. Remember we are talking about high school kids. As much as I'd love everyone to have a Perazzi fitted by an expert, it simply isn't needed to be competitive at the high school level unless you really want to make it big time. A quick search of past MN tournament results shows if you can shoot 90, you are going to be competitive, and this is just straight up 5 stand, no handicap or anything. A regular kid who puts in the time at the range can be plenty competitive with a plain old shotgun.

[MrWolf]

Have deep pockets if you intend to pursue this. Nothing about trap shooting is cheap. I used to give shells to a couple of young shooters when I was competing.

Regrettably, most of the “coaches” young kids get are next to useless. If you can afford it, have him attend a clinic by one of the really good competitors. I still have my notes from my first clinic with Frank Hoppe....yes related to the originator of Hoppe’s No 9. He has been shooting 100’s on the ultimate trap field for a while now.

Gun fit is critical for shooting good scores and to reduce felt recoil. Is you are not too far from Gaylord MI, I can help with setting up the gun for your boy. PM me.

Very good point about gun fit. These kids are still growing. Make sure whatever route you go takes growing and even cant into consideration.

[ruger1980]

Where does the ammo come from? I know of a trap program in a high school that could not field a team for lack of information.

The school my girlfriend works for actually paid for most of if not all of their ammo as the school superintendent wanted the trap league as much as anyone else did. The girlfriend found out about a program through Federal that sells to school leagues at a reduced price. She sent them all the forms and money to get a pallet of shells. It did take a while for them to show u though.