The Future May Be Brighter Than We Think
 

We recently had a rules clinic for the 2021-2022 Georgia Independent School Association high school shotgun team coaches. This year we will have over 700 kids from 45 schools across the state competing in both JV and Varsity clay shooting competitions. They'll be shooting Sporting Clays, Trap and Skeet. This is the fastest growing high school sport in the country.

Fabulous news!!





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That's great news but I'm not totally surprised. My 11 year old grandson started last fall shooting with Georgia Clay Busters (GCB) out of Elberton, Ga. GCB is part of a national program, Scholastic Clay Target Program (SCTP). I've attended three tournaments that he competed in. One in SC and two at Forest City Gun Club in Savannah, Ga. I was blown away at the size of the shoots at Forest City, over 400 participants and was told that close to 100 were girls. Like John stated, the future may indeed be Bright.

We see it down here in the competitions Harry competes in. 700 kids is about the norm for some of these events and that is just this year

I was out shooting sporting clays at one of our local clubs two Sundays ago. I was surprised to see the trap ranges completely filled up & busy as heck. I just dismissed this as being a weekend crowd since I normally go to the range during the week.

I was pleasantly surprised when I returned to the club house after my round to find that the trap crowd was a group of 4H kids shooting a tournament. There must have been well over a hundred youngsters there. Seeing this put a big smile on my face & warmed my heart. There is hope for the future of our shooting heritage!

Having been a collegiate coach for a notable National winning rural Junior College team in both SCTP and ACUI I am thrilled to hear this. One of my best shooters was from the Elberton club and the manager at Savannah is a graduate of my college programs as well as a team shooter.

EDIT
Here is a pic pf the 2010 team, RU National champs shooting against the likes of Lindenwood, Texas A&M, K State etc....

https://i.imgur.com/6ZcUPTK.jpg

And here is the 2012 team after Divisions were put in place:

https://i.imgur.com/4wUb0TR.jpg

Was at the finals of the West Virginia Open Tennis tournament today--my wife is the tournament director. Watching the Mens Open Doubles, I asked a young man who's father was in the final if he was a tennis player also . He said no, so I asked him what sport he played and he said he was on the high school trap team. So, I proceded to talk to him about SXS's and Parkers.

The World Junior Skeet Championship was held at Rochester Brooks last weekend, many young shooters and fun to watch.

This is great news!!!!!!!!!!!!! When you attend our vintage SxS evets, they are dominated by older whiite males.

Which is another way of saying... these young shooters will fill the eventual void for as a shooting fraternity we are facing our mortality.





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Fixed it for us Dean..... At the ripe older age of 74 I truly hope there will be younger folks to fill our numbers and keep this wonderful sport of shooting/hunting perpetuated.

By God! We're gonna beat these anti-gun sunsabitches at their own game with kids like this! There ain't much good news in the world today but this is certainly some worth reading.

That’s great news! I wonder how many states allow high school sponsored shooting teams?

The 4H shooting program is full bore in GA. I helped sponsor a team of young men who went to Kansas, as I recall, a few years back and won first place in the national sporting clays competition. They have now moved on to shoot in college, at GA Southern college, and nearly beat us in a shootout a couple years back for first place at a charity shoot at our local sporting clays range. There was a team shootout and I think our team beat theirs by just a bird or two. They're tough, I'm telling you.

I'm thrilled to see it.

In Arkansas there are many High School Teams. Here, in Highland, the team places in the top 3 most years. The community and the local gun shops support them...

Youth shooting sports
 

I think Destry is right, this is the answer to the future of our passion. Getting involved, by people like us who have the knowledge and background, will be key to keeping the shooting sports alive. And maybe getting involved is donating money to support these young folks and a little time to help out with some of the shoots. There's way more good in the world than the 5% of whiners that are on the 5:00 news every night, but it takes getting involved to have the 95% show up. This is an article from some of the shooting games in Minnesota, another place that according to the news is gone to the creeps, but it's not so. This is really good stuff. Here's a quote and an article about their shooting success and safety. :)

https://time.com/longform/high-school-shooting-teams/


As for safety: more than 70,000 students have fired 42 million shots since 2008. No one has reported a single injury, according to the league. At Spring Lake Park, coach Hanselman tells students to consume no sugar within an hour before a shoot, lest hyperactive teens grow even more jittery on the firing line. At every school in the league, students are required to earn a firearm–safety certificate to participate on the team. “We always enforce that every time you pull that trigger,” says Josh Kern, -assistant coach for Badger-Greenbush

My niece was getting a shooting lesson yesterday, so hopefully another to join our ranks

Through the efforts of the Scholastic Clay Target Program (SCTP) 4H and some other programs we are seeing a major participation jump in numbers of youth actively shooting.

As to schools allowing teams, it all depends on the districts and their "political Position". I know when we approached our board of trustees at Southeastern Illinois College there was no hesitation for the go ahead for a "team" to be formed and with some scholarship dollars. We went on to wil National championships as a team and as individual shooters in both SCTP Collegiate and ACUI (which is a collegiate competition).

However, locally I know of one HS team that is not connected to their school because school administration would not allow it. So the kids and parents formed an outside the school team, met all the necessary guide lines and "presto" there was a team which by the way had about 15-20 members. They are strictly trap shooters.

What I have seen and must say I am pleased with is more schools both HS and college are fielding teams shooting all disciplines. This means they can compete in the HOA side of the team shoots.

I do think our future is brighter and hope it will continue. If you want to see it in action check out the SCTP HS Nationals and look at their numbrs and team geographic distribution.

Bruce, are they allowed to shoot as a team in what is otherwise a school event?





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Dean: Yes, as I believe the SCTP rule states something on the order of "Clubs" as well as school named teams.

I'll check that.... be back later.

Thanks Bruce.





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Dean, et al:

For those that are interested here is a link to the SCTP web site. https://mysctp.com Read through it and especially the FAQS on the drop down under "About". That should answer a lot of questions.

Also see the team map. This is the largest HS student athlete shooting org in the country.

I've got several of my Varsity guys participating in the SCTP this summer.

It's great to see the youngsters shooting but will they continue after Mom and Dad aren't footing the bill?

Did we?

The ones I know will continue.

I sure don’t know for sure, but I think “yes”. Even if they scatter a little they have been introduced, become comfortable with guns, had some instruction and all the other good parts. I’ve said for a long time these gathered youth shooting clubs were our best shot at getting young folks involved. It really doesn’t matter they are not shooting the guns we shoot, at a point in time some may/will.
You folks that are seeing this revival should be making a lot of us feel better about the future, I do. Thanks!

There is some data out there that shows many teens continue shooting at the college level. Then there is a 10 break as they get jobs and start family's. Yes, there are some who have the bucks and just continue to shoot. Think of your own history..... Many that I have watched come back to shoot but as young adults who are not as free with their money as us old farts.

I think NSSF has some tracking data.

It's great to see the numbers of young boys and girls competing in SCTP and other shooting clubs. With student loan debt, starting a job, getting married, raising a family, it takes disposable income to shoot and many don't have it until their mid years. The encouraging part is that if only a small percentage come back to shooting, that will be a significant number. Let's just hope the small clubs are still there.

Here, Here. But, we can help while they are still younger.....

Ponder this:


SPORTING CLAYS

100 birds: $35

Cart: $15

Four boxes of RST shells: $60

TOTAL: $110 per person


GOLF

18 holes: $43

Cart: $18

Sleeve of balls: $9

TOTAL: $70 per person


DELTA: $40


-Victor

I guess you have to spend your bucks where you like.

Speaking from my experience, the first 10 years after college are leaner years for such things

I coached 4-H and SCTP for several years. One of the most gratifying thing I’ve ever done.
I don’t coach anymore, but every year I sponsor a 4-H shooting camp scholarship that pays for the winners camp tuition.
If you love target sports and want to see it continue and grow, please consider donating to your local 4-H or SCTP teams. There are some talented kids whose families have to stretch the budget to let them compete.

Here, here.... Find a team and donate $$$$ or some mentor/coaching time or both.