Granton board approves trap shooting club
As participation in traditional sports have waned, the Granton Area School District plans to offer a new activity in the hopes of interesting more students. With approval from the Granton School Board, any Granton student that has completed a hunter’s safety course will now be eligible to participate in the newly formed Granton Trap Shooting club. The club will operate out of the Neillsville Gun Club location along Highway 10 beginning this spring.
The new club was approved by the board at its regular meeting Dec. 12. Before approval, the board listened to a presentation by Brandon Hensiak of Neillsville about his plans for the club and answered questions on safety protocols to make sure the participants were safely handling firearms.
Hensiak, the president of the Neillsville Gun Club, has already had some experience with operating a high school trap shooting league. For the past few years, he has coached a team based out of the Neillsville School District. Now, he is eager to expand the reach of their organization and get youth in the Granton area involved in the sport.
“Basically we have a team that we had started with the Neillsville High School,” he said. “We have had it for three or four years, and we are trying to expand our roots and let the kids get more involved. We went to Granton and offered them the chance to form a high school trap team... Kids are our future. If we don’t expose them to things like this they won’t have it anymore.”
In the model proposed by Hensiak, the teams from Neillsville and Granton would remain separate, but he would coach both. Participation in the trap shooting club would be open to any student aged 12 and older that has completed a hunter’s safety course, making sure any student involved would at least have the basics of practicing safety when handling firearms.
“There are always questions because there are some (adults) that are not OK with guns, while some are OK with guns,” he said. “I want to make sure that people know that even though the kids will be part of this club based at the school, no kids will be allowed to bring their guns to school. Safety is important. The key point is to make sure they have taken a hunter’s safety course first. There are policies and procedures in place to keep people safe; safety is of utmost importance.”
For the students meeting the initial requirements that choose to participate, Hensiak said the season will begin this spring and run through the end of May. Depending on numbers, the kids will either compete as individuals or as a team over a period of eight weeks.
“It’s a little more laid-back (compared to other sports),” he said. “The way it works is that it takes five or more individuals to compete as a team. Less than that and they compete as individuals for the school. It’s a virtual league, so they don’t travel to compete. They just show up at the Neillsville range on Wednesdays or Sundays or sometimes both, and they shoot.”
The scores from the shooters are then tallied and posted to the league database. At the end of the regular season, Hensiak said the students are able to compete at the state competition in Rome held in June. If they score high enough there, they will have the chance to compete at the national competition held in July in Mason, Mich.
“If they score high enough they can get awards,” he said. “And depending on the number of kids we have, they can get team awards as well. It’s not about the school size; it’s about the number of kids out that determines what conference they are placed in. They can get conference awards, awards at state competition or even nationals.”
Hensiak said based on what he has seen, he expects there to be a few individuals from Granton participating this spring. Registration for the spring trap shooting season will take place Feb. 1, and any Granton student interested in participating is encouraged to reach out to Hensiak or stop by the Neillsville Gun Club for more information.
