Next generation of clay shooters compete at state meets

“We had 487 shooters at this event,” said Scott Goetzka, the owner of Woods and Meadows Hunting Preserve and Sporting Clays. “They represented 45 teams from all across Wisconsin.”

Scott was talking about the Wisconsin Scholastic State Clay Championship held on Father’s Day weekend this year. The event is part of the Scholastic Clay Target Program or SCTP. Scholastic teams from the Milwaukee area, Marinette, and River Falls attended to give you an idea about how far teams travel to compete in this event. From closer to home, teams from Mosinee and Stevens Point also competed.

“This weekend the kids shot sporting clays and 5-stand,” Scott told me. “But they will also shoot trap and skeet depending upon the event. This coming weekend they will shoot at the Wisconsin State Scholastic Trap Shoot in Rome, Wisconsin, at the WTA Homegrounds (Wisconsin Trapshooting Association).”

“That event will have 95 teams with over 2100 shooters,” he continued. “They will shoot at 100 targets at that event, just like they did today. By the end of next weekend more than 300,000 trap targets will be thrown.” Scott told me that he knows they threw more than 50,000 clays at the Sporting Clay Championship.

“Only teams from Wisconsin can shoot this event,” Scott told me. “Minnesota has their own state championship shoot.” But Minnesota teams do come to invitational shoots leading up to their respective state championships. “In order to compete in sporting clays, you need to have a facility to practice at and not every team has that,” Scott told me. “Most teams practice for sporting clays at a 5-stand ranges, and plenty don’t have access to one of those either. But everyone has access to trap. Which is why there are so many more school trap teams. Our team practices twice a week during our season.” Scott coaches his local area team for the scholastic clay target shooting. He told me that they break the shooters up into age groups. Starting with fifth and sixth grade shooters who they call rookies. Seventh and eighth grade shooters fall into the intermediate group. In high school they start out in JV, eventually working up to varsity. Men and women shoot in separate divisions. The teams shoot for a team score and individual score.

River Falls won this year’s varsity team event - collectively scoring 280 out of 300. The JV team broke 250 out of 300, the intermediate 244 out of 300, and the rookie group broke 181 out of 300. Congrats to all – that’s great shooting.

A seventh-grade student shot a score of 87 out of 100 clays. Just wait until that young shotgunner grows up a bit so they can handle the shotgun even better. The high scorer in varsity broke 99 out of 100 clays – that’s some mighty fine shooting.

“There were several others that shot in the 90’s,” Scott told me. “Every year, I tell the kids before this shoot, that we aren’t expecting to shoot a perfect score. We measure success not by score, but by shooting your personal best – that’s the goal.”

“They get pretty keyed up before a shoot like this,” he told me. “You can see it; it takes a couple stations for the them to get their nerves under control.”

“That’s why we don’t allow our youngest shooters on our team to shoot sporting clays their first year, only trap,” said Scott. “Everyone wants to break a lot of clays and it’s not as easy as it looks. You can get someone breaking clays faster on trap than on sporting clays. It builds their confidence, and they don’t get discouraged.”

Scholastic clay target shooting continues to hold the title of the fastest growing scholastic sport. National data shows around 1.5 million sports related injuries occur in the U.S. each year, with football accounting for more than 33% of those injuries. Soccer ranks second, followed by wrestling, basketball, volleyball, and baseball/ softball; zero injuries occur with scholastic shooting sports – a true life-long sport.

According to the Wisconsin State High School Clay Target League, with greater than 150,000 athletes shooting at over 200 million targets, they never had a reported injury - a pretty impressive statistic. Coaches, organizers, parents, and the athletes themselves obviously stress safety.

Scott told me that in July the SCTP holds their National Championship Shoot at the Cardinal Shooting Center in Marengo, Ohio. All the disciplines that the shooters compete in during their season will be shot for qualifying shooters – trap, skeet, sporting clays, and five stand. The event runs from July 12 – 19. Good luck to all!

THROUGH A