Bwana
01-23-2018, 10:09 AM
So last spring, and RIGHT before the signup deadline, we were able to get school board permission to start a clay target league in our three public high schools here in town. We ended up with 35 kids on a three day notice and though we had a fairly steep learning curve we got through our inaugural season quite nicely with a pretty decent showing at the state shoot. During the fall season we had 48 shooters from grades 6-12 competing and though there was no state shoot, we had 3 boys and 3 girls who finished in the top 10 in the state!
The USA Clay Target League started in 2000 or 2001 in Minnesota but North Dakota didn't have any schools participating until 2015 with a grand total of 4. Last year we were up to 38 schools with a total of more than 900 kids shooting and this year will be even bigger. Our state shoot is going to be a two-day event this year.
At this time we coaches are in the process of trying to secure sponsorships from wherever we can to help cut down the cost of shooter participation, holding informational/sign-up meetings in the schools, and trying to make it so the shooters can earn a varsity letter just as kids can in football, basketball, etc. and we are REALLY close. From the start of this thing, being able to letter was one of my goals for this program as not every kid is good at a ball sport and now many colleges look at varsity lettering as part of their application process so why not give these kids the chance to try to earn a letter? I have a meeting with the Athletic Director this coming Monday to discuss the draft lettering criteria that I drafted and submitted for review. We will see how that goes, but I have to say it feels great knowing that our school board is VERY much behind us with this program.
Given the interest in our program, I fully expect we will have at least 100 kids for this spring season as one of the private schools has asked to be a part of our effort as well as the sister city across the river from us. Now we are up to 5 area schools, very near to having a lettering program, and hoping to get some additional funding so we can kick off the 2018 in grand style on our March 25th season opener!
The USA Clay Target League started in 2000 or 2001 in Minnesota but North Dakota didn't have any schools participating until 2015 with a grand total of 4. Last year we were up to 38 schools with a total of more than 900 kids shooting and this year will be even bigger. Our state shoot is going to be a two-day event this year.
At this time we coaches are in the process of trying to secure sponsorships from wherever we can to help cut down the cost of shooter participation, holding informational/sign-up meetings in the schools, and trying to make it so the shooters can earn a varsity letter just as kids can in football, basketball, etc. and we are REALLY close. From the start of this thing, being able to letter was one of my goals for this program as not every kid is good at a ball sport and now many colleges look at varsity lettering as part of their application process so why not give these kids the chance to try to earn a letter? I have a meeting with the Athletic Director this coming Monday to discuss the draft lettering criteria that I drafted and submitted for review. We will see how that goes, but I have to say it feels great knowing that our school board is VERY much behind us with this program.
Given the interest in our program, I fully expect we will have at least 100 kids for this spring season as one of the private schools has asked to be a part of our effort as well as the sister city across the river from us. Now we are up to 5 area schools, very near to having a lettering program, and hoping to get some additional funding so we can kick off the 2018 in grand style on our March 25th season opener!