Are you an outstanding high school sophomore or junior actively engaged in academics, leadership and community service? Time to apply for the 2017 Youth Education Summit taking place July 24-July 30, 2017. Applications must be postmarked by Friday, January 13, 2017. Every summer the NRA selects 45-50 impressive high school students from across the country to participate in a week-long competitive fellowship in Washington DC. The week wraps up with a celebratory dinner where $15,000 is awarded out to those exceptional students who embody leadership as both individuals and as a collective. Students with an interest in becoming NRA Ambassadors can submit applications the following year for an additional $25,000 Grand Scholarship. The mission of the Y.E.S program is to give you the opportunity to explore your passion for our American government, Bill of Rights and the US Constitution, encourage you to become a responsible citizen who participates in the democratic process and empower you to return to your community with a proactive voice for the Second Amendment. Entry into the Y.E.S program requires submission of a completed application form, high school transcript, a three-page essay on the Second Amendment, a one page personal statement, and three letters of recommendation. Since its inception in 1996, more than 800 students have graduated from Y.E.S. and over $500,000 in college scholarships have been awarded. Please click here for the application.  

And the winner is……Martin Methodist College! The SCTP College Nationals were held this past weekend at the “Spooky” Cardinal Shooting Center in Marengo, Ohio, Oct. 28-30, 2016. The facility, decked out with ghouls, goblins and witches, was once again the host for this 2^nd annual college event! Two hundred and seventy one athletes representing teams from 16 states made up over 853 registrations at this year’s College Nationals! Throwing more than 148,600 clay targets in trap, skeet, sporting clays, bunker trap and 5-stand kept the Cardinal Center staff quite busy for a few days. This year’s tournament saw an increase of 11 teams and almost 100 athletes over last year’s “inaugural” Championship event. Division 1 teams comprised of this year’s (HOA) champions, Martin Methodist College of Tennessee also included runner up Lindenwood University of Missouri and 3^rd place Bethel College from Tennessee. Division II teams included this year’s champion’s Ft. Hays State University of Kansas followed by the Clemson University Shotgun team of South Carolina and taking 3^rd was Midland University Shooting team of Nebraska. Division III schools were represented by this year’s National Champions Hillsdale College of Michigan, runner-ups Roane State Community College Raiders of Tennessee and 3^rd place University of Alabama Clay Shooting Team. The SCTP/SSSF has made available over $140,000 to teams in their MidwayUSA Foundation accounts for their placements at this year’s National event! Individuals turning in stellar performances included Ladies HOA winner, Bailey Crenshaw of the Clemson team, and Men’s HOA winner, Austin Svoboda representing Ft. Hays State. These athletes won SKB IS-300 shotguns compliments of the SCTP and SKB Shotguns. Other notables were perfect performances shot in the trap event (200 straight) by Caleb Lindsey – Martin Methodist College, Austin Svoboda – Ft. Hays State and Justin Osborn – Martin Methodist College. Lindsey would go on to win the Individual National title with another 50 straight to beat out Svoboda and Osborn. The tournaments “Last Competitor Standing” competition held Saturday evening saw Madeline Kittrell of the Roane State Community College Raiders taking the top ladies honor and Ryan Gough from Ft. Hays State outlasting the guys. Madeline would go on to take on the top Men’s champion showing them that the ladies ruled this year. Madeline won a beautiful Shamrock leather shooting bag for her hard work while both competitors won $1,000 Scholarships compliments of the SCTP and the NRA! “The SCTP staff, along with the Cardinal Center, did a fantastic job! Site improvements, shoot quality and the hard of work of these folks was definitely noticed and appreciated by all that attended,” said Chad Wittenburg, head coach of the Martin Methodist College Clay Target Team of Tennessee. “This tournament has become one of the pinnacle shoots for college shooting teams, drawing some of the best (and newest) teams from across the country. I am simply amazed by our athletes. Their dedication and commitment is very clear in our first ever Division I National Title!” Tom Wondrash, SCTP national director, said, “Great facility, great teams/coaches/athletes/parents and GREAT weather! The SCTP Team worked very hard and thoroughly enjoyed working with these great teams. We are extremely excited and looking forward to next year’s tournament! We received the final score sheet at about 1 p.m. on Sunday, started handing out awards at 1:10 and were finished (waving good-bye) to the teams and athletes by 2:00pm! It just doesn’t get any better than that for these teams!” For a full list of results and finishes in all disciplines, please visit www.sssfonline.org and click on “results”. The SCTP would like to thank the Cardinal Shooting Center for its hard work, Terri Dewitt from the MidwayUSA Foundation and all the parents and teams for attending and supporting our great program. Parties interested in starting clay target shooting teams with the SCTP, college or high school, can contact any one of the SCTP staff for assistance. Their information is listed at the bottom of the website.  

The 2015-2016 SASP Virtual Match Series entries have been entered and reviewed.  We want to say thank you to all the teams that participated. This year we wanted to be able to offer more teams the opportunity to receive Team Endowment funding to their MidwayUSA Foundation accounts for participating, so we had the results calculated based on the Lewis class system of dividing the divisions into two groups. The following teams will be receiving Team Endowment funding to their MidwayUSA Foundation account:

Team	Totals
Gaston Young Guns	$10,000
Crew 401 – Pine Tree Council	$2,000
YSSA Steel Smashers	$15,250
University of Florida Practical Pistol	$4,500
Adams State University Shooting Club	$4,250
Team LoCo Motion	$5,250
Michigan State Shooting Club	$3,750
Central Florida Rifle & Pistol Club	$13,500
WWCCA Straight Shooters	$5,750
NOAH	$1,000
Blue Grass Sportsmen’s League	$3,000
Mason Dixon	$2,000
Pistol Prodigies	1,500
Okaloosa Post 543	$750
Leon County Post #15, Lead Slingers	$1,500

For a look at the scores, please visit our website www.sssfonline.org. If your team did not send in scores last year, please consider participating in the virtual match series this year.  With the Lewis classing anyone can potentially win; you don’t have to be the fastest time. The new target year began September 1 so that means we are in a new Virtual Match Series and we are accepting scores for this year’s match. Don’t forget that we will be selecting a random monthly drawing for those teams that submit their score sheets for matches they shoot each month. Congratulations everyone.  

With only one week of letter writing, and just a few parents and coaches participating, we have already raised over $1,000 for the Kettle Moraine Lasers. We still have over 90% of our parent volunteers yet to send out their letters/emails. Here are a few suggestions for coaches conducting their own campaign. Pick a goal you wish to accomplish with the Vision 20/20 campaign. Our team goal is to raise $5,000 and also win the $10,000 prize for our Team Endowment account at the MidwayUSA Foundation, (your team might have much to say about that). However, it is difficult to manage the end results and actual money raised. But you can manage the behavior. By that I mean if you seek 50% involvement from your supporters, and each of those people send out 10 to 15 letters you can fairly predict your return. In my business we refer to that as “cookbook” training. If you follow the recipe, use the same quality ingredients, and bake at the same temperature, should you not get the same results? If you use the email letter SSSF has supplied and mail it to close friends and family with a personal touch, you should get a 10% - 15% donor return. Our average gift has been over $50!! If you want to raise $5,000, you will need an average gift of $50 and you would need 100 donors. To get 100 donors you would need to send out 1000 emails. Thus you would need about 66 people to send out 15 emails. Your result might differ, but you can manage the activity needed to achieve your goal. Remember, the issue is not setting the goal too high and failing a achieve it, the issue is setting the goal too low and reaching it! Good Luck and let me know if I can help you. Wayne Dehn, Head Coach Kettle Moraine Lasers - Waukesha, WI Wayne@sandler.com 262-490-4550 About the Vision 20/20 Leadership Giving Campaign The Scholastic Shooting Sports Foundation (SSSF) has kicked off a new membership drive and fundraising campaign titled Vision 20/20. The purpose of the campaign is two-fold:

1. Provide a platform to boost our annual, national athlete membership in the SCTP and SASP from 15,000 youth to over 20,000 youth by the year 2020.
2. Provide local teams with the much needed funding to grow and sustain AND provide financial resources for the SSSF, through its programs, to start new teams where none exist today.

The 2016 campaign will run from October through mid-December. Head coaches of SCTP and SASP teams have been provided with fundraising starter kits and instructions on how to conduct their local leadership giving campaign. By participating, teams raise money, earn Rudy Project glasses and have the opportunity to earn up to $10,000 in funds for their MidwayUSA Foundation Team Endowment Account. As the campaign progresses we will be providing state leaders and team coaches with updates on the campaign and status of top fundraising teams. Team participation is entirely voluntary.  

Over sixty people gathered in Columbia, Missouri October 14th and 15th to celebrate the youth shooting sports industry.  The MidwayUSA Foundation hosted partners from across the nation at its annual Youth Shooting Partners Conference.   “To accomplish our mission of helping communities fund their youth shooting teams, we rely on the assistance of partners, both at the state and national level.  These partners are hosting competitions, helping create more teams and assisting with fundraisers, so we wanted to bring them together to say thank you and offer more tools to help grow and sustain youth shooting sports,” said Randy Moeller, MidwayUSA Foundation Executive Director.  The two-day conference, held annually, covered information about MidwayUSA Foundation programs, 501(c)(3) tips, fundraising ideas, and offered all the partners a chance to network and speak about their respective programs.

Sharon Roddey, South Carolina Youth Shooting Foundation Director, spoke about her experience at the conference. “Meeting with others that have a likeminded vision, as well as sharing ideas and learning during the conference, enabled us [partners] to have a better understanding of the programs and opportunities available.  The conference provided us with tools to assist in making our teams and agencies successful in growing their MidwayUSA Foundation Team and Agency Endowment Accounts.  It is an honor to be associated with an organization that is working to ensure a legacy for youth shooting.” The MidwayUSA Foundation is a 501(c)(3) public charity working to sustain the shooting sports industry by providing long-term funding to youth shooting teams.  High school and college shooting teams each have a Team Endowment Account that they grow with donations, fundraisers, and earnings.  Then, each year, they are eligible to receive a grant to assist with team expenses.   Every donation made is 100% tax deductible and is matched by the MidwayUSA Foundation’s matching program.     For more information about how the MidwayUSA Foundation is changing the future of youth shooting sports, please visit www.midwayusafoundation.org or call 1-877-375-4570.

The Texas State Rifle Association Foundation hosted a two-day NRA Level 1 Pistol Coach class on September 17 – 18, 2016.  The class was held at a private range in Driftwood, Texas.   Angela Gerlich, the 0perations coordinator for the TSRA, assembled a group of leaders including 11 adults and one junior interested in learning about risk management, the fundamentals of coaching, ethics and other skills that benefit them while coaching our junior athletes. After the classroom portion was concluded, the candidates spent time on the range reviewing shooting fundamentals and proper safety procedures.  These new coaches are dedicated to providing our youth with the leadership that is necessary to run a top quality youth shooting program. For more information about how to participate as a SASP volunteer or if you are a Coach that is interested in hosting a NRA pistol Coach class to support teams in your area, contact the SASP staff for the class requirements.  

Support Your Local Shooting Team and Promote Reading with OutdoorIQ’s Youth and Children’s Books OutdoorIQ is partnering with the Scholastic Shooting Sports Foundation (SSSF) and its teams for a book sales fundraiser to assist in raising money for your team's expenses.  Teams will keep 30% of their total sales.  OutdoorIQ will also contribute 5% back to the national office to be used for a scholarship fund. Additional information:

• Full Color Customer Electronic Flier.
• Additional Order Form
• Fundraising Letter to Team and Coaches
• Fundraiser FAQs
• Sales Tips and Idea Sheet

If you are interested in participating in this fundraiser, please contact OutdoorIQ for the flyer/order forms you will need for your team members.  OutdoorIQ will mail out the fliers so you can start selling.  This flier is a great tool to sell the books and products offered by this program. The deadline for orders is Dec. 10, 2016. The OutdoorIQ website address is also on the flier so customers can visit the site and view online samples of the books.  When your customers see the content and quality of these one-of-a-kind books and products, they will want to purchase them. OutdoorIQ looks forward to partnering with you to make this fundraising opportunity successful. Prize money will be awarded to the MidwayUSA Foundation endowment accounts of the teams with the top sales! 1^st place - $10,000 2^nd place - $8,000 3^rd place - $6,000 4^th place - $4,000 5^th place - $2,000 See more at: https://sssfonline.org/outdooriq-partners-with-sssf-to-assist-in-fundraising-efforts/

Originally published in Oldham Era Four years may seem well in the future to some, but it’s the target Sam Blevins has set his sites on. What is the significance of 2020? The Summer Olympics held in Tokyo. Blevins, a freshman at Oldham County High School, received word from the Amateur Trap Shooting Association (ATA) that he made the All-American team after a grueling schedule of events to qualify for the honor. He was also the only shooter in Kentucky to make the 2016 Scholastic Shooting Sports Foundation and National Rifle Association All-Scholastic Team. Over the span of eight months, Blevins shot in nearly 40 ATA competitions, winning 18 times and finished second on 17 occasions. Trap shooting is different than other forms of competitive shooting like precision rifle competitions or Fullbore target shooting. Instead of a rifle, a shotgun is used which fires a wide pattern of projectiles at a moving target. In ATA trap, the machine that throws the clay targets oscillates back and forth, so the shooter knows the point of origin and the height, but doesn’t know the angle of the target until it emerges from the house. Until recently Blevins has shot primarily American Trap, where targets will travel 42-43 miles per hour with limited angles and at the same height, but he is now making the transition to Bunker Trap, which is the official Olympic competition. In August, Blevins attended the Junior Olympic Development Camp at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado and shot his first round of Bunker Trap, which is much more difficult because the clays are thrown at varying speeds upwards of 80 miles per hour and at wider angles. Spending a week in Colorado Springs, Blevins met with Olympic coaches to learning about Bunker Trap shooting. By the end of the week, Blevins realized he liked Bunker Trap shooting and wanted to pursue an opportunity at the upcoming Olympics. He also had the opportunity to spend time with many of the Paralympians preparing for their Olympic games. “It was really cool to see, I was nervous at the beginning of the week, but by the end I wanted to stay there because it was an amazing experience,” Blevins said. Once Blevins returned from the Junior Olympic Training, his father, Joe Blevins, and he decided to try for the 2020 Olympics. Some people questioned the goal, but Joe Blevins called it optimistic and didn’t see a reason to set a goal eight or 12 years down the road. Former Olympic team member Terry Dewitt is Blevins’ Olympic coach, and Blevins travels to Fairfield Sportsmen’s Club, just outside of Cincinnati, for his regular practices and to work with her when she can make it in from her home in Missouri. Coach Dewitt also mentors Joe Blevins in coaching Olympic trap so he can work with Sam when she is not available. Joe Blevins said Bunker Trap will magnify any weaknesses that shooters have in American Trap, something that Sam is going through as he transitions. “In American Trap you don’t really have to stress yourself very much, you want to do your form and you want to do it correctly. You want to do it correctly every time because consistency is key. But when you shoot Bunker Trap it is different,” Sam Blevins said. “I am starting all over again. I have to relearn my form and do things a little differently. Instead of leaning forward where I felt comfortable I have to get out of my box and do things a bit differently.” With a change in stance and adjustments to be made, Blevins also decided to add a new element to his training, which includes live firing and a DryFire simulator. To improve his core strength and balance, Blevins has begun taking taekwondo. “It is different, but it will help me with my balance,” Sam Blevins said, adding that he had fun in his first lesson last week at Brown’s Traditional Taekwondo in Louisville. Although the prospect of the Olympics lies ahead, the process to this point wasn’t easy. Blevins was eight years old when he first shot a rifle, but didn’t connect with shooting until he received a shotgun from his grandfather. He thought rifles were boring and enjoyed the action of shotguns more. Working on his craft every night for years, Blevins improved as a shooter and nearly earned All-American status last year. After missing out on the honor a year ago, Blevins and his father dedicated themselves to earning the title. With the season running from Sept. 1 2015 to Aug. 31, 2016, Blevins won 37 different events in seven different states. The constant travel schedule was demanding for Joe and Sam Blevins, but the dedication eventually paid off.  The younger Blevins said the long road trips helped him learn how to be patient. The experiences also allowed him to realize he wouldn’t win every single time, which helped him handle competitions better. “We were road warriors,” Joe Blevins said. “There wasn’t very much time at home.” As a pre-shooting routine, Blevins will drink a Coke before competitions to give him a rush of energy while trying to avoid large meals hours leading up to it. Though the score is the deciding factor on where he will place, Blevins doesn’t go into a competition with a goal based around scoring. “I don’t try to make goals based on scores. I make goals about my form. If you make goals about your scores then that is all you can focus on,” Sam Blevins said. “The only thing you’re thinking about is not the thing that is going to get you your score. It is the end. You can’t think about what is going to happen, you have to think about what is going to make it happen.” Sam was the first member of the Kentucky Clay Busters, a team started in 2013 by Joe which practices at the Jefferson Gun Club in Brooks. In four years, it has grown to 25 members and recently won the Kentucky State AIM Shoot, including the highest team score in the state in all categories. Joe Blevins said the team is transitioning this year from ATA to more focus on Scholastic Clay Target Program (SCTP). To reach the 2020 Olympics, Sam will first have to compete in up to five national competitions this year and hopefully at the USA Shooting Junior Olympic Nationals competition, if he qualifies. He will also have an opportunity at a state shoot in Cincinnati because there isn’t a Bunker Trap qualifier in Kentucky. With 125 targets in a competition, Blevins expects hitting 115 or more should get him an invitation to nationals. If interested in joining the Clay Busters, Joe Blevins can be reached at (502) 551-7940.

Tucson hosted a two-day NRA Level 1 Pistol Coach class on October 15 - 16, 2016. This class had 16 individuals from several different programs including leaders from the Scholastic Clay Target Program (SCTP), the Boy Scouts of America, a collegiate pistol team and a high-school team. The NRA Coach program teaches risk management, the fundamentals of coaching, ethics and other skills that will benefit them while working with these competitive athletes. The candidates took a break from the classroom to spend time on the range reviewing shooting fundamentals and proper safety procedures. These new coaches are dedicated to providing the leadership that is necessary to run a top quality youth shooting program. For more information about how to participate as a Scholastic Action Shooting Program (SASP) volunteer or if you are a coach that is interested in hosting a NRA pistol Coach class to support teams in your area, contact the SASP staff for the class requirements.  

On October 1^st, 2016, Carroll County Shooting Sports Park hosted the Scholastic Action Shooting Program's 2016 Southeast Fall Regional.  The event included 101 entries from eight teams representing Alabama, Illinois, Michigan and Tennessee. There were 45 rimfire pistol, 11 centerfire pistol, 15 rifle iron sight, and 30 rifle optic entries.  It was a gorgeous fall day in west Tennessee. The athletes got to be the first to shoot on four brand new bays with cowboy town facades that Carroll County had just built for SASP athletes.  Carroll County now has eight cowboy town bays set up for SASP. Coaches if you want your team to have a great time and shoot at a beautiful range, plan to attend one of the matches at the Carroll County Shooting Sports Park in Tennessee.