More Than a Championship: SSSF National Championships Unites 3,000 Athletes for the Largest Youth Shooting Sports Event in the World
Picture this, a hot, humid week in the middle of July at the Cardinal Shooting Center in central Ohio. At first glance, it may seem like any other summer day, that is until more than 3,000 athletes from 37 states arrive to compete in over 16,300 event entries across twelve days of competition.
Add to that, the thousands of parents, coaches, volunteers, vendors and staff who make it all possible, and you have the 2026 SSSF National Championships.
An event that is far more than a competition, it is a celebration of youth shooting sports and the community that surrounds it. As you drive through the complex, you’ll hear more than just shotguns in the background or the ring of steel targets. You’ll hear teammates celebrating with each other, parents catching up with friends they haven’t seen since last year’s championships, coaches offering encouraging words, and the laughter of many making memories that will last long after the final scores are posted.
For twelve days each summer, the Cardinal Shooting Center becomes more than a competition venue, it becomes home for the Scholastic Shooting Sports Foundation community.
In 2026, the foundation's Scholastic Action Shooting Program (SASP) National Championship saw over 2,809 entries, a new world record for any action shooting competition, with those athletes safely firing over 450,000 rounds of ammunition in competition without incident. Numerous opportunities of side matches, sponsor demos, and practices tallied in additional hundreds of thousands of rounds.
The foundation's Scholastic Clay Target Program (SCTP) had nearly 2,900 athletes and over 13,500 event entries during the twelve-day event schedule. In order to conduct a clay target event at such a large scale, well over 2 million (15 semi loads) White Flyer targets were thrown in competition, side matches, and practice.
The Forest City Juniors of Georgia once again proved why they are one of the most dominant teams in the program, capturing the Main Event High Overall (HOA) Team Championship with an impressive score of 2,114 out of 2,200 targets. The victory marks their seventh consecutive Main Event HOA title, a remarkable streak that began in 2020.
The race for the championship was one of the closest in recent memory. The PC Eagles of Iowa claimed runner-up honors, finishing just one target behind the champions. McKenzie Shooting Sports made its first appearance among the top HOA finishers, earning third place with 2,111 targets. A familiar contender, Hunting Hills, followed closely in fourth with 2,109 targets, while another newcomer to the HOA leaderboard, the Muddy Road Shooting Team, rounded out the top five with 2,101 targets. Even more impressive? Their team practices in a cow pasture, a reminder that dedication and hard work matter far more than fancy facilities.
From first through fifth place, just 13 targets separated the nation's top teams, highlighting the incredible depth of talent and fierce competition on display throughout the 2026 SCTP National Championships.
A longtime tradition of the SCTP Nationals is the Last Competitor Standing or "Annie Oakley" event. This massive-scale elimination event saw over 430 clay target athletes lined up across the length of fifteen trap fields to determine who would come home with bragging rights and impressive prizes from SCTP sponsors. Withstanding the pressure of fierce elimination matches, the men's champion, William Hyde (from North Scott, IA) and the ladies champion, Macey McNitt (from Osceola, WI) were awarded patriotic Negrini Shotgun cases and ammo cases, along with custom belt buckles for their achievement. McNitt then won in a head-to-head shoot off for a Browning Silver Field 12 ga. further showing that shooting sports is truly gender neutral.
Becoming an increasingly popular event, the Make-A-Break competition attracted nearly 3,800 participants. For the team championships, the Forest City Juniors claimed the title as champions, taking home the Ray Forman trophy. On the individual side, Aiden Rawland beat out the men and continued on against the top female, Peyton Hilliard (sister to Taylor Hilliard, last year's overall champion) and claimed his title as overall champion.
Shooting sports continues to be a level-playing field where winning can be achieved without being the strongest athlete or the fastest runner. Athletes come from a wide range of backgrounds and some that do not find their place in traditional sports often find success in shooting sports. Athletes also find enormous success in youth shooting sports, regardless of gender. The SASP's National Championships saw 30% female participation.
SASP also demonstrated some fierce competition throughout the tournament and had their first tie in 15 years for female intermediate entry rimfire pistol optic. Calli Carrol of The Ross County Steel Ringers and Riley Cook of Central Texas Shooting Team were tied with a time of 56.23 seconds; we used their total time for Pop Quiz to break the tie.
In our Iron Rifle division WWCCA IR and STR Open RFRI were separated by .01 of a second, another impressive showing of how close the competition is at the National Championships.
These youth also find the clear social benefit from the team-based environment the SSSF's two programs offer. The SASP and SCTP programs focus on team-based youth shooting sports as the catalyst for youth development into high-quality, responsible young adults. SCTP and SASP members benefit from a year-long season, with local, state, and regional events, culminating in the National Championship each July. As the largest youth shooting sports event in the world, the youth development programs hold industry-wide support, with many sponsors present on site to support the event such as GLOCK, Tandemkross, Ruger, Winchester, Browning, Federal, Vortex Optics, Kolar, Beretta, and more.
