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Tag: Scholastic Clay Target Program

SCTP Welcomes New Sponsor – Aguila Ammunition

The Scholastic Clay Target Program would like to welcome Aguila Ammunition to its lengthy list of supporters for the 2018 competitive shooting year! Aguila shotgun shells are redefining the genre. Aguila’s extensive shotshell line has something for everyone – whether the application is hunting, competition, clays, or home defense – from .410 to 12 Gauge and everything in between. Just ask Dave Miller, Guinness world record holder and Aguila Ammunition user! “Aguila Ammunition is proud to partner with the SCTP and support its mission of providing team shooting opportunities for young athletes,” says Kristi Drawe, Director of Marketing for Aguila Ammunition. “We’re looking forward to being a part of this year’s National Championships and introducing young shooters to the Aguila brand.” “The SCTP is very excited to onboard quality ammunition manufacturers like Aguila!” Said Tom Wondrash, SCTP’s National Director. “Aguila will help us handle the growing need for ammunition and special pricing to all of our SCTP Teams and families across the country!” Look for Aguila at this year’s national championships being held July 14th – 21st at the Cardinal Shooting Center in Marengo, Ohio! Are you or your company interested in being part of or supporting the largest competitive youth shooting program in the world? Then download the 2018 media guide or contact Tom Wondrash, SCTP National Director at twondrash@sssfonline.com

2018 SCTP National Team Trains in Gainesville

Thinking to start the year with some early season warm weather training, the Scholastic Clay Target Program National Team held its first training camp of 2018 at Gator Skeet and Trap Club in Gainesville, Florida January 3-5. Winter Storm Grayson, however, had other ideas. In spite of pouring rain and freezing temperatures, these athletes accepted the challenge, layered up, and shot just over 5000 targets in three days. SCTP athletes in attendance included  Mark Shields (NT/Missouri), AJ Nomina (NT/Colorado), Sarah Schwacher (NT/Wisconsin), Jack Brosseau (NT/Florida), Tyler Thiede (NT/Wisconsin), Madeleine Taylor (NT/Alaska), Jay Bible (walk on/Florida), Abbey Wigh (walk on/Florida), Scott Schuldt (walk on/Florida). “It was pretty miserable the first day, but they put their heads down and went to work. Goals don’t wait for the weather to clear up,” said head coach, Terri DeWitt. She and assistant skeet coach Joe Buffa will host another training camp in Tucson, Arizona prior to the USA Shooting Spring Selection Match in March. Other training camps are planned for 2018, but not yet finalized. “We couldn’t be more proud of Terri and the leadership she is providing for the SCTP National Team!” Said SCTP National Director, Tom Wondrash. “This practice and training is one of many to come that will help these team members surge in the International disciplines. People like Terri and Joe Buffa out there working with these athletes is a very welcome addition to our program!” National Team (NT) athletes earned their spot via participation and placement in the 2017 Scholastic Clay Target Program International Championships held July 23-29, 2017. 2018 national team members receive ongoing coaching in the international shooting disciplines, a USA Shooting jacket, paid fall selection match fees and ammo, along with an SCTP National Team vest, five cases of NobelSport Quattro Finest International ammunition and more!

SCHEELS To Sponsor Scholastic Clay Target Program

The Scholastic Shooting Sports Foundation is pleased to announce that SCHEELS has committed to a 3 year sponsorship at the “Red Diamond” level in support of the Scholastic Clay Target Program! SCHEELS is an employee-owned, privately held business that owes its consistent success to its empowered associates, leaders and partners who think and make decisions for their individual stores and the entire company. Today, SCHEELS is a 26-store operation with stores in 11 states including North Dakota, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota, Montana, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Nevada, Utah, and Kansas. Providing SCHEELS' customers with first-class customer service and the world's largest selection of sports, sportswear and footwear are the priorities throughout the organization. "SCHEELS is honored to be a proud supporter of the SCTP as they continue to grow and develop the sport of competitive shooting at the scholastic level.” Said Marcus Thornton, VP of Marketing. “We are excited to help play a role in the mission of the SCTP and to aid in the further development of our youth through the excitement around shooting sports." “This 3 year commitment will mark the first ever sponsorship at this level from a large sporting goods retailer for the SCTP and we are most grateful to them” commented Tom Wondrash, SCTP National Director. “SCHEELS has reset the bar in support of the youth shooting sports and youth development and we look forward to working with them for years to come!” The SCTP is excited to be working with SCHEELS and especially their individual local retail locations. The opportunity to start new teams in some areas as well as grow teams in areas where we have a team/store overlap will prove to be a win-win scenario for some time! If you or your company are interested in getting involved with the SCTP in support of youth development and youth shooting sports and teams, please contact SCTP National Director Tom Wondrash at twondrash@sssfonline.com or download the 2018 SCTP Media Guide for all sponsorship options.

Purchase ATA/NSCA/NSSA Memberships Through SCTP and Receive Team Endowment Funds!

Is your team planning on shooting your 2018 Scholastic Clay Target Program (SCTP) state shoot or perhaps a regional or our national event this year? If so, we have a program to help SCTP teams with National Governing Body (NGB) fees for the 2017/2018 shooting season as well as growing your team’s MidwayUSA Foundation Team Endowment account! Background Since 2007 the Scholastic Clay Target Program has maintained partnerships with several of our NGB’s including the Amateur Trapshooting Association (ATA)National Skeet Shooting Association (NSSA) and National Sporting Clays Association (NSCA). These partnerships require that we host “registered events” at our state (where possible) and national championships and therefore our athletes competing in these events must have current memberships with the respective NGB. These partnerships provide many benefits to SCTP athletes including:
  1. Provide a pathway and additional opportunities for youth and families to continue participating in competition clay target shooting outside of the regular SCTP season.
  2. Provide much needed SCTP Scholarship funding to our graduating athletes. In 2017 the SSSF awarded $99,600 in college scholarships, supported in part by donations from our NGB partners.
  3. Enable SCTP athletes to apply for scholarship funds available only to national governing body members through the respective NGB scholarship programs.
  4. National governing bodies provide an official historical record of an athlete's scores which are frequently requested when applying to colleges with shooting programs.
Facilitating continued involvement in the shooting sports is part of the mission of the Scholastic Shooting Sports Foundation /SCTP and we believe these partnerships with NGBs help us accomplish our mission. 2018 Incentive Program For every dollar that your team spends on NGB memberships sent in through the SHOT system, we will send that exact amount of money to your team’s MidwayUSA Foundation Team Endowment account! This will include your team’s coaches and adult volunteer memberships that are also paid through our system!! For example: “Team A” has 100 athletes who all shoot Trap. They remit payment (through SHOT or via check to SCTP Headquarters) for 100 athletes’ ATA membership dues of $12 per athlete = $1,200. The SCTP/SSSF will then send that exact amount of money into “Team A’s” Midway USA Foundation account. It’s that simple! This only includes NGB membership dues paid through the SCTP. Dues paid directly to the ATA, NSCA or NSSA are not eligible. This will include ALL NGB membership dues paid starting Sept. 1st, 2017 until May 31st OR until the first $150,000 in NGB membership dues have been received, whichever occurs first. Teams MUST have an active account with the MidwayUSA Foundation prior to May 31st in order to receive Team Endowment funding. So coaches, when registering your team remember to pay athlete NGB membership dues at that time to take advantage of this opportunity to grow your teams’ MidwayUSA Foundation Team Endowment accounts! Taking care of these fees at the time of athlete registration is as simple as checking a box in the SHOT system! Please feel free to contact our SCTP staff if you have any questions.

Become a Sponsor in 2018!

To reach the nation’s largest audience of scholastic shooting sports teams, schools, coaches, and athletes, consider one of our many sponsorship opportunities! Advertising with us gets your brand in front of thousands of shooting sports and outdoor oriented families ready to buy! Packages and options include exposure in our Range Time e-newsletter, through social media, in event programs, through e-blasts and on the ground at our national championships, plus our annual e-magazine, Inside SSSF. See all of our sponsorship options and download our 2018 Media Guides.

2018 SCTP/NSSA/NSCA Tour Dates Announced

The Scholastic Clay Target Program (SCTP) and National Skeet Shooting Association / National Sporting Clays Association (NSSA-NSCA) are pleased to announce the 2018 dates for the SCTP/NSSA/NSCA tour events. The tour is designed so SCTP youth will be able to participate in premier skeet and sporting clays events, perhaps outside of their regular SCTP season. The tour provides opportunity for SCTP youth to compete for special awards while also experiencing the environment and excitement of the top skeet and sporting clays tournaments across the country! SCTP athletes participating in NSSA and/or NSCA registered events, (including tour events) will also be eligible for NSSA-SCTP and/or NSCA-SCTP All American Teams! NSCA-SCTP All-American Team The NSCA-SCTP All-American Team recognizes SCTP athletes that compete in NSCA registered sporting clays events. To be eligible for the SCTP All-American Team a shooter must be a member in good standing with NSSA/NSCA and SCTP, must shoot a minimum of 500 NSCA registered targets, and must shoot their respective SCTP state or regional shoot or the SCTP National Championships. The NSCA-SCTP All-American Team will be determined via a points system which are earned by competing and placing against other SCTP athletes. The NSCA-SCTP All-American selection will be divided into four teams which include Open Sub-Junior, Lady Sub-Junior, Open Junior, Lady Junior. Eight members will be selected to each team. Points can be earned from January 1 to December 31 with the team being selected in the Spring of the following shooting year. Please direct questions on the team to Nathan Boyd at nboyd@nssa-nsca.com. NSSA-SCTP All-American Team The NSSA-SCTP All American Team Recognizes SCTP athletes that compete in NSSA registered skeet events. To be eligible for the SCTP All-American Team a shooter must be a member in good standing with NSSA/NSCA and SCTP, must shoot a minimum of 500 12-gauge NSSA registered targets, and must shoot their respective SCTP state or regional shoot or the SCTP National Championships. The NSSA-SCTP All-American Team will be determined via 12-gauge average. All an athlete’s 12-gauge targets shot in the shooting year (January 1 to December 31) will be used to determine the team. The NSSA-SCTP All-American selection will be divided into six teams which include Open Sub-Junior, Lady Sub-Junior, Open Junior, Lady Junior, Open Collegiate, and Lady Collegiate. Eight shooters will be selected to each of the sub-junior and junior teams. Athletes that are selected to an NSSA Sub-junior, Junior, or Collegiate Concurrent All-American Team will not be eligible to make the NSSA-SCTP All-American Team. Please direct questions on the team to Nathan Boyd at nboyd@nssa-nsca.com.
Also remember that all SCTP athletes (and coaches) can purchase their NSSA and NSCA membership through the Scholastic Shooting Sports Foundation's SHOT team registration and management system. All membership purchases through the SHOT System directly support the SCTP scholarship fund!

USA Shooting Seeks Applications for Athlete Endowment Grants

USA Shooting and the Bunker Club established the Colonel D.D. Behrens Athlete Endowment Fund to create a reliable and predictable cash flow to fund developing athletes to ensure that United States teams remain strong in the face of increasing competition from other countries. 2018 Athlete Endowment Deadline - January 30, 2018 In 2005 the Athlete Endowment Fund was established by Colonel D.D. Behrens with the intention of awarding grants to shooting sport athletes to help offset the cost of competitions, equipment, ammunition, travel and training in hopes of maintaining USA Shooting’s competitive excellence well into the future.  The goal of the endowment is to build a strong foundation of USA Shooting athletes by assisting with development of their shooting skills needed to become high-level competitors and Olympians. In 2015, eighteen athletes were the first grant recipients from the endowment.  Since then the number of athletes receiving grants have doubled.  As the endowment continues to grow with the help of generous donors, the number of athletes impacted will continue to rise. The goals of the Athlete Endowment are already being realized with several success stories from awardees, including 2016 Olympic champion Ginny Thrasher and Junior Olympic Champion Will Shaner. Recognizing the need for USA Shooting to build its own base of financial support, Col. D.D.Behrens started fundraising within a small inner-circle of hunting buddies which has now blossomed into a very loyal and dedicated group.  The Bunker Club was established at a time when USAS was in a tight financial position.  There was an immediate need to replace bunker trap machines at the International Shotgun Range in Colorado Springs.  The Bunker Club members successfully raised $200,000 to complete the project. After the initial fundraising task was completed, Bunker Club members then decided to make a long-term commitment to USA Shooting athletes.  They set forth to establish an endowment of $3 million in which, to date, have successfully raised $1.7 million.  Their continued support of athletes is amazing, and we are forever grateful. To build on this level of achievement, USA Shooting must create a strong base of financial support to ensure that our athletes can not only compete successfully in the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games, but also to build an athlete base and opportunity for young shooters to achieve success into the future. The Athlete Endowment will award athletes with grants to help cover training, competition expenses, equipment, ammunition, and travel.  Payments will be made for eligible expenses on a reimbursement by receipt basis during same calendar year as awarded grant. Application criteria are as follows:
  • Applicants must have a current USA Shooting event classification;
  • Demonstrated potential in both skill and commitment are required;
  • Applicant must be a USA Shooting member, click here for membership.
  • Members of the National Team, Development Team or National Junior Team (past or present) are not eligible for Endowment grants.
  • Members of the Junior Olympic Squad (Rifle, Pistol, Shotgun) may apply for grants.
  • Members of the USA Shooting Team who are already receiving financial assistance are not eligible for endowment grants.
Instructions USA Shooting Attn: Patsy Woods 1 Olympic Plaza Colorado Springs, CO 80909 For more information or if you have any questions or comments please contact: resourcedevelopment@usashooting.org or call 719-866-4883.

SKB Renews SCTP Sponsorship in 2018

The Scholastic Clay Target Program (SCTP) announces its continued support from SKB Shotguns out of Omaha Nebraska. SKB known for its fine side by side, over/under and single barrel competitive shotguns will once again support the SCTP as a Gold Level Sponsor for 2018. SKB offers a wide variety of quality firearms that fit the competitive shooter and hunter alike! “We are pleased to support the SCTP and its national youth program!” remarked Rob Johansen, owner and CEO of SKB Shotguns. “The SCTP gives back to its teams and coaches in many ways, we are extremely happy to be part of this quality program and its teams, athletes and coaches.” “Rob Johansen and SKB have been a strong supporter of SCTP and our national youth program for years” said Tom Wondrash, SCTP National Director. “They offer quality firearms at a good price for our youth shooters and are not only sponsors of our program, they are partners with us! We appreciate all of their continued support of youth shooting.” Look for Rob and the SKB team at SCTP Regional, state and National Championship events during the 2018 shooting year. They have a gun for almost every budget and dealers across the country that would love to work with you! Coaches, SKB also has a wonderful team raffle program available to all SCTP Teams! Are you or your company interested in supporting the largest competitive youth shooting program in the world? Download the 2018 SCTP Media Guide to see all sponsorship options or contact Tom Wondrash, SCTP National Director at twondrash@sssfonline.com

2018 SCTP Regional Championship Dates and Locations

Save the date for the 2018 Scholastic Clay Target Program Regional Championships! Regional events are a great way for SCTP teams to participate and compete with teams from all across the country. Make plans now to participate in one or more events for fun, camaraderie and some great prizes! Pre-registration for each event will be available through the SSSF SHOT system as the event dates draw closer.

2017 SCTP College Nationals

Marengo, OH - The SCTP College Nationals were held October 27-29, 2017 at the “Spooky” Cardinal Shooting Center in Marengo, OH. The facility, decked out with ghouls, goblins and witches, was once again the host for this 3rd annual College event! 231 athletes of representing 25 teams from 15 states made up over 700 registrations at this year’s College Nationals! Throwing over 125,000 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 experienced some very “terrifying” weather thanks to Mother Nature! Rain and snow coupled with temperatures dipping into the low 30’s made for some very interesting rounds! Division 1 teams comprised of this year’s (HOA) champions, Lindenwood University of Missouri! Runner up, Midland University of Nebraska gave them a tough battle as did 3rd place Bethel College from Tennessee. Division II teams included this year’s champion’s Martin Methodist of Tennessee (who had the overall HOA high score for the 2nd straight year), runner-up Ft. Hayes State University of Kansas followed by Hillsdale College of Michigan. Division III schools were represented by this year’s National Champions Emanuel College of Georgia, Runner-ups University of Alabama Clay Shooting Team and 3rd place team, Eastern Kentucky University. This year, the SCTP added Division IV. This newly added division will consist of 2 Year Colleges of which was won by Roane State Community College of Tennessee with Runner-up, Hawkeye Community College of Iowa! Individuals turning in stellar performances included Ladies HOA winner, Paige Denny of the Midland University Shotgun Team and Men’s HOA winner, Riley Ross representing Ft. Hayes State. These athletes won Shamrock Leather Shooting bags compliments of the SCTP and Shamrock! Other notables were a perfect performance shot in the Skeet event (200 Straight) by Eli Christman – Martin Methodist College! Braving the snow and frigid temperatures all day at the 2017 SCTP College Nationals on Saturday, athletes found some energy to compete in a “Spooktacular” Last Competitor Standing competition along with a costume judging contest (by their peers)! For the costume contest, coming in 1st place and dressed as a Panda Bear was Darrien Lettman. 2nd place went to Noah Adair dressed as a clown and 3rd place went to a chicken worn by Mark Beardsley! These athletes were awarded shamrock leather products and ammunition provided by Fiocchi. Congratulations and great job by all of our costume wearing athletes!! Competing in the Last Competitor Standing competition and toughing out the below average temperatures of a late October evening were the following athletes: Dressed as a “T-Rex” and fighting off all competition was the champion and “Last Competitor Standing”, Christian Salvanera! The Runner up award was won by Andy Carey with 3rd place going to Ty McCaskey, 4th awarded to Marcus Draves and 5th going to Nathan Hembree! Great job to all of the competitors and we sure hope you all had a wonderful time! “Great facility, great teams/coaches/athletes/parents and cold 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!” commented Tom Wondrash, SCTP National Director. “We received the final score sheet at about 2:00pm on Sunday, started handing out awards at 2:15 and were finished (waving good-bye) to the teams and athletes by 3:00pm! It just doesn’t get any better than that for these teams!” For a full list of results and finishes in all disciplines, please see our website at www.sssfonline.org and click on “results”. The SCTP would like to Thank the Cardinal Shooting Center for their hard work, Jeff McClure from the MidwayUSA Foundation and all the parents and teams for attending and supporting our great program! See complete results from the 2017 Scholastic Clay Target Program (SCTP) College Nationals from the Cardinal Shooting Center in Marengo, OH on the SSSF‘s SHOT system. Click on “leaderboards”, select the event you wish to see results for then select the leaderboard you would like to see. See the results here! Parties interested in starting Clay Target Shooting teams with the SCTP can contact any one of the SCTP Staff for assistance.