What’s the Fastest Growing High School Team Sport in Minnesota?

[Waher]

Now if only we could get this trend started in Massachusetts.

http://www.kare11.com/story/enterta...ng-minnesota-high-school-clay-target/9966753/

APPLE VALLEY, Minn. - Nearly 4,000 high school athletes are expected to take part in the Minnesota State High School Clay Target League's Championship this weekend in Alexandria.
Trapshooting is the state's fastest growing high school sport with more than 6,000 athletes representing 380 schools, according to John Nelson the Vice President of the Minnesota State High School Clay Target League.
"About 50 percent of our kids have never touched a gun before they joined the league," said Nelson. "Now these kids have a passion for shooting sports or for hunting."
According to the league, trapshooting is one of the three major sports of competitive clay target shooting sports with a shotgun. In trapshooting targets are launched from a single machine.
"It's like hitting a golf ball into a five-gallon bucket at 100 yards," exclaimed John Miller, the head coach of Apple Valley's Trap Shooting Club. "This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for all of these kids."
"They all get to compete equally on the same playing field and everybody's score counts," Miller said. "And that's something that's extremely endearing to the league, to the kids and basically it's the draw."
Ryan Hill, a senior at Apple Valley High School, has been trapshooting for three years and admits the sport is tough. "It's a challenge," Hill said. "You can prove yourself every time you go out there and shoot."
Every athlete must have a firearms safety certificate. The league stresses "safe and responsible handling and storage of firearms and ammunition" as its first priority.
Danielle Ravnikar joined the Apple Valley team after performing on a dance team. "It's different and I stuck with it," Ravnikar said.

 

[jefftk]

Now if only we could get this trend started in Massachusetts.

The Groton school has a trap club, they shoot at Westford Sportsmens Club occasionally.

 

[headednorth]

Good to hear. I never touched a gun til I was 40.

 

[BostonBullit]

I recall a couple years ago someone on the forum here got a Scholastic Steel Challenge team together in Wayland and was trying to help a few other people get them going in other towns. Back when I was in college in the early/mid 90s a few high schools still had smallbore rifle teams, my first coach came out of the Gloucester program and his brothers were still shooting there.

 

[Zappa]

Now if only we could get this trend started in Massachusetts.

Never happen.
Aside from the rabid anti-gun politics here, this part alone would prevent it:

"They all get to compete equally on the same playing field and everybody's score counts,"

[moonbat logic]
OMG!
You mean some students won't get any unfair advantages due to their demographics ???
And all of their scores will count ???
That means there will be winners and losers!
Can't let that happen, it'll destroy the self esteem of the losers, so it must be rigged so that everybody gets a trophy.
[/moonbat logic]

 

[jasons]

We have a bunch of pretty good and a few very good junior rifle programs here in North East. Some kids have earned very generous scholarships to schools like Ohio State, Ole Miss, and Alaska, not to mention the kids who have been recruited shoot for the various service teams. They don't get a lot of press but they are out there.

 

[Whatt]

We have a very good SSC team at the holyoke revolver club. though the team is a mix of jr/sr and they shoot on the sr. level at matches...

now the jr rifle team... its more of a stepping stone into the ssc team. of the kids we had for the session that just ended, 1 was there all but 1 week and all the others were hit/miss showing up mostly due to after school sports =/
my take is, most of them can't sit still, and it is to slow/monotonous for them. where once they go watch one of the SSC practices, it seems to get worse at rifle practices. i cant say i really blame them. 3position rifle to them probably feels like bullseye to me. i just cant bring myself to do it.

plus i doubt i could get these kids to be up for traveling to other clubs for matches, if i could even get 5person squad together that would all show up.

 

[GlockJock]

"This is awful! Absolutely horrific!!...Clay targets? Shooting guns at Play-Doh? Not in Massachusetts! NOT ON MY WATCH!!!...."

(It's for the children)