With clay target league to begin, top shooters, coach explain why you should participate
The top high school clay target shooters in the country are from southwestern Pennsylvania and they and their coach believe more schools should become involved in this fun sport.
“We’re pushing 70,” Ken Brooks, state director of the Pennsylvania State High School Clay Target League, said about the number of schools across Pennsylvania that are involved in the extra-curricular activity. The students participate in sporting clays, trap shooting, skeet and five-stand events.
“You need three kids for individual competition, five kids for team competition and a letter of approval from the school,” he said about the teams including high school students, home schools and colleges. The other key things that are needed include a coach and a place to shoot like a sporting clays or trap facility.
Brooks coaches at Connellsville School District in Fayette County where the top male and female shooters in the country competed.
Evan Means, 18, a senior at the school was surprised when the fall results came out that he was the top league shooter in the United States.
“I remember first finding out when our coach texted my dad and we were sitting in the kitchen and my dad just walked over and didn’t say anything and high-fived me. I was like ‘What?’ and he was like ‘You won!,’” Means said.
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As the reigning overall high school champion in the USA High School Sporting Clays League, Means is looking forward to the competitions this spring.
“It’s a real tough mental game. A lot of sports are big, physical games. But shooting, there’s nothing really physical to it," said Means, who has also played tennis, baseball, basketball and golf over his high school career. "It’s just making sure you stay in that mindset and focus for that long of time. It’s been a different aspect of all the other sports that I’ve played and it’s actually helped with the other sports in that aspect, too.”
When it comes to sporting clays, Means likes how it’s been something he can do with his father, Paul.
“Me and my dad always go shoot every Sunday, so that always it made it real special for me,” he said.
For those wondering about the safety of shooting sports, Means said it’s a safe activity with zero accidents in a controlled environment. It’s an activity people can do throughout their life.
“My dad’s been shooting since he was in high school and he’s still shoots with me every week,” he said.
After high school, Means plans to attend West Virginia University. They don’t have a clay target team, but they do have a rifle team that he’s considering.
“It would definitely be a challenge to get into, but I think it would be a fun one,” he said.
Means is looking forward to the start of the spring league.
“The clear goal is to win again, but also to keep shooting the best I that I can,” he said.
Success runs in his family. His cousin, Bailey Liska, is the reigning female USA high school sporting clays champion first place varsity shooter.
The 17-year-old is a junior on the Connellsville Area High School sporting clays team. When she reflecting on being the top female shooter in the United States in the league, she said, “That’s crazy, this is actually my first year shooting sporting clays, so it was definitely a shock. It was not expected.”
While it was Liska's first time competing in sporting clays, it’s not her first competition.
“I shot trap for four years now, but I decided to do sporting clays,” she said, adding there was some encouragement from Brooks. “Apparently it was a good idea,” she said with a laugh.
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Liska has been shooting most of her life and started shooting sporting clays and trap when she was in eighth grade.
“I like, personally, that it’s an individual sport. You can hone in on your own skills and focus on what you need to work on," Liska said. "Once you do improve and get good enough, you can branch out and help other people.”
She also is involved in playing basketball and Jr. ROTC, where she shoots air rifles with their marksman team.
With the different types of shooting sports, she said sporting clays has a special place for her.
“You’re really in the middle of the woods, so you’re surrounded by nature which is calming in itself and go up to the spot and just relax and just shoot and don’t think about it," Liska said. "It’s honestly, it’s just really calming and a time for yourself just to improve. And then whenever you hit that (clay) bird, it’s just like OK, it’s nice."
She likes helping others learn to shoot more accurately and may end up trying to be on a college team, depending on where her education takes her in the future.
“It is a different sport than what people would normally go for, especially being a female. Not very many people are doing it and it’s definitely growing,” Liska said.
She urges people to give it a try as some people pick it up quickly.
The spring season starts the first week of April and concludes with a state tournament to be held in June in Elysburg, Northumberland County.
The events include:
Trap: Shooting two 25-target rounds for a total of 50 targets from the 16-yard station.
Skeet: Shooting two 25-target rounds for a total of 50 targets from eight different stations on a skeet field.
Sporting clays: Shooting a total of 50 targets from six to 12 different stations on a sporting clays field. Each station round will consist of six to 10 targets per station.
Five-stand: Shooting two 25-target rounds for a total of 50 targets. Athletes compete in turn taking five shots at clay targets from five separate stations (stands). Targets are thrown from five to eight randomly-placed throwers in a field.
“Everybody doesn’t play your traditional sports, basketball, football, baseball, softball. This gives a kid an alternative to play, somebody that is into hunting and fishing, it gives them a nice alternative to do,” Brooks said.
“We advertise it as Pennsylvania’s safest sport because there are no concussions or broken bones that you are going to get from this."
Most students use 12-gauge shotguns but some do use lighter 20-gauge models. Most action types like double barrel, over and under, semi-automatics and pump shotguns are used.
The teams have fundraisers to help pay for their expenses, including the shotgun shells.
In a trap competition, a student may shoot 50 shots a week for eight weeks. A box of 25 shells can cost them $11 or $12. They also have to pay range fees depending on the location of the event.
Students can go on to compete at the college level as well.
“There are scholarships available through the league,” Brooks said.
“It’s a great sport. It’s a lot of fun. People think a bunch of teenagers or younger running around with guns is the wild, wild west and that’s just not true. It’s a very controlled environment. The kids love it."
Over the years, Brooks said there’s only been three or four kids that quit because of a job or that they had to move away. “Kids usually don’t quit once they start doing it.”
It’s a skill that takes practice to master and Brooks urges anyone wanting to get started to take a lesson from a trainer.
Visit paclaytarget.com for more details on participating in the league.
Brian Whipkey is the outdoors columnist for USA TODAY Network sites in Pennsylvania. Contact him at bwhipkey@gannett.com and sign up for our weekly Go Outdoors PA newsletter email on this website's homepage under your login name. Follow him on Facebook @whipkeyoutdoors, and Instagram at whipkeyoutdoors.
This article originally appeared on The Daily American: How do schools start a sporting clay league in Pennsylvania
