The Scholastic Shooting Sports Foundation (SSSF) held its National Championships in Marengo, Ohio, from July 9-20, and once again set records for youth participation in shooting sports.
The SSSF manages two youth development programs: the Scholastic Clay Target Program (SCTP) and the Scholastic Action Shooting Program (SASP). In both programs, adult coaches and volunteers use shooting sports to teach and demonstrate sportsmanship, responsibility, honesty, teamwork and other positive life skills.
Thousands of students from elementary school through high school and college participate in SCTP and SASP programs across the country. Both programs were originally developed by the National Shooting Sports Foundation in conjunction with the firearms industry and shooting governing bodies. Now governed by the Scholastic Shooting Sports Foundation, SCTP’s goal is “to introduce youth shooting sports to as many as possible, helping them use sports to develop and grow.”
This is one of the largest shooting events in the world, breaking participation records once again this year. According to Tom Davis, SSSF’s marketing and communications manager, the 2024 SCTP and SASP National Championships had 3,657 youth athletes registered, which is about 500 more than last year.
2024 SCTP Nationals
The SCTP National Championships are truly an amazing sight. Thousands of young people along with their parents, grandparents and other spectators fill the Cardinal Shooting Center. Teams are affiliated with gun clubs, high schools, colleges and universities.
Team members, coaches and parents wear custom made shirts, hats and shooting vests with their names imprinted or embroidered on them, along with their team’s name or logo and sponsors.
Vendors on the ground do lively business selling “Trap Mom” and “Shooting Sports Grandma” t-shirts and hats to family members who follow their kids around and cheer them on as they compete. Families at these shooting events are just as enthusiastic about cheering for their sons and daughters as those at any Little League baseball or travelling soccer competition. While movie stars have their paparazzi following them, SCTP athletes have their “mamarazzi” following them and taking photos.
They proudly fly flags with their team logos along with state and American flags on their ATVs, golf carts and pop-up tents on the grounds.
SCTP provides kids the opportunity to participate in Trap, Trap Doubles, Handicap Trap, Skeet, Make-A-Break, Five-Stand and Sporting Clays. They also compete in the Olympic disciplines of Bunker Trap and International Skeet. SCTP is an official feeder program to USA Shooting, serving as a path to the U.S. Olympic Shooting Team.
SSSF competitions are different from other sports in several ways. Men and women compete against each other and everyone on the team is afforded the opportunity to compete. These are team-based shooting sports where there is no such thing as being “benched” offering a truly level playing field to all.
Davis said that participation in the SCTP program is important for the continuation of competitive shotgun sports.
“We all know that quite literally, the future of shotgun sports lies right here with the SCTP. As these young adults grow up and get out into the world, they will look back fondly on their time spent with friends in the clay target sports and foster that opportunity for the next generation,” he said.
SCTP shooters are classified in multiple age divisions: Rookie (fifth grade and under), Intermediate/Entry Level (grades six to eight in their first year), Intermediate/Advanced (grades seven and eight), Junior Varsity (grades nine to 12 in their first year), Varsity (grades 10 to 12) and Collegiate. Awards are presented to individuals, squads and teams in each division, as well as to the High Over All champions.
Like the Olympics, the SSSF held an Opening Ceremony on Wednesday, July 17, to provide an opportunity for the shooters, coaches and families to celebrate their team spirit and state pride. A “parade of states” was held where the shooters paraded in front of the grandstands on the trap field, proudly wearing their team apparel and waving team and state flags.
Vendor buildings at the Cardinal Center are open throughout the event and several other vendors set up tents and trailers where they show their products and offer services to shooters. Youth shooters and their families enjoy shopping in the vendor buildings and tents when they are not on the line shooting in an event. Many of the major firearm, ammunition, hearing, eyewear and apparel manufacturers see this as an opportunity to support the youth shooters. Several manufacturers allow shooters to try out new guns on practice fields dedicated to vendor demonstrations. In addition, many companies bring their gunsmiths to the event to assist shooters.
To enable the younger shooters to learn more about collegiate shooting programs, and the availability of college scholarships for shooting sports, the SCTP holds a College Day on Friday. Representatives from colleges across the country set up tables and provide information about their shooting programs to hundreds of shooters and their parents who attend. Many of the collegiate shooters who participate in the SCTP Nationals attend College Day and represent their college or university. They talk with high school shooters and their parents about the school that they attend and their experience as collegiate student-athletes.
Encouraging Young People
Youth shooters in the SCTP program have gone on to shoot for collegiate teams and several have competed in the Olympics as well. In fact, shooting in the SCTP program can positively affect their lives in many ways.
Max Hatfield, from Wadsworth, Ohio, is an example of how the SCTP program has been influential in his life. Hatfield is a member of the Buckeye Chippewa Trapshooting Club squad and is in the Varsity division.
Hatfield and his teammates are from the Buckeye Chippewa team that won the International Bunker Trap competition at this year’s SCTP Nationals. Shooting with teammates Joseph Prentovich of Tallamadge, Ohio, and Jake Krahe of Medina, Ohio, they posted a final score of 322/375. They finished High Over All in the competition and in first place in the Men’s Senior Team division. With a personal score of 111, Hatfield took third place on the individual leaderboard.
As a result of placing third, Hatfield will now be a member of the SCTP International Team, which enables him to compete in Junior Olympic competitions.
Hatfield was excited about the honor because his goal is to eventually shoot for the Olympic Team in Bunker Trap. He credits his participation in the SCTP program with putting him on the path to reach his goal and for instilling a love of shotgunning in him.
“If we’re talking about just going out and having fun, I would say Sporting Clays is my favorite game. But in terms of competition, Olympic trap—International Trap—is hands down the hardest level of competition. It’s the hardest game to shoot, in my opinion. It’s hands down my favorite to shoot competition because I like pressure. I like the challenge and there’s no bigger stage than shooting in the Olympics,” he said.
Shooting for an SCTP team has also shaped his life in other ways. Hatfield recently graduated from Wadsworth High School and will be attending Jacksonville University on a shooting scholarship. He is excited to become a member of the Jacksonville University Sporting Clays, Skeet and Trap Team.
Working part-time at Hill ‘n Dale Club in Medina, Ohio, Hatfield also teaches sporting clays and FITASC lessons. He is a Sporting Clays Level 1 instructor through the National Sporting Clays Association after completing a certification course.
Going forward, his goals as a shooter are to represent Jacksonville University and to make the 2028 Olympic team in trap. He also has a goal for his career. At Jacksonville, Hatfield will be majoring in Business with a minor in Accounting. In the future, he hopes to combine his knowledge of business and shooting to forge a career path.
“Coming out of Jacksonville, you know, I’m not exactly sure what’s going occur, but I do hope to move back to Ohio and the Wadsworth area. I would really like to be able to stay in the shooting industry,” he said.
Hatfield is just one of the thousands of youth shooters who are positively impacted by the SCTP program. Having thousands of young people growing up as shooting enthusiasts can only advance the shooting sports in the future.
Learn more about the Scholastic Clay Target Program at mysctp.com.
