Successful Season For Shooting Club

By Ryan Jones

Provided Photo

The Mount Markham Shooting Clays Club finished their second season.

Students took first place in the state, with the top three shooters in the league coming from our club. The continued growth of both the shooters and the team continues to impress everyone fortunate enough to be involved.

The club and the district have a lot to be proud of. For those unfamiliar with the sport of Skeet Shooting, here is a brief rundown.

Our field consists of eight stations arranged in a semicircle.

There are two houses, a high house and a low house, that throw clay pigeons for the targets.

The pigeons (birds) are thrown when the students call for them, and then the skill comes in.

The birds alternate from the high house to the low house and the students use their shotguns to break them.

Advancing around the semicircle for a total of 25 shots per round, the students accumulate points.

The number one rule at all times is safety. We always have numerous adults acting as safety officers monitoring the field, ensuring all students are respecting the rules of gun safety.

Scores are secondary to safety. That being said, our students really can put on a show.

Our kids were consistently at the top in the state (thanks in large part to the coaching of Dave Cooley who generously donated hours and hours to help our kids improve.)

We had some of our shooters regularly breaking more than 20 targets a round.

We had tremendous growth from kids breaking four their first round to breaking 17 late in ...