Gunsmiths: A Chance to Get Involved?

Participation in target-shooting sports is growing at colleges around the country, and the launch of anew grant program by the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) will provide even more opportunities for student-athletes. According to the NSSF, many young target shooters want to continue participating in their sports when they go off to college, and in some cases, students are applying to colleges and universities based on the quality of the schools’ intercollegiate target shooting programs.

NSSF’s Collegiate Shooting Sports Initiative will provide financial and informational support to strengthen existing target-shooting programs and help form new club and varsity teams in shotgun, rifle, and pistol. NSSF recently announced the program at the national championships of the American Trapshooting Association’s youth program called AIM. Participation in college shotgun sports has grown remarkably in recent years.

Between 2006 and 2009, the annual ACUI Intercollegiate Clay Target Championships has seen a 40-percent increase in participation, with 37 schools and 337 clay-target shooters competing in last spring’s championship. Much of the increase can be directly attributed to high-school students graduating from programs like the NSSF-developed Scholastic Clay Target Program and 4-H, and then continuing to compete in college.

More than 30,000 young people have participated in clay-target shooting in the Scholastic Clay Target Program alone, so it’s only natural that athletes from that program would jump at the chance to continue competing in the collegiate ranks, just as athletes in other sports want to do. "The NSSF Collegiate Shooting Sports Initiative should breathe life into underfunded activity teams that would have to go scratching for funds in order to compete with recognized varsity teams," said Bruce Hering, coach at Southeastern Illinois College. "This grant program looms big for those schools." Hering said the grants will also help schools with new or fledgling programs to meet the growing demand among students for target shooting.

Following the recently completed national championships for the Scholastic Clay Target Program, Hering said, "You wouldn’t believe the number of parents and high-school students asking about college teams and scholarships. There’s great interest out there in pursuing target shooting after high school." A total of $75,000 will be made available to qualifying colleges or universities to start new competitive shooting teams or support existing teams.

Each grant recipient will receive up to $7,500 in matching funds from NSSF. Anyone interested in starting or strengthening a college shotgun, rifle, or pistol team can find resources and grant opportunities at Editor Keith Lawrence Technical