What would you think of a high school shooting team?

[Solomonson]

I wonder how difficult it would be to start a local high school shooting team? One that focuses on popular shooting disciplines today like NSSF Rimfire, Steel Challenge, IDPA, USPSA, sporting clays, etc? I think these disciplines would attract a lot more student marksmen than more traditional disciplines like smallbore rifle, high power rifle, bulls eye, etc.

There is a public range that has all these disciplines and is very welcoming to new shooters -- particularly the youth. If the local high school recognized a team, but the matches the students took part in were at a public range, what would the insurance implications be?

I wonder what the requirements are for awarding athletic letters? In a 3 or 4 month season, students could compete in 10+ matches, but it wouldn't be against other schools. Overall, I think this would be a great way to get teens more involved in NSSF Rimfire, Steel Challenge, IDPA, USPSA, sporting clays, etc.

 

[chicharrones]

I doubt any urban school district and most suburban school districts would go for this in the 21st century.

For the rural school districts, I guess all you'd have to worry about is where is the funding coming from and will it interfere with football and hunting season?

 

[jmorris]

I was on the rifle team when I was in highschool, the range was under the basketball courts in the gymnasium. The thing I enjoyed the most about JROTC.

 

[Frank Ettin]

I think it's a great idea, but school sponsorship would only work in areas where the political climate would be congenial. However, there are other ways to get youth involved.

NSSF helps sponsor a number of youth oriented programs. There's the Scholastic Clay Target Program (SCTP) offering competition opportunities in trap, skeet, and sporting clays. There's also the Scholastic Piston Program on Target. And it looks like the NSSF can help.

Some years ago we set up a SCTP program for trap at our club, and my wife and I helped coach. One year our novice squad won the State Championship, and my wife (I was still working at the time) took them back to Vandalia, OH to compete in the Nationals. Some of the teams there were affiliated with schools.

 

[jmr40]

Shooting is a recognized high school sport here in GA.

http://www.ghsa.net/riflery

I'm a retired teacher and coach, but none of the local schools sponsor a team. I don't know much about it, but don't think it has anything to do with political climate. Shooting and firearms are pretty well accepted in most of Georgia.

Just a guess, but I think perceived liability is a big deterrent.

 

[Telekinesis]

When I was in high school I was on a SCTP team - but we were affiliated (if you can call it that) with the shooting club rather than any school.

I think your best bet would be to help start an independent shooting team and get enough people involved, and then if it looks like a majority of the kids are from one school, approach the school. Be mindful of any kids that aren't in that school system though, as you'll need somewhere else for them to go. Even if everyone practices at the same time, kids from school A won't want to be (or might not be allowed to be) on School B's team.

I think your biggest advantage of getting a school "sponsored" team would be to ease the red tape around getting excused absences for the students. Instead of each student having to get paperwork signed if they'll miss class because of a competition, it would all be covered by being on the team.

I HIGHLY doubt that you'll get any financial sponsorship from the school. Between the political stigma in certain areas and just the generally high cost of shooting sports (especially if the kids start getting competitive), you'll be lucky to just get official school recognition. Liability is also an issue.

There are some colleges that have shooting teams. Maybe talk with some of their coaches and see if they have any recommendations? A letter from a college coach saying something like "if you have a shooting team, we would be interested in potentially recruiting your shooters for our team" might be interesting for a HS administrator to see.

 

[entropy]

That would be awesome. After 3 years of harping on the District Athletic Director, our school has a Trap team. About 5 years too late for my oldest son, and 1 too late for the younger, But I'm glad they added it. It'd be nice to see rifle and pistol represented.

 

[buck460XVR]

That would be awesome. After 3 years of harping on the District Athletic Director, our school has a Trap team. About 5 years too late for my oldest son, and 1 too late for the younger, But I'm glad they added it. It'd be nice to see rifle and pistol represented.

Yep...Our High School just started a Sporting Clays team two years ago also. Interest and participation are higher than even FOOTBALL! We have taken second in the state two years in a row.

 

[hdwhit]

When I was in High School, students would drive to school with their rifles on a rack in the back window of their pickup. Nobody ever thought a thing about it. Can you imagine the reaction to something like that today?

If that's something you are really interested in, do your homework and find out what the School District's requirements are for adding a sport or extra-curricular activity, what the costs would be and how you would fund them, Once you have that together, contact the School District's administration and see if it is something they are interested in.

Schools regularly get proposals and suggestions for all sorts of projects and programs. In most cases, the person making the proposal wants the School District to organize it, staff it, promote it, fund it - and then give them the credit. As you might imagine, such proposals are pretty much dead on arrival. But, it the political climate in your area is conducive and you come in with a well-reasoned self-funding package that you are willing to work to implement, you may find a receptive audience.

 

[Nanook]

The high school I attended had a rifle team. It lasted until 1965. I started school there in 1966. Just my luck.
Oh well, it was in Chicago.

 

[Alte Schule]

When I was in High School, students would drive to school with their rifles on a rack in the back window of their pickup. Nobody ever thought a thing about it. Can you imagine the reaction to something like that today?

If that's something you are really interested in, do your homework and find out what the School District's requirements are for adding a sport or extra-curricular activity, what the costs would be and how you would fund them, Once you have that together, contact the School District's administration and see if it is something they are interested in.

Schools regularly get proposals and suggestions for all sorts of projects and programs. In most cases, the person making the proposal wants the School District to organize it, staff it, promote it, fund it - and then give them the credit. As you might imagine, such proposals are pretty much dead on arrival. But, it the political climate in your area is conducive and you come in with a well-reasoned self-funding package that you are willing to work to implement, you may find a receptive audience.

Same in my central Texas high school. You could always tell what hunting season it was by the the long guns you saw in vehicles in the parking lot and this included teachers. In the Fall shotguns for dove and quail, Winter it was deer rifles and a few shotguns for the occasional duck hunter and in the Spring small bore rifles & shotguns for turkey along with fishing poles.
The local PD had a youth shooting league at their indoor range. .22 rifles and pistols. Wasn't officially sanctioned by the school district but plenty of our teachers and coaches participated as instructors.

 

[mnrivrat]

"I wonder how difficult it would be to start a local high school shooting team?"

Odds I think will be about 5 mil to one

 

[entropy]

I think it's a great idea, but school sponsorship would only work in areas where the political climate would be congenial. However, there are other ways to get youth involved.

NSSF helps sponsor a number of youth oriented programs. There's the Scholastic Clay Target Program (SCTP) offering competition opportunities in trap, skeet, and sporting clays. There's also the Scholastic Piston Program on Target. And it looks like the NSSF can help.

Some years ago we set up a SCTP program for trap at our club, and my wife and I helped coach. One year our novice squad won the State Championship, and my wife (I was still working at the time) took them back to Vandalia, OH to compete in the Nationals. Some of the teams there were affiliated with schools.

Don't forget 4-H. I've been a 4-H Shooting Sports Leader for 11 years. MNrivrat, there are high school Trap teams all around you. There is a strong High School Trap shooting scene is the Twin Cities. It is catching on over on this side of the river also. Most of the kids in our 4-H Trap program are on a High School Team. Some of the schools allow as young as 6th grade to join.

 

[JeffG]

See what it would take to get it put into the curriculum as an elective. They might want to review a sample policy and directives (in print) that covers handling and storage of firearms. Then attempt the same in neighboring school districts. After a while, friendly meets and competition. That's how forensics and debate got started.

Find out which staff hunt, and are pro 2nd A, the kids will know.

 

[bullzeye8]

I was on my high schools rifle team that I just graduated from last year. We shot at private range but competed at one range that I think was public. Pretty much you will need a range that will be shut down completely for just the team to practice for it to work well so it wouldn't matter much if its public or private as long as that can be done. Besides overcoming the political factor, the biggest problem you will have to get it a school recognized sport is for other schools to recognize it. High school sports are for competing against other high schools so if you don't get other local schools involved your chances of a school sponsored shooting team is very slim (although my school district is very strict with stuff so maybe others wouldn't be as bad). Budget is also a big problem especially if your districts like mine. We had plenty of money and were one of the best schools around athletically yet spent very little on sports all the while throwing money away on stupid stuff that had no benefit (expected of a government institution).

Now from being involved in a high school rifle team and also being a part of the mens volleyball team trying to gain school sponsorship here are a couple tips if you want to make it happen. My school at least requires all school sports to start as a club associated with the school. This means you are basically a school sport in that you represent the school, and play at the school but are required to self fund. After 3 years being a club you can petition the school district for school funding and becoming an official varsity sport. While a lot of schools may not have this requirement it will definitely help to get a club started to show how much interest there is in the student body. Now, my team has gotten many rifles from the local friends of the NRA. I would get involved with them to try and get some initial funding to get it started and see if they will help form an official high school league for your area. Also through them you will need to try and get similar clubs or actual teams going in other local schools. If there is an official league and other high school teams to compete against then you have a much better chance of gaining school sponsorship and becoming a school sport. I would recommend starting out as the club that may even be a fun thing with a competition once in a while. Use this to help get another school or two involved and start more frequent competitions. Then start a league and work to get even more schools involved.

Good luck

 

[Hardtarget]

My nephew (wife's side) won the Tennessee air rifle championship as a senior. He went to Montgomery Bell Academy...not a Metro Nash. public school.
edit: should add, I think it would be good. A strict safety/ and grades/ and trouble makers are OUT to keep it up and up!

Mark

 

[MEHavey]

A product of West Springfield High School in Virginia, Thrasher shot for her high school rifle team

http://www.usashooting.org/12-the-team/usashootingteam/nationalteam/nationalrifleteam/ginny-thrasher
It can be (and is) done to great effect.

They just need a range... and the kind of people who will build it, and teach them.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/spor...66021d971de_story.html?utm_term=.407357c8556b
BTW, NoVirginia is about as blue as it gets these days,
but this has been the classic Field of Dreams "if you build it...."
https://www.nrablog.com/articles/2016/11/gun-club-honors-local-olympians/
Don't wait for... the government.

.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

I remember reading stories from New York high school ROTC members reminiscing about bringing their rifles to school on public transportation for rifle practice ... Depression-era rural students who brought their hunting rifles to school and harvested game on the way home to add to dinner ... all with the lament that gun politics ended that. The biggest obstacle to a high school shooting team would not be insurance, it would be knee jerk gun politics. I remember national gun politics in 1963-1966 when I was in 10-12 grades.

 

[Hokkmike]

I wonder how difficult it would be to start a local high school shooting team? One that focuses on popular shooting disciplines today like NSSF Rimfire, Steel Challenge, IDPA, USPSA, sporting clays, etc? I think these disciplines would attract a lot more student marksmen than more traditional disciplines like smallbore rifle, high power rifle, bulls eye, etc.

There is a public range that has all these disciplines and is very welcoming to new shooters -- particularly the youth. If the local high school recognized a team, but the matches the students took part in were at a public range, what would the insurance implications be?

I wonder what the requirements are for awarding athletic letters? In a 3 or 4 month season, students could compete in 10+ matches, but it wouldn't be against other schools. Overall, I think this would be a great way to get teens more involved in NSSF Rimfire, Steel Challenge, IDPA, USPSA, sporting clays, etc.

I am proud to tell you that our high school has had a shooting team for some time now. In fact, we have qualified two Olympic shooters in trap. The high school team concentrates on .22 rifle and shot gunning sports. One of the school board members was a coach for the team. It receives fairly widespread support from our rural population.

Two items of note: Guns are still NOT ALLOWED on school property. All shooting team practices and meetings are held at a local sportsman's shooting range and facility. It is about 8 miles from the school. That sportsman's club is rather well endowed with a conventional and Olympic style trap facility. Secondly, a decision was made recently to maintain the team but officially separate it as "high school sponsored". Confusing? - Somewhat! while support for the concept still exits this move apparently has a great effect on reducing school liability insurance costs.

Isn't everything these days about lawyers, politics, or entitled people/groups? any way, the team still shoots on!

 

[jmorris]

When I was in High School, students would drive to school with their rifles on a rack in the back window of their pickup.

Opening morning of Dove season it seemed understood there was going to be tardiness too.

 

[rtroha]

I was surprised to read a news article recently that Ohio has a high school clay target league.

http://ohclaytarget.com/

 

[Everready73]

Two local schools by where i live do 4-H. They use one of the local sportsman's clubs and they put in an indoor range for them to use. I would have liked to have something like this at my high school. I am in a fairly rural area in PA and would think an urban area would have more challenges with something like this.

 

[Cannibul]

I shot NRA indoor smallbore match in High School. The range was under the swimming pool in the same area as the fallout shelter. I kept my target rifle in my locker. This was the mid '70's in a rural area.

 

[Sunray]

Hand gun shooting games have a big pile of legal issues rifle and shotgun shooting doesn't have. Not all of which are budgetary. Wouldn't be at all surprised if local IPSC, etc clubs fell all over themselves to make it happen though. If you ask 'em. Pending local laws. So where you are matters. Especially for the "knee jerk gun politics.".
Pennsylvania says a kid under 18 can play with hand guns if under the supervision of a big kid. Ohio says the kid has to be 21 to play with handguns, but can if there's a big kid too. The kid has to be 14 in NYS.
The insurance implications are covered by the school board's policy. Private shooting clubs do not operate without some kind of liability insurance. Issue is about covering minors. That'd be the same as the football players.

 

[1MoreFord]

My pharmacist has a child who is on a skeet or trap shooting team. I'm not sure if this is at a private or a public school. This is in central Arkansas some where. It can happen in urban areas.