Young sporting-clays shooters from across Florida earned state titles — with many qualifying to represent Florida at upcoming national championships — at the recent Scholastic Clay Target Program Florida Sporting Clays State Championship.
The competition was held April 27 at Sarasota Trap, Skeet and Clays, and featured some of Florida’s top young shooters in three divisions: varsity, junior varsity and intermediate entry.
SCTP, for youths in grades 12 and lower, is a program of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, managed in partnership with the national governing bodies for shooting sports: USA Shooting, Amateur Trapshooting Association, National Skeet Shooting Association and National Sporting Clays Association.
With remarkable growth the past eight years, the program is considered the “Little League of shooting sports.” Some 8,000 to 9,000 students from more than 45 states are expected to compete this year.
Florida teams participating in the state title shoot qualified for the SCTP National Championships July 31 through Aug. 5 at the World Shooting and Recreational Complex in Sparta, Ill.
The best of these young shooters could be selected to attend an Olympic development camp in Colorado Springs, Colo., and some will go on to compete at the collegiate level.
