The USA Clay Target League of Saint Paul, Minnesota, organizes and runs high school and college

clay target shooting Clay pigeon shooting, also known as clay target shooting, is a shooting sport involving shooting a firearm at special flying targets known as clay pigeons, or clay targets. The terminology commonly used by clay shooters often relates to tim ...

programs along with state tournaments and a yearly National Championship It is a

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corporation and the independent provider of shooting sports as an

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co-ed activity to high schools and colleges for students who have their firearms safety certification. The organization oversees school-based youth

trapshooting Trap shooting, or trapshooting in North America, is one of the three major disciplines of competitive clay pigeon shooting, which is shooting shotguns at clay targets. The other disciplines are skeet shooting and sporting clays. They are disting ...

skeet shooting Skeet shooting is a recreational and competitive activity where participants use shotguns to attempt to break clay targets which two fixed stations mechanically fling into the air at high speed and at a variety of angles. Skeet is one of the t ...

, sporting clays and 5-stand leagues in 34 states. The USA Clay Target League is the largest youth clay target shooting program in the world, with over 38,000 participants yearly. The organization's high school program - USA High School Clay Target League - runs high-school trapshooting leagues in states nationwide, the largest of which is Minnesota, where 12,000 students from nearly 450 schools compete. All teams in USACTL leagues are school-sanctioned as a prerequisite for team/league formation. The Minnesota State High School Clay Target League Championship is the largest trapshooting event in the world with over 8,000 student athletes participating in 2018. In 2019, the USA Clay Target League launched the USA College Clay Target League, a program for 2-year and 4-year postsecondary institutions. In 2021, the USA Clay Target League formed the USA Homeschool Clay Target League, a program specifically for

homeschool Homeschooling or home schooling, also known as home education or elective home education (EHE), is the education of school-aged children at home or a variety of places other than a school. Usually conducted by a parent, tutor, or an onlin ...

students that were unable to participate in the League's high-school programs due to school or state restrictions. The League's motto is "Safety, Fun, Marksmanship - In that order."

League format

Five students is the minimum number for a team. There is no maximum number of students that can be on a team. There may be some limitations to team size because of coaching resources and/or gun club capacity. Teams are made up of students from 6th grade through 12th grade. Middle school students are eligible to participate with high school kids if the team size allows for it Each team competes in their own conference with teams of similar team member size. A true team scoring system (similar to track and swimming) is used and a team competes against all teams within their conference each week. The highest total of points achieved by the team at the end of the competition is the winner.

Growth

While the first years of the league were limited to just a handful of teams in Minnesota. It is now one of the largest sports in Minnesota High Schools.

Official recognition

On December 7, 2012, the

Minnesota State High School League The Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) is a voluntary, non-profit association for the support and governance of interscholastic activities at high schools in Minnesota, United States. The association supports interscholastic athletics an ...

approved a sanctioned, presenting partner, trapshooting State Tournament. The first tournament was held at the Minneapolis Gun Club in Prior Lake on June 14, 2014. This meant that trap shooting had been recognized the same as all other high school sports, and Minnesota became the first and only state high school athletic association to host a trapshooting tournament. The League operates and abides by similar rules as the Minnesota State High School League.

Media attention

Little media attention was given to the league's efforts until the Minneapolis StarTribune wrote a piece about the efforts to get shooting sports into Minnesota schools. In 2015

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wrote about the league's expansion, noting that nearly 10,000 high school students were now taking part. In 2019, the USA Clay Target League was featured in

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The League's Illinois program was covered in the

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in 2021

References

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External links