Cleveland students will have an opportunity to try out a new sport this spring — trap shooting.
The Cleveland School Board Monday approved a request from Jack Zimmerman and David Voss to start a trap shooting team in Cleveland. The team will be co-ed, and kids age 12 and up (who have their hunter education certificate) can participate on the team. Superintendent Brian Phillips said that the team will likely be pretty popular among the students.
“There is a lot of interest at the school,” said Phillips. “We are pretty excited.”
Zimmerman, who will coach the team, has been teaching firearm safety at the school. He got the idea for the team when he took his class to the Caribou Gun Club and they saw the Le Sueur-Henderson trap shooting team there.
“The kids showed a lot of interest,” said Zimmerman.
A few Cleveland students were on the Le Sueur-Henderson team, and will now be able to have their own team. The sport will run for eight weeks in the spring, and there will be little traveling involved. For the competitions, teams shoot at their own home course — in this case the Caribou Gun Club — and then record the scores online. Zimmerman is excited that Cleveland will now be able to offer the sport, which is growing fast.
When the Minnesota State High School Clay Target League started in 2001, there were only three schools and 30 players. Last spring, there were 215 schools and 3,400 players participating in the trap shooting league.
Zimmerman said that part of the reason for the popularity is that the sport is something just about anyone can do. He said it is a lot like golf, because you can do it your entire life. Zimmerman said that the sport is accessible to everyone, boys, girls, those who are disabled, and those who can’t play other sports.
“Some [people] aren’t necessarily for football or basketball,” said Zimmerman. “But they still want to compete.”
The sport of trap shooting has been around for a while, but is now finally growing in popularity. Zimmerman said the popularity has caught on in Cleveland, and he can’t wait for the spring.
“People are now realizing how fun it is,” said Zimmerman. “It sounds like its gonna have some interest.”
LeCenter Leader
Posted: Tuesday, September 17, 2013 1:03 pm
By JAMES STITT