December 24th, 2009
December 22, 2010 (GunReports.com) —The National Shooting Sports Foundation has awarded a record-setting 38 grants totaling $190,000 to help both new and existing collegiate target shooting programs flourish.
Only two years old, NSSF's Collegiate Shooting Sports Initiative has helped establish competition and club shooting opportunities at colleges across the country—from Harvard to Clemson and the University of Vermont to Montana Tech. This latest round of grants will support programs in 36 schools.
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Following are several Collegiate Shooting Sports Initiative success stories:
* The Clemson University Shotgun Club was founded four years ago by a small group that enjoyed getting together to target shoot. Today the club has more than 95 registered members and a website and puts on "fun shoots" and learn-about-us barbecues. Demand for shooting sports education at the school—Clemson offers for-credit "shotgun sports" classes—has led to construction of three world-class trap/skeet fields and a 100-yard rifle range. "I know that without support from the National Shooting Sports Foundation and an overwhelming sense of pride by the club's members, we would not be where we are today," said student organizer Wake Fickey, who as a high school student competed in the NSSF-developed Scholastic Clay Target Program and now has helped his university build a premier program.
* New England has become a hotbed of collegiate target shooting. There are growing programs at Harvard, Harvard Law, Tufts, Northeastern, MIT, Yale and Brown. The New England Collegiate Clay Target Championships are an exciting highlight to the season.
* New programs debuted this fall at Stetson College and Colby College. Formed with encouragement from the Flagler Gun Club plus the school's athletic director and several enthusiastic students, Stetson now has 40 students participating, about half on the varsity team and half at the club level. "We like having these young men and women at the club," said Tom Wolfe, a Flagler Gun Club official. "Our members, who are largely older, say these students have brought a terrific spirit to the club." Stetson, located in Deland, Fla., wasted no time hosting the area's first intercollegiate shoot with Jacksonville University, the University of North Florida and Embry Riddle Aeronautical University. An eight-to-10-school competition is being planned for March. "This program is contagious, and NSSF is right there providing assistance and intelligent counsel," Wolfe added.
* Stetson's success is a good example of how gun clubs work with nearby colleges to support their target shooting programs. Flagler Gun Club even created a special low-cost student membership rate so that students could participate at this members-only facility.
NSSF has long supported youth shooting programs for the Boy Scouts of America and 4-H and through the Scholastic Clay Target Program. The Collegiate Shooting Sports Initiative works to provide a seamless "next step" for those who want to continue participating in the shooting sports, just as student-athletes do in other sports.
"It's only natural than students who have enjoyed target shooting in junior high and high school will want to participate and introduce their new friends to the shooting sports at college," said Snow. "Whether it's competing in intercollegiate matches or spending an evening with friends at the range, students can enjoy the type of target shooting they're comfortable with and learn about firearm safety through these programs."
http://www.gunreports.com/news/news/NSSF-awards-collegiate-grants_2578-1.html NSSF Donates $109,500 to 16 Collegiate ProgramsDecember 24th, 2009 From Ivy League to smaller schools, the National Shooting Sports Foundation has provided 16 colleges and universities with early Christmas presents — grants to help more students get involved in the shooting sports. Among the grant recipients are Harvard University, Clemson University, the University of Vermont, and Hillsdale College. “NSSF is making these grants available in response to a growing interest in the shooting sports on campuses across the country,” said Zach Snow, NSSF’s senior shooting promotions coordinator. “Graduates of scholastic shooting programs like the NSSF-developed Scholastic Clay Target Program want to continue participating in their favorite sport when they go off to college, and once there, they’re eager to introduce new friends, classmates and faculty to this lifetime activity. At the same time, collegiate shooting programs help create a positive image for the shooting sports and firearms ownership.”
http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/tag/college/ SIC shooting team finds successBy Les Winkeler, The Southern thesouthern.com | Posted: Friday, May 21, 2010 1:00 am
(COURTESY) Caleb Collins fires a shot at the College Unions International Clay Targets Championships in April. A student at Southeastern Illinois College; the shooting team is an extension of the college's game preserve management program.Just three years ago Southeastern Illinois College's shooting team was an afterthought. Now, it's a contender for a national championship.
The SIC shooters finished second overall in the College Unions International Clay Targets Championships from April 21 to 25 in San Antonio. The team finished second in American skeet and sporting clays, third in five-stand sporting clays and third in international skeet.
The shooting team grew out of the college's game preserve management and shooing complex management program.
"I think it's an evolution," said Bruce Hering, founder and administrator of the shooting and game management programs. "Three years ago, a bunch of students said, ‘Why don't we shoot this?'"
With little preparation, the informal team finished 10th.
"I was calmly pleased," Hering said.
http://thesouthern.com/sports/outdoors/article_d1eb57c6-645c-11df-82fa-001cc4c002e0.html COLLEGE RIFLE SCHOLARSHIPS AND RECRUITING For the more than 3.5 million high school students participating in competition riflery, most of you would be shocked to realize that your sport as well, has opportunities to compete and earn college scholarships at the NCAA level. Last year alone, the National Rifle Association donated nearly a million dollars to more than 300 youth shooting programs across the United States with the goal of continuing the rapid growth of this increasingly popular sport. All of the emphasis now placed on high school shooting programs is attracting more and more attention from the NCAA level. Although the NCAA does not recognize all kinds of competition shooting, 42 NCAA programs now sponsor the sport of small bore (.22 caliber) riflery.
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With such a limited number of scholarships available and so many high school shooters in need of financial aid, you may be thinking that only the elite shooters are capable of competing at the NCAA level, this is simply not true. With the NCAA sport of riflery still in its infancy, the vast majority of high school shooters do not even know that their sport exists at the college level. For this reason, college rifle coaches are constantly on the lookout for high school shooters willing to compete at the NCAA level. Once you have made contact with a coach, the need for college shooters makes riflery one of the most accessible sports in the NCAA with hundreds of very lucrative walk-on positions. But with only 42 schools in the country offering college riflery, the process of searching for programs and contacting coaches can be difficult and confusing. This is where an athletic recruiting company such as athleticscholarships.net can be an invaluable resource. With our database of more than 12,000 college coaches, including more obscure sports such as riflery, we have the knowledge and resources to put you into contact with NCAA riflery coaches who would otherwise be extremely difficult to find. In the past nine years, our company has helped hundreds of high school athletes reach their dream of playing sports at the college level. Statistics indicate that only about 5% of high school athletes will play sports at the college level. With our hands on approach, 85% of our clients go on to play sports at the NCAA level.
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