Ready, aim, fire: High schools are starting shooting teams in Southwestern Indiana

EVANSVILLE, Ind. — A new sport has emerged at the high school level throughout the state and is establishing a strong foothold in Southwestern Indiana.

It doesn’t involve a ball. It’s not a measure of endurance or athleticism, either.

It instead requires guns and ammunition.

"It's pretty fun," Boonville freshman William Nurrenbern said. "It's better than what I was doing, which was just playing (video) games. I met a lot of new people."

Six high schools in the Evansville area — Mater Dei, Boonville, Gibson Southern, North Posey, South Knox and Tecumseh — are among 29 members of the Indiana State High School Clay Target League, which has existed since 2016. This spring there were 484 participants statewide who spent nine weeks practicing and competing before this weekend’s state tournament.

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Indiana is one of 34 states represented in the USA Clay Target League, whose priorities are safety, fun and marksmanship — in that order, according to its mission statement.

Here’s how it works: Shooters take turns in different positions. When it’s their turn to fire, they yell “pull,” and a machine in the ground flings a clay target across the sky. The shooter scores if they hit and break the target while it’s flying through the air.

"They're all developing into really decent shooters," Mater Dei coach Scott Norris said. "Some into really good shooters."

Safety first before pulling the trigger

Safety is preached more than anything else.

Nurrenbern’s parents, Scot and Nicole, are Boonville’s coaches. They asked for school board approval in the fall for the Pioneers to field a team after their son had been traveling further away to practice shooting. They are excited to be among the first schools in the state competing in the sport and are optimistic about the future.

The USA Clay Target League claims to be the safest sport in school, with not one reported injury since the inception of the national league in 2001. Each athlete must complete a two-hour firearm safety certification before participation.

‘"You can't say that about any other activity, including archery," Nicole Nurrenbern said.

If a gun jams at Mater Dei, shooters must raise their hand to get the issue resolved while the entire practice stops. At Tecumseh, guns are inoperable until the athletes go to the line to shoot.

Many participants are multi-sport athletes, but for some, this is their only extracurricular activity. Being on the clay target team has provided Tecumseh’s Yager quadruplets a chance to interact with their friends outside of the classroom while meeting others.

"We have a lot fun," Grant Yager said. "When we go to state we stay at the same hotel. If we aren't friends, we'll become friends, and that's kind of how it is."

It’s a co-ed sport with boys and girls competing on the same team. It also allows students with physical disabilities to participate as long as they meet the safety requirements. More than 37,000 high schoolers nationally are involved.

The Clay Target League originally started in 2001 in Minnesota after a survey conducted by the state’s department of natural resources found the average age of a gun club member was 57 years old. Its founders wanted to attract younger people to shooting sports. By 2008, the state started a high school league that’s become the largest in the nation.

Why clay target shooting has grown locally

If a local student wants to participate in clay target shooting but their school doesn’t field a team, others will typically welcome them even if they attend a different school. For instance, there’s a Castle student on Boonville’s team while a Reitz student competes for Mater Dei.

Mater Dei’s coach Scott Norris has been involved in shooting sports since he was a child and has been a registered target shooter for the last 43 years. Before he started with clay target shooting, he hunted quail.

"That's where all the older shooters came from was hunting quail," he said.

He’s happy to mentor the next generation. Mater Dei started its team in 2018 and won state championships each of its first two seasons. There are now 25 Wildcats involved.

‘"I just like the experience and the people that are all out here, really," Mater Dei freshman Landon Kite said.

"I like everything," teammate Easton Deer added. "The people. The shooting. It's fun."

There are also scholarship opportunities for those in the Indiana Clay Target League. It’s scholastic, mandating a minimum GPA of 2.0 with 30 scholarships available at $1,000 apiece. This sport isn’t simply growing at the high school level, either. The University of Southern Indiana started a trap shooting team within the past year.

"If we can provide them with the ability to learn while they're in school before they get to college, they have greater possibilities going to post-high school education, because they can get scholarships that are not offered in the mainstream," Nicole Nurrenbern said.

Like shooting clay pigeons, it’s best to aim high when setting goals. The hope for all currently involved is to see target shooting exponentially grow in the coming years at the high school level.

"Until the schools accept it it's never going to really grow," Boonville assistant William Riggins said. "Schools accept golf and basketball and all those things. (They accept) archery and archery is big. This is just a little bit more advanced than archery. I just would like to see the sport recognized by all the schools."

Courier & Press sports reporter Treasure Washington can be reached via her email, treasure.washington@courierpress.com, and on Twitter @Twashington490.

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Why Evansville-area high schools are starting clay shooting teams