Middleburgh Central School could partner with the Middleburgh Rod & Gun Club to offer an interscholastic trap shooting team through the New York State Clay Target League.
The first step:
Gauging interest at MCS, which Rod & Gun Club members Carl Kochersberger, Joe Kopacz, and Joe Moore said is already there.
Though it would be too late to join the spring league, with a half-dozen interested kids and parents, they’d be able to field a team in the fall, Mr. Kochersberger said.
The idea got the support of the MCS Board of Education and administrators Wednesday; Superintendent Brian Dunn will meet with the representatives to figure out the best way to get the word out.
“Typically…it’s not build it and it will come,” Mr. Dunn said. But if the interest is there, “I think we could reasonably move very quickly.”
School trap shooting is a popular sport with more than 122 teams regionally, including at Worcester and Richfield Springs, Mr. Kochersberger said.
Safety is paramount and there would never be any guns at school, he said.
There would be no cost to the school, and one of trap shooting’s advantages is that “you don’t have to be overly athletic” to participate.
Mr. Kochersberger said he’s been spreading the idea of the trap shooting team on the Middleburgh NY Facebook page and gotten nothing but positive feedback.
Students would have to be at least 12 years old to participate and they’d have to complete a three-hour firearms safety course and demonstrate they know how to conduct themselves on the range before they ever held a gun, Mr. Kopacz said.
They’d also need to show they understand the idea of good sportsmanship and camaraderie.
Mr. Kopacz and Mr. Moore both have 25 years experience teaching DEC’s hunter safety course and Mr. Moore is a 4-H Shooting Sports instructor.
With DEC moving hunter safety online, Mr. Moore pointed out the trap team would give kids more hands-on training with guns.
Trap shooting is an Olympic sport, Mr. Kochersberger said; the league also offers college scholarship opportunities.
MCS is very open to anything that teaches character, Mr. Dunn said, and surprise, who was quite a good trap shooter in his youth.
Any MCS parent with a student interested in the trap club can email Mr. Moore at joemoore@midtel.net.
They can also email Mr. Moore for more information.