Shooting Sports Rapidly Gain Popularity in High Schools

Lindsay Martin first picked up a rifle to go deer hunting with her father, but it was an afternoon she spent with him a year later, shooting clay pigeons in her backyard, that set her passion for shooting sports.

The rising senior at Glen Allen High School in Virginia is now establishing herself as a competitive shooter with Olympic aspirations. Her own school doesn’t have a team, so she joined the Dusters, a trapshooting team at nearby Fort Lee. Her father is the coach, she is the only girl on the team, and she’s a rising star.

“People know me as the shotgun shooter,” the 17-year-old said.

She’s one of thousands of teens who have picked up the sport in recent years, making it one of the fastest-growing sports for high schools. But it’s also popular with community teams, such as the Dusters.

Tom Wondrash, national director of Scholastic Clay Target Program, a branch of the Scholastic Shooting Sports Foundation (SSSF), thinks that the sport’s rapid growth is due to its inclusivity and opportunity for participation.

Competitive shooting has become so popular and accepted in certain communities that some high schools award varsity letters for trapshooting.

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