Nearly 3,100 Iowa shooting sports athletes from grade school through high school will shoot more than 770,000 targets during the 2022 Iowa Scholastic Clay Target Program (SCTP) Trap Championships, June 7-12, in Cedar Falls.
The Scholastic Clay Target Program has seen constant growth in Iowa and across the nation, with increases in participation seen in Iowa middle school and high school teams, which have grown from 1,400 athletes to over 4,200 athletes since 2011.
“The Scholastic Clay Target Program provides many opportunities to Iowa’s shooting sports athletes. You don’t have to be the biggest, strongest or fastest, it really is a level playing field. All athletes are welcome to attend and compete at the State Championship Events. The shooting sports are as much a competition against yourself as it is with other competitors, and we have many athletes shoot their personal best at these events,” said Chris Van Gorp, Shooting Sports coordinator for he Iowa Department of Natural Resources.
Athletes will compete in American Singles, Doubles and Handicap Trap. The daylong competition will take place at the Iowa State Trapshooting Homegrounds, located north of Cedar Falls:
- June 7-8: Elementary and Middle School Trap Singles
- June 9: Handicap and Doubles Trap Events, all ages
- June 10-12: High School Trap Singles
The Scholastic Clay Target Program is the largest, fastest growing, and most exciting youth clay target program in the US. Student athletes from elementary through high school and college have the opportunity to compete in sports such as trap, skeet, and sporting clays, as well as Olympic disciplines like bunker trap and international skeet.
The SCTP is a youth development program, first and foremost and we do this through the shooting sports and competitive shooting. The SCTP’s mission is to help kids reach their highest potential in becoming the best athletes and young adults they can be. For more information on the Scholastic Clay Target Program in Iowa, contact Van Gorp, at 515-313-8048 or chris.vangorp@dnr.iowa.gov.