38 Colleges Receive NSSF Grants To Build Target Shooting Programs

NEWTOWN, Conn. – The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF)
has awarded 38 grants, a record number, 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.

“It’s gratifying to see collegiate shooting and the Collegiate
Shooting Sports Initiative growing at such a fast rate,” said Zach
Snow, NSSF’s manager of shooting promotions. “That tells us NSSF is
on the right track in providing funding that makes it possible for
men and women to continue target shooting during their college
years.”

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.”

For assistance getting a collegiate target shooting program
started or for information on applying for a future NSSF grant,
visit www.nssf.org/college.

Grant Recipients

(38 grants to 36 schools)

Schreiner University

Western KY Univ. Research Foundation

Marietta College

The Regents of the University of California

Bethel University

University of Vermont

Stetson University Shooting Club

University of Central Missouri

University of Nevada – Reno

The Citadel, The Military College of SC

Fort Hays State University

Harvard College

University of Michigan

Yale

Kansas State University

Colorado State University

Mississippi College

Harvard Law School

Jacksonville University

University of North Florida

Oklahoma State University

Northeastern University

University of the Ozarks

Southeastern Illinois College

Washington College

East Central University

United States Military Academy

University of Kentucky

University of Delaware

Clemson University

North Dakota State University

Montana Tech

MIT

Fletcher School @ Tufts University

Colorado School of Mines

Colby College