Shaping Generational Impact In The Outdoors - How Breaking Targets Is Breaking Barriers And Providing Outdoor Opportunities For All

By Brittany French- CEO of Pass it On, Outdoor Mentors

The future of conservation is in our hands! As individuals blessed by the opportunity to experience the outdoors, we have the distinct privilege, honor, and responsibility of stewarding that blessing by passing it on to future generations, as we strive to continue to fuel a movement focused on enhancing the national R3 landscape.

As the CEO of Pass It On - Outdoor Mentors, I have the privilege of going into the field alongside youth and leading a team of professionals dedicated to creating  thousands of youth hunting opportunities a year. I see the generational impact the outdoors can and will have on shaping the future of conservation. This impact inspires motivation for continuing to provide outdoor opportunities for all. 

Safety, discipline, responsibility, self-confidence and respect are all characteristics that were instilled in us from a young age. Now, it is  our responsibility and opportunity to pass that on to the generations that come behind us. The USA Clay Target League is leading by example by creating a space for over 49,000 student athletes in a single school year to learn the various disciplines of clay shooting. Rooted in safety, fun, and marksmanship, the league continues to grow year after year equipping the next generation to continue building the legacy of its impact. 

Shooting sports create a space for youth to rise and learn new outdoor skills. There is a young lady that I have mentored on the trap field who came from a non-traditional outdoors family. No one in her family had shooting experience or any other outdoor experience like hunting. While timid at first, this young lady leaned into what this sport could offer her. While going from barely breaking one target to breaking over 75% in a practice, she learned the importance of safety on and off the trap field, developed discipline, and learned the responsibility that comes with possessing a firearm. She built self-confidence, and learned respect for the sport, her coaches, and teammates. Shooting sports created a space for this young lady to be shaped and empowered as a first time target shooter. This is the story of so many of the youth we serve through Outdoor Mentors, and our ability to get our youth out hunting hinges on these foundational skills cultivated by shooting sports.

For the 49,000 shooting sports athletes that competed this school year and the considerable more in years past and to come, the USA Clay Target League is creating and building the foundational skills required to experience the outdoors through hunting, and cultivating the confidence to embrace and live out that opportunity.

About the USA Clay Target League

With over 47,000 participating athletes in the 2022-23 school year, the non-profit USA Clay Target League is America's largest clay target shooting organization. The League offers trap, skeet, sporting clays, and 5-stand leagues to secondary and postsecondary schools across the country.

The League the only 100% school-approved clay target shooting sport program in America. Every team must have school approval to participate. Most participating schools have lettering programs as well as yearbook inclusion for the teams. In addition, tens of thousands of dollars in scholarships are provided to qualifying seniors by the League and post-secondary institutions each year.

The League’s co-ed and adaptive nature are key attractions to schools nationwide: it's fully Title IX compliant with both male and female athletes competing on the same team, and it’s an ‘adaptive’ sport, which allows students with physical disabilities to take part.

The League’s priorities are safety, fun, and marksmanship – in that order.

The League is the safest sport in school, with not one reported injury since the inception of the League in 2001. Each athlete must complete firearm safety certification before participation.

About the Scholastic Clay Target Program:

The Scholastic Clay Target Program is the largest, fastest growing, and most exciting youth clay target program in the US. We provide students from elementary through high school and college the chance to compete in sports such as trap, skeet, and sporting clays. As well as Olympic disciplines like bunker trap and international skeet.

The SCTP’s mission is to help kids reach their highest potential in becoming the best athlete and young adults they can be. The SCTP is a youth development program, first and foremost and we do this through the shooting sports and competitive shooting.