USA Shooting and Scholastic Shooting Sports Foundation Announce New Partnership

USA Shooting (USAS) and the Scholastic Shooting Sports Foundation (SSSF) are proud to announce that they have entered into a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that strengthens their ongoing relationship.

The new agreement solidifies the SSSF and its Scholastic Clay Target Program (SCTP) as the “Official Youth Clay target Development Program” for USA Shooting and now includes the Scholastic Pistol Program which SSSF operates in parallel with SCTP.

The Scholastic Pistol Program (SPP) becomes the “Official Youth Action Pistol Development Program” for USA Shooting in the rapid fire and sport pistol events.

The Scholastic Shooting Sports Foundation is an educational-athletic organization that exists to introduce school-age youths to the shooting sports and to facilitate their continued involvement by providing, promoting, and perpetuating opportunities to safely and enjoyably participate and compete in a high-quality, team-based sport led by trained adult coaches focused on enhancing the personal growth and development of their athletes.

In conjunction with USAS, SCTP holds their annual International Discipline Championships at USA Shooting’s International Shooting Park in Colorado Springs. Beginning in 2014, USA Shooting will be awarding up to four slots on the Junior Team to SCTP Athletes who win their event at the International Championships.

Three-time National Champion and 2013 World Clay Target Championships Team Member Rachael Heiden is a graduate of the successful SCTP program managed by the Scholastic Shooting Sports Foundation.

The success of SCTP athletes in recent competitions underlines the necessity for this continued partnership for both organizations. SCTP members are well-represented at the World Clay Target Championships which got underway Monday in Lima, Peru, led by two-time Olympic gold medalist Vincent Hancock (Eatonton, Ga.), two-time Olympian and 2008 Olympic bronze medalist Corey Cogdell (Eagle River, Alaska), three-time USA Shooting National Champion Rachael Heiden (Clinton, Mich.) and Junior Trap Team member Corey Spruill (St. Charles, Mo.).

At the recent USAS Shotgun Nationals, four SCTP shooters earned bronze medals including Sidney Carson in Junior Women’s Skeet, Myles Walker in Junior Men’s Double Trap, Ryne Barfield in Men’s Junior Trap and Grace Hambuchen in Junior Women’s Trap. In addition, there are five other SCTP athletes who are on USA Shooting’s National Junior Team or Junior Olympic Shotgun squad for the 2013-14 season.

USAS has made it possible for SSSF to hold their first Pistol (SPP) Junior Olympic Development Camp at the Olympic Training Center in August 2014

“We are pleased and excited to enter into this new agreement with USA Shooting,” said Dan Hathaway, President & Executive Director of SSSF. “We believe that it is important to provide our 10,000-plus members with an introduction to the international disciplines in shotgun and pistol and give them the opportunity to make a commitment to the Olympic path.”

“This new agreement with USA Shooting will help SCTP increase participation in the international shooting disciplines,” said Tom Wondrash, National SCTP Program Director.

USA Shooting CEO & Executive Director, Robert Mitchell said: “We are proud and grateful to partner with the Scholastic Shooting Sports Foundation in introducing the opportunity for young athletes to experience Olympic-style shooting and pursue their Olympic Dreams. The SCTP has been a great provider of talent to our team for years and we hope to have the same results with the addition of SPP to help build depth in our pistol programs.”

This new MOU is a multi-year agreement that will renew on a quadrennial basis to match the cycle of the Olympic Games.