The Shawnee school board recently approved the formation of an FFA sporting clays team for the high school.
The sport is a tightly controlled shooting competition that incorporates firing at clay disks with shotguns and live ammunition.
“Students won’t ever use any of their own firearms or ammunition,” FFA advisor Ryan Ellis said. “When we go to the contests they actually use the firearms and ammunition from the contest itself. We do not take our own equipment to the contests.”
Up to 25 students have already shown an interest in the sport but only eight can compete in competitions so the school will have to hold tryouts and “shoot off” eliminations in order to determine who makes the team, Ellis said.
The students must also pass a hunter’s safety course before they can compete.
The sport will bring possible scholarship opportunities as well as teach the students important life skills, Ellis said.
“The first thing is discipline and safety. Awareness of their surroundings as well as motor-skills,” Ellis said. “A lot of the same things that any other sport or physical activity would provide.”
Practice schedules are yet to be determined but will be held at shooting ranges with qualified firearm instructors. Coby Cagle, an assistant principal at Shawnee High School, will assist with the sport. Cagle is a certified instructor for the hunter’s safety course and has previous experience with the FFA sporting clays.
Ellis also has experience with the FFA shooting clays and has nine years of various weapons systems training and weapons safety practices in the Army National Guard.
The school is currently applying for grants from the National Rifle Association to help cover some of the costs of the equipment, which includes Remington 870 rifles. Ellis hopes to have the team selected and practicing by the time of the district contest Oct. 25.
Clay shooting is a fairly popular event in Oklahoma, Ellis said. There are about 275 schools across the state that participate in the sport and 45 out of the 66 FFA chapters in Shawnee’s district participate in the sport, Rose Bonjour, the central district program specialist for Career tech said.
The sport is generally runs through the fall semester, with about five competitions in each district, including the district and state competitions, Bonjour said. The FFA works with the Oklahoma Department of Wild Life Conservation to set up the events.
The school board unanimously gave the green light to the sport at the September meeting.
