(Editor’s Note: This is the second in a two-part series on the emergence of local youth trap shooting. Today, on the sport’s growing popularity in McKean County and beyond.)
The 2022 Scholastic Clay Target Program (SCTP) National Championships will see a large contingent from McKean County.
It’s been that way for several years, as local trap shooting teams send their top shooters to compete against the nation’s best at the 10-day event in Marengo, Ohio.
While trap has long been part of outdoor sporting culture in the area, youth trap — at least at the interscholastic level — has seen tremendous growth in the past decade. And, if an increasing number of teams and ever-growing roster numbers are any indication, trap is still on the rise in McKean County.
Just ask the hundreds of local kids that have fallen in love with the sport.
THE SOUTHERN Tier Scholastic Youth Trap League (STSYTL), composed primarily of schools from New York, introduced a “Southern Pennsylvania” division three years ago.
The expansion conference includes five teams — Bradford, Otto-Eldred, Smethport, Oswayo Valley and Black Forest (Coudersport). Some had already existed before the expansion, but the addition of Bradford and Smethport ahead of 2020 formed a Pennsy-only circuit.
Bradford rostered 45 athletes this season. Smethport had 33. The O-E Bird Dawgs, who have competed for a decade, have seen seasons with more than 60 shooters.
“Trap shooting is the number one growing high school sport in the United States,” said Dan Brinsky, who formed the Bradford Bird Busters less than three years ago and now serves as the club’s president. “Its really taken off, and especially in McKean County.”
Some teams are loosely affiliated with their respective school districts, such as Otto-Eldred and Smethport, while others, such as Bradford, are not. The STSYTL is not sanctioned by the PIAA, making trap a somewhat unique interscholastic entity.
While many sports struggle for numbers amid shrinking school enrollment, trap has thrived.
“Once they come out, they’re hooked,” said Randy Sanderson, president of the O-E Bird Dawgs. “Once they stand out on that line and split a couple of clays, we’ve got them. They’re lifers.”
Sanderson’s club started 10 years ago with five kids, and has been affiliated with its namesake school district since its inception. The Bird Dawgs also pull some shooters from Port Allegany, and this season, rostered a manageable 40 shooters.
Smethport — like Otto-Eldred — is affiliated with its school district but does not receive funding from it. Athletes can letter, receive yearbook recognition and are subject to academic and disciplinary consequences, like any other sport.
“A lot of the kids that come in here, they don’t know what it means to be on a team,” said Bill Bailey, who has led the team since it joined the STSYTL in 2020. “The first couple years, it was unbelievable the amound of kids who were ineligible because of grades and/or discipline. They just didn’t get it; didn’t get what it meant to be part of a team. This year, I had maybe one kid, as opposed to a dozen last year.”
Smethport entered its first year with just shy of 20 shooters, but — like other area programs — has seen continued growth. Bailey had previously become involved with O-E’s trap team, and with grandchildren in Smethport, wanted to provide the district with the same opportunity.
“This sport is unique in that nobody sits on the bench,” Bailey said. “Every kid shoots in every match. Plus, it doesn’t take up nearly as much time. For some of these kids that have never played a sport and their parents aren’t flush with money, they may not be able to make it to baseball practice every night, but they can get to trap shooting once a week.”
McKEAN COUNTY shooters haven’t just grown in number — they’ve been successful, too.
Kane’s Jacob Edinger won the 2022 AIM junior division state championship with a perfect score, while Bradford’s Wyatt Stark finished as the division’s runner-up. Smethport’s Brayden Cosper has amassed a long list of trap accomplishments, including a 1st-place intermediate division crown at the 2021 SCTP national championships and 3rd-place SCTP varsity division finish at the 2022 state meet.
More than 50 local shooters will compete at SCTP nationals at the Cardinal Center, including 10 from Bradford alone. Brinsky’s goal is to eventually assemble a McKean County SCTP team — a squad composed of the area’s top shooters — to compete against the power squads produced by programs such as Warren County.
“We really put forth a lot of time, effort and money to make it available to anybody because it’s an expensive sport,” Brinsky said. “You’ve got kids in school saying, ‘Hey, come up and try it.’ Once they start shooting, by the end of the year, we’ve got them breaking birds. There’s nothing better than watching a kid shoot their personal best and smile from ear to ear.”
The resources are available — Bradford Gun Club holds eight trap houses, the second-most in Pennsylvania behind only the Pennsylvania State Sportsmen’s Association in Elysburg, which hosts the state meet.
Youth interest is ample, as well. In addition to the New York-based league in which Bradford, Smethport and others compete, Kane competes in a league alongside schools in Elk County and beyond.
“We just hope it continues,” Sanderson said. “Countless years and we’ve never had an incident on the trap field. You go to a football game, they have an ambulance on standby waiting for someone to get hurt. All the years we’ve done this, we haven’t had an injury, an incident or anything. It’s good for the kids.”
Gun safety and etiquette are stressed by coaches. Many of the athletes have grown up around firearms, but those that haven’t learn to properly handle and care for their equipment.
“If you teach someone how to properly handle a firearm and how to respect it, you have no issues,” Brinsky said. “Youth trap nationally has never had a fatality accident. You can’t say that about football, baseball or hockey.”
While trap itself has existed for generations, the sport’s explosion in high schools has been encouraging for the local sporting community. More expansion could be on the way, as rumblings have been heard regarding an interscholastic club in Emporium.
As many sports scramble to fill rosters, however, trap shooting continues to grow.
“As far as I’m concerned, the sky’s the limit,” Bailey said. “A lot of these kids are starting in 5th grade, and I don’t see it going anywhere.”
(Jeff Uveino, Bradford Publishing Company assistant group sports editor, can be reached at juveino@bradfordera.com)
