CICERO, N.Y. — There is a particular quality to spring in the Finger Lakes Region of New York—the kind of morning where the air still carries a sharpness left over from winter but the light has already turned warm—and it is into this setting that the Amateur Trapshooting Association’s 22nd Annual Empire Satellite Grand American arrives May 5-10. The tournament returns to the New York State Amateur Trapshooting Association Homegrounds in Cicero, just north of Syracuse, with 15 events across singles, handicap and doubles and a set of trap fields that have been rebuilt since the last time competitors saw them.
Refurbishment of the Bridgeport Rod and Gun Club facility over the past year included resetting trap houses that had heaved from years of freeze-thaw cycles, as well as regrading the surrounding ground to restore proper elevations. The result is a facility running on a minimum of 12 and a maximum of 24 fields (depending on entries), all throwing White Flyer targets. ATA President Joe Sissano, who will be attending his 21st Empire Grand, noted that NYSATA’s leadership has made target presentation a priority for the week.
The program opens Tuesday with warm-up events in singles, handicap and doubles, followed by preliminary rounds on Wednesday and Empire-titled events on Thursday. The Empire Grand proper begins Friday with the Empire Grand Class Doubles, Empire Grand Class Singles and the Caesar Guerini Preliminary Handicap. Saturday belongs to the 200-target Browning Singles Championship. Sunday closes the week with the Empire Grand Doubles Championship and the Winchester Ammunition Handicap Championship, which awards trophies through fifth place and includes an ATA Hall of Fame Contributor Award.
For those inclined to stay after the day’s scores are posted, the NYSATA will host cosmic shooting under black lights on Wednesday and Thursday evenings—two targets per post from the 16-yard line at $10 per entry, half to the pot and half to the NYSATA maintenance fund. It is, perhaps, the closest trapshooting comes to spectacle: neon-lit clays sailing against a darkening New York sky. Additionally, SOS Clays will run Silver Shootout options on selected events during the week, drawing 15 names per day for a shoot-off—with the winners taking home 10-ounce silver bars.
Classification and squadding open daily one hour before shooting and close at 4:00 p.m. (1:00 p.m. on Sunday). Shooting begins at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday. Match pre-squadding is available through sosclays.com and closes May 3, 2026. A limited number of RV and camper hookups with electric and water are available at $40 per night; contact Todd Hosbach at (585) 729-9236 for reservations. The NYSATA Homegrounds are located at 7400 Bull Street in Bridgeport, New York.
The Empire Grand is one of several ATA Satellite Grand competitions held each year on the road to the Grand American World Trapshooting Championships, the sport's oldest and most prestigious annual gathering. The 127th Grand American is scheduled for July 29 to Aug. 8, 2026, at the World Shooting and Recreational Complex in Sparta, Illinois.
For the full schedule of ATA Satellite Grands and more information about the Amateur Trapshooting Association, visit shootata.com.
Most Popular
