The USA Clay Target League has much to celebrate after reading the organization’s recently released 2024 Impact Report. Participation has grown in 2024 to 53,250 student-athletes, an increase of 7.6% over last year.
There were 49,337 registered student-athletes on the USA Clay Target League rolls in 2023.
According to the report, there were 14,300 new high school and college athletes on 168 new teams that participated in USA Clay Target League competition this year.
For more than 9,000 of the 14,300 new USA Clay Target League shooters this year, it was their first time competing in a clay target discipline.
A nonprofit organization, the USA Clay Target League is billed as “the largest youth clay target shooting sport program in the nation.” USA Clay Target League programs include trap, skeet, sporting clays and five-stand competition offered to secondary and postsecondary schools across the country.
For high school clay target competitors, there were 33 USA Clay Target League state tournaments this year, with a total of 1,571 teams. On those teams, there were 25,971 total registered student-athletes.
The largest USA Clay Target League state match is the Minnesota State Trap Tournament, which had a whopping 8,576 student-athletes in 2024.
On the collegiate side, participation has skyrocketed this year, with a 35% gain in the USA Clay Target League spring and fall leagues over 2023.
“More than 14,000 new high school and college students took their first steps into clay target shooting sports this year, joining the hundreds of thousands of athletes and families that have discovered a lifelong outdoor passion though the League’s nation-leading youth programs,” USA Clay Target League President John Nelson said.
With more than 53,000 student-athletes competing in USA Clay Target League competition, there is another eye-catching statistic. According to the impact report, the estimated amount of shooting sports-related expenditures spent by student-athletes in 2024 is $122 million.
The USA Clay Target League has developed a strong support system, including a solid coaching network. For example, Head Coach Melissa Kuebler of the Calvary Chapel H.S. team in Santa Ana, California, balances growing the team with providing a secondary home and family for athletes. When the team was first formed in 2017, there were around five to seven athletes. Since then, Kuebler grown the team to more than 20 shooters.
“We’ll have athletes that come out in the fall and will shoot zeros all the way until the last week and finally hit their first clay—and we celebrate like they’ve hit 25,” Kuebler said.
Dan Duhon worked with parents and community members to create the STM Shooting Sports Club at St. Thomas More Catholic H.S. in Lafayette, Louisiana. Since it was founded in 2022, the team has grown to 35 shooters.
“Given that this area is a hotbed of hunting and fishing activities and that we already had a fishing team, a shooting sports team seemed to be the next logical step,” Duhon said. “With the help of several parents, many of which stepped up to become coaches and leaders, the club became a real success story.”
“Coaches, parents, schools and shooting ranges are the heroes that make participation in the League a safe and fun activity for student athletes.” Nelson said. “Students are developing themselves and their teammates into respectful, responsible young adults while developing relationships that will extend far beyond the shooting range.”
The 2024 Impact Report also serves as a memorial to the founder of the USA Clay Target League, Jim Sable, who sadly passed away this fall. While Sable turned over the reins of the organization in 2019 to spend more time with his family, his legacy lives on.
“The success of the League is because of Jim’s vision, determination and kindness,” Nelson said. “Jim’s devotion to youth shooting sports, and his unrelenting drive to create a lasting, safe, school-based program resulted in the League being a beacon in the shooting sports world.”
You can view the USA Clay Target League 2024 Impact Report here.
Learn more about the USA Clay Target League at usaclaytarget.com.
