Justin Barker is a sporting clays shooter out of Warner Robins, Georgia. He started bird hunting at an early age with family and friends, so having a shotgun in his hands is something he was very used to. In 2016 he decided to try sporting clays. During that year, Justin traveled around the country shooting tournaments from small local shoots to the US Open. He also hit up some of the PSCA (Professional Sporting Clays Association) tour stops along the way to see how it was to qualify for the event. The goal in doing this was to see as many targets as he could and to build the “database” of what different target setters would set at different level tournaments. Moving into 2017, it was more of the same, traveling to as many tournaments as he could to get better at the sport. Justin says that when he does something, he wants to go all the way and put 110% into whatever he is doing. During this same time, he met some of the best in the sport, from local heroes to National Champions, World Champions, and even Olympians. He quickly became friends with a lot of these great shooters and still talks to most of them today. During this same time frame, Justin discovered podcasts and enjoyed listening to all the different genres that podcasts offered. When searching for a podcast about sporting clays, there were none to be found, and that’s when Justin wondered if he could produce one himself. After considering this idea for a while and decided to record a casual conversation about what was happening in the sporting clays world. The episode lasted 18 minutes. Once this was recorded, a name was needed for this new podcast. “Behind The Break” was decided on and the first podcast was aired. Behind The Break featured some of the best shooters in the world and some of the best shooting and coaching advice that you would ever find anywhere to this day, PERIOD. This was new, fresh, and something the sport needed for a long time. The chance for people to hear from these shooters and how they managed their programs and practice sessions was a game-changer in the sport. The now-published podcast ran through the sporting clays community very quickly. From country to country, coast to coast, and household to household, he produced what some would say is a sort of “How-To” for sporting clays.

Later in 2020, Justin decided to start a new podcast and named it Shotgun Sports USA, focusing on not just sporting clays but other disciplines as well as 3-gun. Justin has also said that he wants to focus more on what happens before the trigger is pulled.  He feels there is a lot that goes on in this sport before the end game of firing the shell. Talking to companies and people that make the sport happen should be just as important as talking to the shooters breaking the targets. Justin said, “you have to remember, without these companies, vendors, and people, what we do would not be able to happen without them”.  Shotgun Sports USA has been publishing episodes every week since October 20, 2020. The podcast has now surpassed the numbers that Behind The Break had reached and in a much quicker time frame. Justin said, “look for this podcast to get bigger and bigger with every episode.”  He is focused and determined to grow the sport, and his mission is only to release accurate and reliable information that every shooter at any level can use every week.