Author name: Shotgun Sports USA

This week I have 3 college shooters from Georgia Southern University in Statesboro Georgia on with me. This school has an interesting story on how they started and how good they have become in just a few short years.  With head coach Marty Fischer, there is a lot of knowledge and talent behind this team and it is only going to get better.  If you follow college shooting sports, you cannot take your eye off this team.  

You know of a college that needs to be on the podcast?  Send us an email and let us know who!

Rick Hemingway is one of the leaders in this sport. He does things differently, he tries new things and don’t mind venturing out into something that hasn't been done before. We talk about how he built backwoods into what it is today. We talk about the 2022 US Open and what he thought of the targets on the main event, the upcoming JR. US Open and the 2023 Gator Cup which is coming to Georgetown in March of 23.

The Scholastic Clay Target Program is the largest, fastest growing, and most exciting youth clay target program in the US. We provide students from elementary through high school and college the chance to compete in sports such as trap, skeet, and sporting clays. As well as Olympic disciplines like bunker trap and international skeet.

The SCTP’s mission is to help kids reach their highest potential in becoming the best athlete and young adults they can be. The SCTP is a youth development program, first and foremost and we do this through the shooting sports and competitive shooting.

mysctp.com

As a past World, National and US Open Champion, Anthony Matarese Jr. talks about this year's US Open and how he shot one the hardest main event courses he has ever entered.  We go course by course, how he felt and how he managed to keep his head in the game the entire weekend.  We talk about how perfectly the shoot was ran and managed and how impressed he was with Rick Hemingway's Backwoods Quail Club.

Anthony's new book, Straight Shooting, was released at the US Open.  Find out how and where to get it.  It may be the best book ever written about the sport.

Buy Anthony's Book
Buy Anthony's Videos
2022 US Open Results on Scorechaser
Back Woods Quail Club

We are going to be discussing the Beretta A400 Xcel which is the new auto loader sporting shotgun for 2022.  I figured it would be a great time to bring on some of the people behind the scenes Travis Haglin from Beretta USA, Rich Cole from Cole Gunsmithing, which is Beretta’s largest premium gun dealer in the World and the shooters that have experience shooting this gun first hand.

Joe Fanizzi, Desirae Edmunds, Diane Sorantino. These are 3 of the best sporting and fitasc auto loader shooters in the country.

This is our first time videoing our podcast and we would like to thank all of those for making this happen.  First off the Clay Lab for the video experience, Backwoods Quail Club in Georgetown South Carolina for the facility and our guests that have taken time out of their busy schedule to talk about something new to the market.

If you go back through the podcast archives, you can find interviews with each one of these individuals and can get to know them and how they shoot a little better.

Watch the episode here

I am joined by three members and one coach from Fort Hays State University in Hays Kansas.  This team has won 9 SCTP National Championships and 4 of those have been consecutive.  This is an organization that started back in 2005 with only 6 people and has grown into a championship winning team that is very determined and very supportive of each and every shooter on their squad.  This smaller college in the mid-west really has alot to offer someone. Listen in and find out why more and more people are choosing Fort Hays State.

Duane Pitts and Donny Ballard talk about the history of Nilo Farms, what Nilo offers and how to book your next event with them.  We talk about the 4th annual Nilo Open and the $35,000 in prizes, how to register and why you should attend.  Lastly, we discuss the "Shoot with the Pros" event that is coming in June and only 18 lucky individuals will have the chance to attend and shoot with some of the best shooters in the world.  These shooters include, olympic gold medalist, world champions, national champions, grand american champions and more.  These people will also get to tour the Winchester plant where your favorite shotshell is made.

The 2022 World English Sporting Championship in San Antonio Texas is complete and George Digweed captured his 27th world title in 5 decades of shooting.  We have the G.O.A.T on with us as well as bronze medalist and first time Team USA member, Eric Harvey and silver medalist, Ryan Harper, also a first time Team USA member.  This tournament was all decided in the super final on Sunday afternoon.  These three shooters were all neck and neck for the duration of the tournament and it was a pleasure to watch them all shoot for one of the greatest accomplishemnts in our sport.

We would like to thank everyone involved for their efforts in putting on a great tournament that everyone seemed to enjoy.

I had 4 people from the 2022 ACUI National Champion Aggies on the podcast with me this week.  Texas A&M University Trap and Skeet Club won the National Championship in 2021 and repeats again in 2022.  This student-ran team may just be the best we have seen in recent years of college shooting.  The squad of 29 showed up and showed out in San Antonio Texas at the National Shooting Complex hitting 2862 out of 3000 targets.  Texas A&M defeated the next closest team by 10 targets in American Trap Singles, American Trap Doubles, American Skeet, American Skeet Doubles, Sporting Clays, and Super Sporting combined.  This stacked team is energetic, talented, and very excited about what the future brings for the school and its shooting program.

Julia Gilman handles a lot of important things for gun clubs.  It's an all-in-one package that consists of sponsorship and sponsorship recruitment, the organization of vendors and sponsors, marketing campaigns, hospitality, team development and management, and something everyone always mentions….a referee program.  Find out how she does all of this and how she finds and trains new referees.  Also, what her plans are for 2022 and even 2023.