Competitive rugby is a young man’s game, and when Nick reached his mid-30s he needed something that could fill the hole rugby left. That’s when he took up clay shooting, a pastime that appealed to him because it combines his love of hunting with the ability to satisfy his competitive drive.
Nick shot a couple of beginner level parcours while still living in his native France, scoring in the low single digits out of a possible 25. He wasn’t disheartened by his low scores, but instead took it as a challenge to improve. With his experience as a rugby player, he decided to use a mental coach, a physical coach, and a technical coach — so he knew a little something about training and put that same learning style to use in his shooting game.
With hard work, Nick’s shooting improved. Holding Master’s degrees in both architecture and civil engineering, he had built a very successful career running his own companies in France and Vietnam. Clay shooting at the time was a hobby — a fun, competitive sport to pursue in his spare time. Little did he know that a few short years later he would immerse himself fully in both the competitive and business sides of clay target shooting.
He’d been shooting for only a year back in 2015 when he visited the U.S. to shoot stateside for the first time. By then he had already gained standing in what’s called Club France, based upon his ranking in the top 24 shooters in that country. Based upon his one year of shooting experience, he was placed in D class at the World FITASC Championship held at Caribou Gun Club. He went on to win D1 in every event he shot at Caribou that week, punching his way into C class.
A Move To The US
Nick’s wife Cat was born and raised in the U.S. and her whole family lives in southern California. That seemed like a good place to relocate — near family and where their kids could get a good education. The plan was for Nick to run his companies remotely from California and fly back and forth to Asia and France when need be. Upon hearing Nick’s plans, Laporte Chairman, JeanMichel Laporte, told him not to rush into anything once arriving in the U.S. The fact that Nick had built a company in Vietnam and took it from three employees to 80 in a year and a half was not lost on Mr. Laporte. He admired Nick’s business acumen and thought he might be the right person to manage Laporte’s North American division.
Because he still owned two successful companies, Nick wasn’t in the market for a job. Although he was already happily employed, he met Mr. Laporte at the NSCA Nationals that October and was made an offer he wouldn’t refuse. “I’m glad I made this choice. Laporte is a very innovative family owned company and if there’s an issue, we always find a way to make it work. The near future looks very bright for us” he said.
The French Nick Video Experience
Nick liked to record video with his iPhone while on the sporting clays course. He launched a blog at FrenchNick.com and a YouTube channel, quickly building a large online following. “Nobody was doing it and it started getting crazy” he said. Because he is personal friends with a lot of the top shots, he is able to get very close for filming while they’re in the shooting stand. He knows how to move in without bothering them — where to stand, or maybe more importantly where not to stand. He says there aren’t a lot of people who could do that, because they wouldn’t dare come in that close. Some shooting friends have even asked him to come in closer than normal with his iPhone to get footage for instructional videos. Anthony I. Matarese Jr. asked him to record with his phone only four inches from his ear while competing at the Nationals. “You probably couldn’t do that with a regular camera guy” says Nick. “It’s always like an exchange and a balance between what the shooter wants, he doesn’t want and what you need to get good images.” He’s also videoed Zach Kienbaum, Cory Kruse, Gebben Mile
