Walking up to a trapshooting practice sounds a lot like you would expect. There are popping noises galore and intermittent yells of “Pull!” Athletes stand in a semicircle and take turns aiming for a flying orange target. For those who may not know what trapshooting is, it is a club where students compete for accuracy in shooting clay targets. The target is shot out into the air, and the athlete shoots at it with a shotgun.
There are 17 athletes on the Mason City team: 5 freshmen, 2 sophomores, 7 juniors, and 3 seniors. According to coach Steve Peterson, the season has been a little slow to start, but the students are improving. One student’s improvement was made abundantly clear clapping and cheering as a round finished and athletes swapped out. Olivia Sorenson, a senior, just shot her first 25. This means she hit 25 clay targets in a row in the previous round. She is ecstatic, high fiving other girls on the team and hurrying to tell her father, who was watching the practice. The other shooters from her practice round were almost equally as excited for her, congratulating her and talking about it with each other as they racked their guns to watch the next practice round.
Olivia Sorensen is all smiles after shooting her first 25.
Trap shooting in Mason City is classified as a club, which can have positive and negative effects on the activity. Mr. Peterson says that less oversight compared to a sport is a positive. It provides more flexibility for groups to make decisions that are specific to them, such as how many kids they can send to state competitions. The amount of kids at the state meet, according to Zoe Frascht, can stretch to over a half mile of athletes in a row. “It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.” she said as she observed other shooters. “And I’m serious about that.” The Mason City Trapshooting team has gone to state for the last several years, a fact the students are very proud of. Spending even ten minutes at a practice demonstrates how serious they all are about the sport. Zoe and Kerea Severson speak in quiet voices, and when the talk gets too loud are quick to hush, pointing at the current group of shooters. “It helps with concentration if it’s quiet,” Zoe explains. Kerea adds that she “doesn’t shoot as well if there is talking, as it throws off her focus”. Extending this common courtesy to other athletes is so natural that it takes one sentence to fall back into near whispers.
However, Mr. Peterson says, with less administrative involvement comes less funding. This can mean it costs more for the individual to be involved, and group supplies and transport can be harder to figure out. Kerea, a junior, recalled that to participate in the sport her freshman year cost $800 per student, paying for shells and clays and their own transport to meets. This year the team received a grant the dropped the cost to about $300. Still awfully pricey for a high school student. Zoe explained the cost does not include the cost of purchasing a personal gun (if a student does not already have one to use). That can be another $1,000.
The athletes believe this sport and it’s community is worth all of that. Speaking with Zoe made their connection to this sport clear. She explains that it is a sport that takes “dedication and commitment. It’s hard, but every athlete on the team loves it. We wouldn’t be here if we didn’t.” Seeing the support that surrounded Olivia’s successful round, the connection between the team is clear. They often hang out after or outside of practice. Zoe says they went to get dinner together after Monday’s meet, and she and Kerea discussed going fishing. Trapshooting, as the athletes are quick to tell you, is a sport that brings people together who wouldn’t meet normally, and gives them a connection. The team practices with Garner-Ventura-Hayfield and have created lasting friendships with students they would not have come into contact with otherwise. And they are friends, a support system grown out of a small culture of kids who all love the sport and want to improve.
Because trap shooting is a lesser known sport, I asked Mr. Peterson if there was anything he wanted people to know about the sport. His response was that, “Trap shooting can be a lifetime sport. Unlike football, you are not likely to get injured.” Zoe echoed his sentiment almost exactly, saying “Trapshooting is something we can do for life. You can’t play football forever, you don’t always have a basketball team, but as long as I have a gun I can come and shoot.” It’s a skill and hobby that they are learning for life, and it’s clear that many students plan to continue, buying personal guns and working hard to improve no matter what grade they’re in. Olivia’s triumphant 25 was shot on the gun that she just got for a graduation present, and from her reaction to improving, this is something she is going to love for a long time, like the rest of the team. It is truly a tightknit community that loves what they do.