10:55 a.m., Jan. 8, 2009----On an early autumn afternoon, about a half dozen students and their faculty adviser have arrived at a local shooting range for a team practice as members of the University of Delaware's newest club sports program, the trap and skeet shooting club.

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The registered student organization, which has about 20 members, is housed at the Wilmington Trapshooting Association, located just south of Glasgow off Route 40. The team also has turned in some very favorable performances in competitions up and down the Mid-Atlantic region and beyond.

Club president Greg Doyle, a senior fitness management major from Pine Bush, N.Y., has been shooting since age 11, when he began accompanying his uncle, who along with his grandfather owned and ran a marina in Port Washington, Long Island.

“I never shot competitively until this year,” Doyle said. “I like the sporting clays competition, and I went to a few events and went online and found that there were several collegiate teams and that there was also a national collegiate championship in the sport.”

At a recent competition at West Point, N.Y., the UD team finished second to the U.S. Military Academy and just ahead of the University of Connecticut in third.

“It was an amazing trip to West Point. Our team members stayed over night in the barracks with the with U.S. Army team members,” Doyle said. “We got to tour the entire campus, which was gorgeous. The next day we all met out at the range, where is just past where they shoot tanks with rockets, and up on the hill were a bunch of blown-up tanks.”

Doyle said that the West Point trap and skeet shooting team club house was funded by Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf and his friends, who turn up every now and then for some shooting practice.

The trap and skeet shooting club from UD also turned in a second place finish in October at Virginia Tech's Hokie Invitational in Bluefield, Va., where they beat out four other teams in the group's first collegiate competition.

Liz Clark, a senior hotel, restaurant and institutional management major from Pittsford, N.Y., also began trap shooting with family members in the Rochester area.

“Once you get out there, it really is addictive,” Clark said. “Once you get out there, you want to do more of it. It's almost like golf.”

Andrew Engle, a junior history major from Hockessin and vice president of the trap and skeet shooting club, is a two-time Delaware state champion. He gained interest in the sport from his grandfather, who has been shooting trap and skeet for more than 40 years.

“I got involved with my grandfather, and the rest is history,” Engel said. “It's a lot of fun, and I have met a lot of friends from coast to coast and from Michigan to Texas.”

Engel said that training includes working on eye-hand coordination and core strengthening exercises to prepare for competitions that can last for several hours.

“The shotguns weigh from seven to 10 pounds,” Engel said. “You need strength to hold a gun all day during competition.”

Bill Trone, president of the Wilmington Trapshooting Association, said that years ago trap shooting used to be more popular than baseball in terms of attracting spectators.

“Twenty-five years ago they used to hold a state shooting championship,” Trone said. “It may be coming back a little, because people in the area are learning about us.”

Faculty adviser John Courtright, faculty director of the Associate in Arts Program and a professor in the Department of Communication, said he began shooting while growing up in his native Iowa.

“I like to shoot, and I like students, so I figured I had something to offer the group,” Courtright said. “My role is to get to know the students and for them to get to know me.”

Article by Jerry Rhodes
Photos by Tyler Jacobson