Olympic shooting star and five-time medalist Kim Rhode can be heard this Saturday morning on ESPN radio at 790 AM on the “Outdoors with Larry Rea” show. As SSSF’s Honorary Fundraising Chairperson, Kim, an SCTP alumna, will be appearing on the show on behalf of SSSF to discuss our programs and how to support them.
The show broadcasts from Memphis, Tennessee from 6:00 to 7:30 a.m.
Larry and Brenda Potterfield recently donated over $1.7 million to the Scholastic Shooting Sports Foundation to further our role in growing youth shooting through the Scholastic Clay Target Program and the Scholastic Pistol Program.
“Brenda and I are delighted to support an organization that utilizes scholastic shooting programs to help develop today’s youth,” said Larry Potterfield, Founder and CEO of MidwayUSA. “As leaders, we all have an opportunity to change the future; we’re investing in tomorrow’s leaders, America’s future decision makers.”
Larry and Brenda were recently named Founding Life Diamond Members of the Champion’s Roundtable, which recognizes donors who have made major contributions to the SSSF mission. They are also Charter Members of the SSSF Legacy Society, which honors donors who have included SSSF in their estate plans through deferred gifts.
“The generous support provided to the SSSF by Larry and Brenda is vital to the growth and expansion of our Scholastic Clay Target and Scholastic Pistol Programs. This donation will help us extend our reach to get more kids pulling triggers and also support local SCTP and SPP team endowment accounts to fund teams well into the future,” said Ben Berka, President and Executive Director of the SSSF.
About MidwayUSA
Both country kids from Missouri, Larry and Brenda Potterfield turned their passion for shooting sports into a career by opening a small gun shop in 1977 that would eventually become MidwayUSA. They instilled family values like honesty, integrity, and respect for others into the business, and strive to maintain this culture with each employee added to their growing team. For over 37 years, MidwayUSA has offered JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING® for shooting, reloading, gunsmithing, and hunting with an unyielding focus on customer satisfaction.
For more information on MidwayUSA, visit their website, www.midwayusa.com, find them on Facebook, www.facebook.com/OfficialMidwayUSA, or follow them on Twitter, twitter.com/midwayusa.
The Scholastic Pistol Program has had numerous requests for t-shirts from the 2014 National Championships, so we will be re-ordering a supply of them soon.
SPP t-shirts will be available in Small through X-Large sizes for $14 and XXL and XXXL sizes for $16, plus shipping.
Click here to place your order on the SSSF online store.
The deadline to submit your order is September 7. Delivery will be approximately the week of September 22.
The Scholastic Clay Target Program will be hosting a College Regional “Spooktacular” Tournament on October 31 – November 2 at the World Shooting and Recreational Complex in Sparta, Illinois. The tournament is open to any and all colleges registered with SCTP. Plans are still coming together, but for now, save the date. You don’t want to miss this! Details will follow soon.
Scholastic Pistol Program teams: Do you want to be included in this fun event? If so, contact Tammy Mowry or Scott Moore to let us know.
It’s moving day!
Effective immediately, Scholastic Shooting Sports Foundation is relocating home-office administration and financial operations from the current Maumee, Ohio office to the National Shooting Complex in San Antonio, Texas.
Plans for the move were originally announced in March, with a long time-frame for the move to allow for new staff to be hired and trained and to ensure there was no interruption of services to our program participants.
“As the Headquarters of the National Skeet Shooting Association and National Sporting Clays Association, the National Shooting Complex is a natural choice to house the SSSF’s operations,” said Louise Terry, Chairperson of the SSSF Board of Directors. “Since we are the largest feeder program for youth shooters to NSSA-NSCA, we envision this as a win-win relationship.”
Ben Berka, SSSF President and Executive Director, added, “We are pleased to call the National Shooting Complex home for our headquarters operations. Housing our key administrative and financial operations alongside an established and mature shooting sports organization such as the NSSA-NSCA will help us grow and give our home office perpetuity into the future.”
For most of your contacts with SCTP and SPP, nothing has changed. For program-specific requests, continue to contact the program staff as in the past. Contact for all of those staff members remains unchanged. Only for those reasons you might have contacted the Maumee, Ohio home office in the past will you now need to contact us in San Antonio.
You can find contact information for our home office and each program on every page of our website. Just scroll down the page, and you’ll find those contacts on the lower right side.
Our new home office contact information is:
Want to host a Level 1 SPP coaching class in your area?
Training is provided by the SPP / NRA / USA Shooting National Coach Development Staff (NCDS). The course covers all required coaching fundamentals for pistol coaches in the Scholastic Pistol Program, in addition to other disciplines of pistol competition. The class fee would include all printed materials, 3-year coaching credentials with the NRA, lunch, and refreshments each day.
Here are the requirements: at least 15-20 people wanting to take the class, a facility where the class can be taught indoors with access to electricity, and a range for field work.
If you’re interested in hosting a class, contact Tammy Mowry, tmowry@sssfonline.com or 724-822-7390 for more information and to make arrangements.
The Scholastic Pistol Program, along with National Rifle Association and USA Shooting, will host a Level 1 Pistol Coach’s course next month in Michigan.
The course covers all required coaching fundamentals for pistol coaches in the Scholastic Pistol Program (SPP), in addition to other disciplines of pistol competition. The training is provided by the SPP/NRA/USAS National Coach Development Staff (NCDS).
Caledonia Sportsman’s Club (10721 Coldwater Avenue SE, Alto, MI 49302) will host the class on September 13-14, 2014.
The school is two days of sports-specific lessons and practical coaching exercises designed to teach the coach candidate the basics of coaching. The following general subjects are taught:
The two-day course runs from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. each day. Candidates should bring eye and ear protection and note-taking materials, along with either a 9mm or .22 LR handgun and 50 rounds of ammunition for their handgun.
Cost of the course is $140, which includes all printed materials, 3-year coaching credentials with the NRA, a binder for your materials, and lunch/refreshments each day.
The Scholastic Shooting Sports Foundation has contracted with the World Shooting and Recreational Complex (WSRC) to hold its National Team Championships at the Sparta, Illinois facility through 2017. Ben Berka, SSSF President and Executive Director, and Art Ashbrook, WSRC Executive Director, signed the agreement recently to formalize the three-year extension of the foundation’s relationship with the complex.
“We are pleased to call Sparta ‘Home of the SSSF National Championships’ and look forward to meeting our SSSF extended family there each year during the second full week of July,” said Berka. “The Illinois Department of Natural Resources staff at the World Shooting and Recreational Complex are great to work with and are committed to working together with the SSSF to accommodate our growth, both in numbers of participants and in the diversity of events we are offering.”
WSRA’s Ashbrook echoed those sentiments. “The World Shooting and Recreational Complex and the IDNR are extremely pleased by the commitment of the SSSF to hold its National Championships here for the next three years, and hopefully for the next 100,” said Ashbrook. “We think we work very well together, serving the community and young shooters alike.”
More than 10,000 people came to Sparta for the 2014 SCTP National Team Championship and SPP Junior/Senior National Championship at the WSRC in July, including approximately 2500 shooters plus coaches, family members, and other supporters.
If you aren’t already a Scholastic Pistol Program shooter, you may have wondered what that sport is all about. And if you are already a participant, you probably want to know how to improve your scores.
Our friends at CZ-USA and Rock Road Creative have provided answers to your questions in a new video, Basics to Scholastic Pistol Program Shooting. In very clear steps, the video takes you through the basic procedures required on the line, then gives some tips to help you shoot better. Click the “play” arrow below.
Our thanks to Dave Miller, CZ-USA, and Rock Road Creative for producing this video.
Scholastic Shooting Sports Foundation (SSSF) is pleased to announce that Olympic Gold Medalist Kim Rhode will serve as its Honorary Fundraising Chairperson for 2014-2015. Kim is an alumna of the Scholastic Clay Target Program (SCTP), having been involved in the earliest days of SCTP.
“SCTP was very important to me as I began my competitive shooting career, and I am very pleased to lend my support to promote its ongoing growth,” said Rhode.
“Kim represents the best attributes of our program and is a tremendous role model for our youth, not only as an Olympic athlete, but also now as a hard-working mom,” said Louise Terry, Chairperson of the SSSF Board of Directors. “Her extraordinary success in her career is due to her dedication to our sport and to her persistent pursuit of her personal goals. We are very proud of Kim and her outstanding achievements.”
Kim Rhode starting shooting skeet at age 10 and won her first World Championship in American skeet only three years later. She won her first Olympic gold medal in women’s double trap at the 1996 Games in Atlanta, making the 17-year-old the youngest female gold medalist in the history of Olympic shooting. Kim followed this performance with a bronze at the Sydney Games in 2000 and another gold medal in double trap in 2004 at the Athens Games.
When women’s double trap was eliminated from the Olympics following the 2004 Games, Kim refocused on international skeet, winning the silver medal in 2008 in Beijing and her third Olympic gold medal at the 2012 London Games, equaling the world record of 99/100 targets and making her the most decorated Olympic female shooter in history. In addition to her five Olympic medals, Kim has won 13 world championships, plus two ISSF World Cup wins in 2014 as she prepares for her sixth Olympic appearance in Rio in 2016.
“Kim is also a Charter Member of the SSSF Champion’s Roundtable for major supporters,” said Dan Hathaway, Director of Foundation Development. ”Her leadership is most welcome as we embark on our new fundraising efforts.”
