Youth Clay Target News

Look at that photo. That's Mason Smithey, 14 years old, holding up a hat that's seen better days. The brim is shredded. The crown's got a pellet hole through the Wapakoneta Redskins patch. He's grinning so hard his face might split.

He shot that hat. Because he earned it.

What Is the Shoot Your Hat Tradition?

The tradition is simple and earned: shoot your first perfect 25-straight round at the trap line, and your hat goes on the post. Your teammates, your coach, your parents — they all watch as you take one more shot at something that can never be repaired. A perfectly good hat, destroyed. A moment, preserved forever.

Nobody knows exactly when it started. It's one of those unwritten laws of the clay shooting community — passed down coach to shooter, season to season. Some clubs do it for 25 straight. Some for a first perfect practice round. Some for state championship performances. The details vary. The feeling doesn't.

— Wapakoneta Redskins Clay Target Club coach, after Mason's 25-straight

Why It Matters

Clay target sports don't have slam dunks. They don't have touchdowns or hole-in-ones that an entire stadium watches in real time. The magic lives in a number on a scoresheet and a feeling between a shooter and 25 flying discs. The hat tradition turns an invisible achievement into something tangible, something loud, something shared.

The hat becomes a trophy. Not polished metal on a shelf — a beat-up ball cap with a hole in it that you can hold up and show anyone. I did that. I earned that.

For Mason, it was May 4, 2026. Year one. First season. The Wapakoneta Redskins Clay Target Club, Beretta 688 over his shoulder, that big grin on his face.

His hat didn't survive. His moment will.

Has Your Kid Shot Their Hat?

YoungClays wants to hear about it. Send us the photo, the story, and the team. We'll feature every first 25-straight hat shoot we find. This is the stuff the sport is made of.

On a clear May morning at the Cardinal Center in Marengo, Ohio, Mason Smithey — a 14-year-old from Wapakoneta who hadn't been shooting a year ago — stepped to Post 1 and began one of the most impressive single rounds a first-year USACTL athlete has ever put up in Ohio.

He broke all 25. Not 24. Not 23. Twenty-five straight. A perfect round from the trap line, the kind that sends experienced shooters into multi-year chases.

— Wapakoneta Redskins Clay Target Club Head Coach

Smithey's 25-straight was the cherry on top of an already remarkable spring season. He averaged 90% — that's 22.5 birds per 25-target round — across the entire USACTL Ohio spring season. That number is elite for any athlete, but for a first-year 14-year-old competing with a new Beretta 688, it's something else entirely.

The Coaches Award

Beyond the scores, Smithey was recognized with the Coaches Award — given by the Wapakoneta team staff to the athlete who best exemplifies attitude, improvement, and leadership. According to the team, Mason stood out not just for his shooting but for how he carried himself at every meet: encouraging teammates, helping new members, and showing up early to every practice.

What's Next

Smithey will enter 9th grade this fall as a freshman at Wapakoneta High School, where he's expected to anchor the team's trap lineup. With a full offseason ahead and his first competitive year of experience under his belt, the ceiling is difficult to predict. USACTL state championships, All-Ohio, and eventually a USA Shooting Junior development program don't seem unrealistic for a kid who just put up a 25-straight in year one.

"One year in. Already unstoppable." — That's the tagline the YoungClays team put on his profile, and after this season, it's hard to argue with it.

The USA Clay Target League wrapped its 2026 spring season with record participation across all 50 states. More than 100,000 student athletes competed across trap, skeet, and sporting clays disciplines — a 12% increase over the 2025 spring season and the largest single-season participation figure in USACTL history.

By the Numbers

Ohio alone saw 4,200+ athletes compete across 180+ teams, with 23 athletes shooting a 25-straight in qualifying rounds. The national average score in trap climbed to 18.4/25 — up from 17.8 the previous spring — suggesting the overall talent level is rising as more experienced coaches and proper training resources reach teams in smaller communities.

New team registrations spiked in the Southeast and Mountain West, historically underrepresented in clay target sports. USACTL's expansion efforts — including subsidized equipment programs and online coach certification — are clearly bearing fruit.

What It Means for the Sport

Clay target sports remain one of the safest youth competitive sports in America. USACTL's 99% safety record across its entire history is a testament to the rigorous safety culture baked into every practice and competition. As participation rises, so does the pipeline to USA Shooting's Junior Olympic development programs — and ultimately, the Olympic Games.

Beretta's 688 line has been a staple of trap and sporting clays competition for decades. The 2026 model year brings the first significant mechanical update in several years, targeting two specific complaints from competition shooters: trigger consistency and stock adjustability.

What's New

The new 688 Competition features a redesigned trigger group with tighter tolerances, resulting in a cleaner first-barrel break and more consistent second-barrel timing. Shooter feedback from the 2025 prototype testing cycle described it as "significantly crisper" than the previous generation.

The 2026 stock features Beretta's new X-Adjust system — a tool-free cast and drop adjustment mechanism that allows the shooter (or a gunfitter) to dial in perfect alignment without shimming or swapping stock wood. This is huge for youth athletes whose bodies are still changing year to year.

Youth sizing is available with reduced LOP configurations. The 688 remains available in 12ga and 20ga, in barrel lengths of 28", 30", and 32". MSRP starts at $1,699 for the standard model.

As we noted in our gear review, the Beretta 688 is currently in the hands of Mason Smithey — the 14-year-old Wapakoneta athlete who just shot 25 straight in his first spring season. Endorsement by result.

At one station you might be shooting a slow-rolling "rabbit" target that skims along the ground. The next throws a fast overhead bird that drops like a flushing pheasant. Another sends two simultaneous targets in opposite directions — what shooters call a "true pair." Each station is its own puzzle. That variety is precisely the point.

Why Sporting Clays Is Great for Youth and Families

Sporting clays is one of the most welcoming entry points into shotgun sports for families who've never been near a range before. The varied target presentations mean every newcomer gets a mix of achievable targets and challenging ones — there's no shame in missing the tough presentations, and even experienced competitive shooters miss them regularly. This creates a naturally relaxed atmosphere that lowers the intimidation factor for first-timers in a way that the score-focused structure of trap sometimes doesn't.

Many sporting clays facilities also offer dedicated beginner fields with simplified presentations, shorter distances, and slower targets. A 10-year-old with a 20-gauge can absolutely break targets on a well-designed beginner course and walk back to the car grinning. That first hit on a crossing clay is a moment most young shooters remember for years.

How Sporting Clays Differs from Trap

In trap, every athlete shoots from the same 16-yard line at targets thrown from a single house, rotating through five stations. It's wonderfully consistent for building fundamentals and measuring improvement against yourself — but the repetition can feel limiting to a newcomer who's still deciding if the sport is for them.

Sporting clays removes that repetition entirely. You're always walking to the next station not quite knowing what's coming. That element of surprise and exploration keeps new shooters mentally engaged in a way fixed-station formats don't always match. Many coaches recommend that families who aren't sure which discipline fits their kid best try a round of sporting clays first — it shows more of what shotgun sports can be.

What Equipment Do You Need?

Good news: you don't need to own a shotgun to try sporting clays. Most clubs and public courses have rental guns available. For your first visit, all you genuinely need is hearing protection (ear muffs or plugs) and shooting glasses — that's it. When you're ready to invest in your own gun, any 12 or 20 gauge with interchangeable chokes works well. An over/under is the preferred competition format, but semi-autos like the Beretta A400 are legal and popular at all competitive levels.

How to Find a Local Course

The National Sporting Clays Association (NSCA) maintains a searchable directory of registered courses at mynsca.com. USACTL also runs sporting clays divisions in most states. Search your zip code, call the club ahead of your visit, and ask specifically about beginner days or family-friendly sessions. Nearly every established sporting clays club loves welcoming first-timers — it's how the sport has grown every year for the past decade.

What Is USACTL?

The USA Clay Target League is the largest youth clay target sports organization in the world. It operates in all 50 states through state-level leagues, with more than 4,500 registered teams and over 100,000 student athletes competing each year. Teams are most commonly organized through high schools, but independent community and gun club teams also operate under the USACTL umbrella, so there's almost always a path in regardless of what school your kid attends.

Is There a Tryout? (Spoiler: No.)

This is the question almost every new family asks first — and the answer is simple: there are no tryouts. USACTL is open to all student athletes, regardless of experience or ability. Your kid doesn't need to have ever held a shotgun. They just need to register, complete the mandatory safety certification, and show up. If they can follow safety rules and pull a trigger, they can compete.

Finding a Team and Registering

Head to usactl.com and use the Team Finder tool to locate teams near you by zip code. Contact the head coach — their info is on the team page. Most coaches will immediately invite you to an introductory practice before you commit to registration. Season registration fees vary by state but typically run $25–$75 per athlete. The spring season runs roughly February through May; the fall season runs September through November.

What a Practice Day Looks Like

Show up with hearing protection and shooting glasses. The team provides the rest for your first session, including a loaner shotgun. Your coach will walk every new athlete through the four rules of firearm safety, range etiquette, how to load and unload, and what commands like “Pull!” and “Range is hot!” mean. No one is dropped into the deep end. Every first-day athlete goes through the same orientation, and experienced teammates are genuinely happy to help.

What a Match Day Looks Like

USACTL competitions are called meets. Athletes shoot their assigned round — typically 25 targets — at registered shooting stations, and scores are submitted digitally. Meets are social and surprisingly low-pressure, even for families attending for the first time. USACTL's cumulative safety record stands at 99% across its entire history, a statistic the organization is fiercely proud of and actively maintains through mandatory safety culture at every level.

What Does It Actually Cost?

Be honest with yourself going in. League registration runs $25–$75. Safety-rated hearing and eye protection will cost $50–$100 combined. The biggest ongoing expense is ammunition: if your athlete shoots 100 shells per week across 8 practice weeks plus a handful of meets, budget $200–$400 in ammo alone. Factor in target fees at your range and any travel to meets, and a realistic first-season total lands somewhere between $200 and $600 — without buying a shotgun, which most teams can loan for the first season.

One note before we start: talk to your club coach before you buy anything. Fit matters more than brand, more than price, more than any review you read online. A gun that doesn't fit your athlete's frame will hurt their scores and their confidence. Get the coach's recommendation, measure your athlete's length of pull, then shop. With that said — here are five guns worth knowing.

1. Mossberg Silver Reserve II — ~$500

The most affordable over/under on this list, and a genuinely solid starter gun. The Silver Reserve II is a Turkish-manufactured O/U featuring a brass bead front sight, extractors, and a rubber recoil pad. It won't hold up to 50,000 rounds of hard competition use, but it will absolutely carry a student athlete through a full USACTL season or two and teach them everything they need to know about competition shotgun handling. Available in 12 and 20 gauge. Best for: budget-conscious families who want an O/U from day one and don't want to compromise the format for the price.

2. Stevens 555 Enhanced — ~$600

The Stevens 555 is one of the most consistently overlooked guns for youth shooters — largely because of one feature that should be front and center: adjustable length of pull. The 555 Enhanced ships with stock spacers that let you set the LOP between 12” and 14.5”, meaning one gun can grow with your athlete across multiple seasons. The aluminum receiver keeps the overall weight down, which matters significantly for smaller-framed or younger shooters. The trigger feel is clean for the price point. Genuinely one of the best youth-specific values on the market.

3. Browning Citori 725 — ~$2,200+

This is where serious competitors land after they've outgrown their starter gun — or where families who know their kid is fully committed invest from the start. The Citori 725 features Browning's low-profile receiver for a cleaner sight picture, an improved trigger mechanism, and premium fit and finish throughout. It is a long-term investment, not an entry-level purchase — but if your athlete is clearly committed to the sport, the Citori will carry them through high school, college, and beyond without limitations. Best for: athletes with one to two seasons of experience who are ready to compete seriously.

4. Beretta A400 Upland — ~$1,500

The only semi-automatic on this list, and it earns its place. Beretta's A400 gas-operated action reduces felt recoil significantly compared to any O/U at equivalent gauge — a meaningful advantage for recoil-sensitive athletes or those with smaller frames for whom a 12-gauge O/U feels punishing. Semi-autos are legal in all major USACTL disciplines. The A400 is reliable across thousands of rounds, well-balanced in hand, and inherits Beretta's world-class manufacturing quality. Best for: athletes who want top-tier reliability and reduced recoil, or who find O/U guns physically uncomfortable.

5. Beretta 686/688 Silver Pigeon — ~$2,000–$3,500

The gun Mason Smithey shoots — and the gun that doesn't need much introduction in competition circles. The Beretta 686 (and its upgraded sibling, the 688 with a tighter trigger group and improved stock adjustability) is one of the most respected competition O/U lines in the world. Beautiful to look at, reliable across decades of hard use, and available in configurations that fit youth athletes with the right stock work. If you're going to invest in a serious competition gun that your athlete will grow into, carry to state championships, and potentially shoot through college, this is the top of that conversation. Best for: experienced or seriously committed athletes with a long-term investment mindset.

The Gun: Your Biggest Variable

The shotgun is where the cost range is widest. A solid starter gun — think a used Mossberg 500 or a new Winchester SXP — runs $400–$700. Most coaches recommend a decent over/under for competition shooting; entry-level O/Us like the CZ Redhead or a used Browning Citori start around $700–$1,200. Competition-level guns like the Beretta A400 or 688 series run $1,500–$3,500+. The good news: you don't need a competition gun to start. Many USACTL teams have loaner equipment — your kid can shoot their first full season without buying a gun at all.

Shells: The Ongoing Cost

This is the expense most parents don't see coming. A 25-round box of target loads runs $15–$25 depending on brand and where you buy. In a typical practice your athlete will burn through 50–100 shells (two to four boxes). Over a 12-week season with weekly practices and monthly meets, budget $300–$600 in shells alone. Buy in bulk at a sporting goods store or Sam's Club — price per shell drops significantly. Many teams also do shell splits with teammates to reduce individual cost.

Safety Gear: Non-Negotiable

Ear protection and eye protection are mandatory at every USACTL event — full stop. Electronic ear muffs run $25–$90; passive muffs can be had for under $20. Shooting glasses (impact-rated, clay-specific lenses) run $15–$40 for a starter pair, up to $150+ for competition-level. Budget $60–$130 for both. This is not an area to cut corners on — these items protect your kid's hearing and vision for life.

USACTL Registration & League Fees

USACTL athlete registration runs roughly $75–$100 per season. Some schools cover this through activity fees; ask your coach. Individual meet entry fees may be additional — typically $5–$15 per shoot. Factor in $100–$200 for the season.

Range / Club Membership

This varies wildly. Many school teams practice at a local sportsmen's club where the school has a team arrangement — your cost may be $0 for practice range access. Private club memberships can run $20–$50/month if your kid wants extra practice time on their own. Start at $0 and add only if your athlete gets serious.

The Extras (Optional)

A shooting vest and shell bag are nice but not required. Budget $30–$150 if you go there. Recoil pads, gun cases, and cleaning kits are small add-ons — maybe another $50–$80 total.

What Does the First Season Actually Cost?

Starter path (loaner gun, used safety gear, minimal extras): $400–$700. Typical first-season buy-in (entry gun, new safety gear, registration, shells): $800–$1,500. Competition path (quality O/U, full kit): $2,500–$5,000+.

For comparison: youth hockey routinely runs $5,000–$10,000 per season. Lacrosse, $2,000–$4,000. Travel baseball, $3,000–$6,000. Clay shooting, done right on a budget, is genuinely one of the more affordable paths in competitive youth sports — and every dollar spent on the gun holds its resale value.

Ways to Save

Buy used. Shotguns hold value well and the used market is active. A well-maintained used Browning Citori is every bit as capable as a new one. Ask about loaners. Serious teams have loaner guns for new athletes — use them for a full season before you buy. Split shells with teammates. Case lots purchased together save real money. Start simple on safety gear. A $20 passive ear muff and a $15 pair of shooting glasses are perfectly legal and protective. Upgrade when you know your kid is committed.

Bottom line: don't let the high end of the price range scare you. Most families start in the $600–$1,000 range and scale from there. Talk to your team coach about loaner equipment before you spend a dime. The sport rewards patience — including the financial kind.

Start With the Record

The USA Clay Target League has a 99% safety record across its entire history — across millions of shots, hundreds of thousands of athletes, in all 50 states. That's not a marketing claim. That's the outcome of a deeply ingrained safety culture that starts at the first practice and never lets up. No youth sport involving any kind of equipment has a perfect record, but few come close to this one.

The Rules Are Absolute — And Always Enforced

Clay target shooting operates under a set of non-negotiable rules that coaches enforce without exception. Eye and ear protection are mandatory every time a shooter is near the line — no exceptions, ever. Guns remain cased until the athlete is at the shooting station. Muzzle direction is always controlled — guns are only pointed downrange, period. Loading doesn't happen until the shooter is ready to call for the bird. These aren't suggestions. A safety violation results in immediate removal from the line.

— USACTL head coach, Ohio

What a Typical Practice Looks Like

Practices are structured and supervised from start to finish. Athletes arrive, guns stay cased until explicitly directed otherwise. A safety briefing happens at every single practice — yes, even the ones where everyone already knows the rules. Coaches rotate athletes through the stations in groups, watching every shooter at all times. There is always an adult at the line. New athletes shoot alongside experienced teammates, not alone. Parents are always welcome on the range — encouraged, even. Come see it for yourself.

Coach Certification

USACTL coaches complete a certified safety and coaching curriculum before they ever supervise a live-fire practice. The program covers safe gun handling, range management, athlete supervision protocols, and emergency procedures. This isn't an informal arrangement — it's a credentialed process designed to put only qualified adults between your kid and any risk.

Compare It to Contact Sports

Consider what you've accepted in other youth sports. Football: concussion risk is well-documented and real. Soccer and basketball: ankle, knee, and head injuries are routine. Wrestling and hockey involve hard contact by design. Clay shooting has zero collision injuries — it is structurally impossible to be hurt by another athlete in this sport. The risks that exist (hearing, eye protection, gun handling) are fully mitigated by equipment and rules that are mandatory and enforced.

The Culture It Creates

One thing parents often don't expect: clay shooting produces extraordinarily responsible young people. When your child learns to handle a firearm safely, they don't just follow rules on the range — they internalize a level of discipline and situational awareness that carries over into everything else. Athletes in this sport are unfailingly polite, focused, and self-controlled. The gun teaches that. The culture demands it.

Come to a practice. Watch for an hour. You'll leave with a completely different picture of what this sport is. Most parents do.

What Trap Shooting Actually Feels Like

You step up to the line. There's a clay target machine buried in a low house about 15 yards in front of you, pointed away from you at an angle you can't see. You call “pull” — and a bright orange disc launches into the sky. You swing, you shoot, and either it explodes in a satisfying burst of dust or it sails away untouched. Both happen. Both are fine. That's the game.

It's faster than you expect. It's louder than you expect (that's what the ear protection is for). And the first time you actually connect and watch that clay shatter mid-air, it's one of the most satisfying things you'll do in a sport. That feeling doesn't go away. Ask anyone who's been shooting for ten years.

How to Find a Team

USACTL has teams at middle schools and high schools all over the country. Head to usactl.com and use the team finder — type in your state and your city and see what's near you. If your school doesn't have a team yet, USACTL has resources on how to start one. But the odds are good that a team is closer than you think. Ask a coach or your school's activities office too — they'll know.

Your First Practice: What to Expect

Show up. That's the only requirement. You don't need to know anything. You don't need to have ever held a gun. The coaches teach everything — how to hold the gun, how to mount it to your shoulder, where to look, when to call pull. You'll do dry runs before any shells go near the gun. The first time you actually fire, a coach will be right there with you. Most athletes hit at least a few targets in their first session. Some hit plenty. A few hit all 25 eventually. That's the path.

Most clubs have loaner guns for new athletes. Don't spend any money before you go to your first practice — seriously, just show up. If you decide you love it (you probably will), then you can talk gear with your coach.

What a Season Looks Like

A typical USACTL season runs about 10–12 weeks. Your team will have weekly practices, usually after school or on weekends at a local range. Every month or so there's a meet — a competition against other teams where you shoot a full 25-round round and your score goes on the board. At the end of the season, the best athletes from each state compete at the state championship. The top performers there qualify for nationals.

Your score is your own. You're not relying on anyone else to have a good day. That's what makes this a team sport that's also an individual sport — you get to own your own progress. Every bird you break is on you. Every miss is on you too, which sounds rough until you realize it means you control whether you get better.

The Social Side

Clay shooting teams have a tight culture. You'll spend a lot of time at the line together, which means a lot of time talking between shots, cheering for teammates, and giving each other a hard time after an easy miss. The team van rides to meets. The postgame food stops. The group chat blowing up after somebody shoots a personal best. It's genuinely one of the more fun team environments in youth sports, and it's made up of kids who are into something most people don't know about — which creates a different kind of bond.

The Hat

When you shoot a perfect round — all 25 targets, not one miss — the tradition is simple: your hat goes on a post, and you shoot it. It's destroyed. You keep the pieces forever. That's the thing you're chasing. Every season. Every practice. Every shot. Your first 25 straight.

1. No Cuts. Everyone Competes.

In basketball, football, baseball — most team sports — tryouts exist. Kids get cut. Half the kids who want to play don't get to. In USACTL, every athlete who wants to compete gets to compete. There's no roster limit. There's no minimum skill requirement to get on the field. You show up, you learn the rules, you shoot. Your score is your score. That's it. The sport doesn't gate-keep participation — it rewards improvement regardless of where you start.

2. Your Score Is Yours

Clay shooting is rare among team sports: your individual performance is tracked, scored, and celebrated regardless of what anyone else on your team does. You're not riding a bench. You're not hoping the coach notices you. Every meet, you shoot 25 targets, and your number goes on the board. You can watch yourself improve week over week, season over season, in hard numbers. That feedback loop is addictive — and it builds a level of personal accountability that translates far beyond the range.

3. Zero Contact Injuries

Clay shooting is structurally incapable of producing the collision injuries that define risk in so many other youth sports. There's no checking, no tackling, no sliding into a base. The only things flying around are clay targets going away from you. Hearing and eye protection are mandatory. USACTL's safety record across its full history is 99%. If you have concerns about youth sports and long-term physical safety — and you should, given what we now know about concussions — clay shooting deserves serious consideration.

4. The Life Skills Are Real

People say every sport teaches life skills. Clay shooting actually does it. Focus: you can't break a clay target while you're distracted. There's no faking it. Discipline: your technique either holds under pressure or it doesn't, and only consistent practice determines which. Patience: averages improve slowly, and there are no shortcuts. Firearm safety: your child will learn responsible gun handling in the most structured, supervised environment imaginable. That knowledge is genuinely valuable for the rest of their life, regardless of whether they ever compete again.

5. The Playing Field Is Flat

A 5'4" sophomore can outscore a 6'2" senior. A 95-pound freshman can beat the most athletic kid in school. Physical size, strength, and raw athleticism — the variables that dominate every other youth sport — are essentially irrelevant here. What matters is technique, vision, and mental composure. That means kids who don't fit the traditional athletic mold have an equal shot at being great. Clay shooting is one of the only competitive youth sports where that's genuinely true.

6. The Community

Clay shooting families are a particular kind of people. They're welcoming to newcomers in a way that many competitive sports communities aren't. They share shell-buying tips. They help adjust a new athlete's mount at the line without being asked. Veterans remember being beginners. The culture is built on respect for the equipment, respect for safety, and a genuine love of watching young shooters improve. If you show up not knowing anything, someone will take you under their wing. Count on it.

7. It Scales to the Olympics

USACTL is the entry point. From there, athletes can advance to USA Shooting Junior development programs, the Junior Olympic pipeline, collegiate shooting programs (over 150 colleges offer clay target scholarships), and ultimately — for the best of the best — the Olympic Games. Trap and skeet are Olympic disciplines. They have been for decades. The path from a first-year USACTL team in a small Ohio town to an Olympic podium is real, documented, and has been walked before. Most kids won't go that far. But they could — and the pathway is open to anyone willing to do the work.

We're not asking you to drink the Kool-Aid. We're asking you to show up to one practice, watch for an hour, and then make your call. That's it. Most families who do walk away with a very different picture of what youth sports can look like.