The Mountaineer Clay Crushers (MCC), a local competition shooting team, is holding an open house and shoot-a-thon. The event will take place on June 6 beginning at 1 p.m. and lasting until dusk.
Hotdogs and drinks will be served during the event and everyone is welcome. Anyone who wishes to participate can bring their favorite shotgun or avail the use of one from MCC. There will be opportunities for Trap, Skeet and Five Stand. The cost is $6 per 25 shots. For the inexperienced, certified coaches will be available to assist.
During the shoot-a-thon, Mountaineer Clay Crushers members will participate in 50 rounds of trap. Supporters can pledge a minimum of $1 per broken clay.
The Mountaineer Clay Crushers team was formed in the spring of 2020 and is the first Scholastic Clay Target Program (SCTP) in the State of West Virginia. According to a statement provided by MCC, most of the members began shooting in the 4-H Shotgun program. Unfortunately, that program lost its practice facility.
MCC requires its members to be enrolled in school or college to participate. At the team’s inception, they had 25 registered youth members ranging from nine years old to college age.
Guinness World Record holder in shotgunning, Makayla Scott saw the need for a practice facility and approached certified coaches, contractors and other volunteers to begin construction on what they called, “Field of Dreams.” Volunteers, as well as supporters, got to work with donations and preparing the property near Alvon, West Virginia. The team was able to lease the property from Scott’s great-grandmother. By April 2020, the field had been opened and the companion trap field would follow in November.
Already, the Mountaineer Clay Crushers have competed in two major competitions. The first was in early July of 2020 and took place in Ohio. There were 176 competitors, five of which were from the MCC team. The five MCC team members brought home a total of five medals, one of which was a first-place medal. The second was the SCTP Nationals and also took place in Ohio and had almost 1,500 competitors. MCC once again brought home multiple medals.
One of the goals of the MCC team is to further improve the practice facility. Some of the improvements that need to be made include concrete walkways and shooting stations as well as the construction of a five-stand. Facility improvements are not the only goals that the team has. According to the statement from MCC, they are “determined to provide quality coaching and leadership to enable these youth to be the very best that they can be both as athletes and upstanding young adults.”
The mission statement of the Mountaineer Clay Crushers states, “Mountaineer Clay Crushers is a team associated with the Scholastic Shooting Sports Foundation. A 501 (C) (3) public charity responsible for all aspects of the Scholastic Clay Target Program nationwide. Our Team is under the SCTP program which is a youth development program in which trained and certified coaches and other volunteers use the shooting sports to teach and to demonstrate sportsmanship, responsibility, honesty, ethics, integrity, teamwork, and other positive life skills and traits.”
“The mission of the SSSF is to provide and enhance personal growth and development opportunities for student-athlete members; become the premier authority in all things pertaining to firearm-related pursuits for youth; pass on to future generations the legacy of lifelong, safe, responsible enjoyment of the shooting sports. This includes serving as a feeder or pipeline to organized, sanctioned shooting organizations and teams such as colleges, etc.”
Anyone who wishes to get involved by donating time and skills or money to improve the MCC practice field must contact Joe B. Hayes Jr. – MCC Treasurer at 304-667-0915.
