September/October 2011: Volume 19, Number 5 - USA Shooting

Bridge Creek Clays/South Georgia
Youth Shooting Club Host Georgia
State Junior Olympic Championship
Coach Mike Simpson has been
developing outstanding youth
trap shooters and promoting the
Olympic path for over 20 years.
e South Georgia Youth Shooting Club had
its highest number of automatic qualiers for
Nationals when it played host to the Georgia
State Junior Olympic
Championships on May
26-30. e competition
was a success with 60
registered shooters. ere
were 12 athletes who shot
a score of 105 targets or
better.
Aer the competition
was completed, 14
young shooters qualied
for the 2011 National
Junior Olympic Shooting
Championships (NJOSC)
for shotgun. ey traveled
Colo., to shoot at the
International Shooting
Park for NJOSC glory.
Of those 14 shooters,
two competed in Trap
and fourteen competed
in Men’s Double Trap.
Additionally, 10 teams
qualied for the Scholastic
Clay Target Program’s
National Championships
in late July, also in Colorado Springs.
In addition to those shooters who
received automatic invitations by scoring 105
targets or better, nine more were added to the
list when the qualifying score was lowered
to 90 targets. Many of the shooters are
members of the Youth Shooting Club who
come from other parts of the state to take
advantage of the instruction oered at the
facility. Simpson’s facility has been a USA
Shooting Certied Training Center since
2008. Simpson, who holds certications
with USA Shooting, NRA level II instructor,
the American Trapshooting Association
and 4-H, serves as the chief instructor of the
center. Will Hinton and Gray Hinton, who
competed are sporting clays All-Americans.
Will is the number two ranked shooter
in the country as a sporting clays shooter.
Dustin Anderson of Woodstock, a member
of the USA Shooting National Junior Team,
was the overall men’s champion. Spencer
Ensley was second and Tyler Lirio place
third. Haley Green was the overall women’s
champion. Kristen Jones was second. Shane
Herman of the U.S. Army Marksmanship
Unit was on hand for the competition and
helped with the awards presentation.
In 2005, Simpson added an
international trap bunker and has a second
bunker built, which is awaiting equipment
to make it functional. And when USA
Shooting asked him to provide more skeet
talent, Simpson added a skeet range this
year. Among the features
the club plans to add to
facility is a computerized
dry ring range where
the young shooters will
be able to watch their
performances on a screen
and video equipment to
study performance.
Simpson said plans
are in the works for
Scholastic Clay Target
Program camps and
USA Shooting clinics
to be held at the facility.
to Colorado Springs,
Young shooters from all
e new club house and educational center at South Georgia Youth Shooting Club was completed
only hours before the competition began. Parents, shooters, sponsors, Coach Mike Simpson as
well as his wife Gloria, worked hard to make it happen. e house oers 1,800 square feet of air
conditioned space to meet, eat, relax and cool o during the competition.
By Velda Duke
over the country will be
able to attend. Plus the
facility will be hosting
more junior and open
competition events. “at
will be a huge plus for
our kids to be part of that
talent pool,” Simpson said.
And Simpson would like
the public to know more
about the program and the
opportunities it oers on the Olympic path.
Simpson’s daughter Emma is a
former member of the National Team,
team member Josh Webb is a member
“Aer the competition was completed, 14 young shooters qualied for the 2011
National Junior Olympic Shooting Championships (NJOSC) for shotgun.”
of the U.S. Army marksmanship team
and Shane Slocumb a past Junior team
member. “e opportunities are here for
these kids,” Simpson said. Contact Mike
Simpson at 229-454-0669 or visit our web at:
http://25coachmike.shuttery.com/