What is skeet, you ask, and why do I shoot them / it? Why not visit the National Skeet Shooting Association home page for a good look at Skeet and Sporting Clays.
Skeet is a sport in which clay targets are broken (hopefully) with a shotgun. Targets are thrown from either (or both) the high house to the shooter’s left and the low house to the shooters right. The shooter stands on shooting stations called "pads", which are laid out in a semi – circle, with the skeet houses at each end. The targets are therefore shot from quite a few different angles, making the game quite a bit of fun.
I have shot registered (i.e. competition) skeet since 1988. Why have I not lost interest and moved on to something else? Because I’m good at it! And because I know I can still achieve more in the sport. Since this is my page, I'm going to show you some of my awards etc.
I was awarded
the medals (left) for winning the 1995 Virginia State 20 gauge title, 1996
.410 bore and HOA (high over-all, 400 target) championships, 1997 Zone
2 (mid-Atlantic regional) 20 gauge, 12 gauge, and HOA championships, 1998
Virginia State 20 gauge and 12 gauge championships, for my selection to
the 1998 All – American Team, and for having shot in excess of 50,000 registered
targets in my "career". The image on
the right
is the NSSA 10 Year Pin, awarded for 10 years or more of shooting registered
targets.
Below,
I was awarded the pin at left for being named to the 1999 NSSA All American
Skeet team.
The belt buckle
on the right is awarded to shooters who win Virginia State championships.
The buckle
is hand crafted
sterling silver and 10k gold. There are rosettes for adding up to
six small jewels to signify
additional
championships. Though I have won five championships to date, I am
waiting for number
six to have
the jewels added to the belt buckle. I am most proud of this
award - Virginia is the best
place to shoot
skeet, and Virginia shooters are outstanding competition and great people.
I was also
fortunate enough to win the Fairfax Rod and Gun Club
(my home club)
skeet championship for 1998. No small feat, since
we have quite
a few All - American and VA. State Team shooters in
our club,
and quite a number of good shooters who have won
major championships.
I was awarded this handsome and well made
shooting pouch
for breaking 397 out of 400 targets to win the club
championship
shoot for '98.
Are you interested in seeing what skeet is all about, or trying it yourself? There are quite a few skeet shooting facilities in the Northern Virginia / Washington DC metro area. Public shooting centers are located at Bull Run regional park near Centreville, VA, and at Prince George's County Shooting Center, located on Goodluck Rd. In Glenndale, MD.
Competition skeet is organized in such a way that competition is primarily between persons of similar skill levels. Thus there are "classes" in which each shooter competes. There is also competition within age levels and ladies' competition as well. But let me tell you, I've been beaten by more than one lady shooter, and more than one junior shooter as well. I've been beaten by senior shooters too! You don't have to be a stud to compete successfully at skeet. It takes at least mediocre (corrected) vision, decent eye to hand coordination,and the willingness to spend the time and effort to practice and learn the game. This is born out of a developing love for the sport and its very best element - skeet people! You'll never meet better people in a common endeavor, hobby, sport, etc. than in skeet.
Feel Free to
email
me for information
on shooting skeet locally, joining a private shooting club, or getting
lessons to get your skeet "career" off to a good start…. I can provide
the location of facilities where registered skeet is shot anywhere in the
US.