Sports
Hitting His Mark
This week's Whiz Kid is Adams Middle School student John Bush, who scored an impressive victory at the intermediate 100 Target Category Scholastic Clary Target Program (SCTP) last month in Burlington, MA.
Patch Whiz Kid/Team/Club of the Week: Josh Bush
○ Whiz Kid's Name(s), Age(s): John Bush, 12.
○ Whiz Kid's School/Church/Community Center: Bush will be a seventh grader at this coming academic year.
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○ Whiz Kid's Accomplishment: Last month, Bush took first place in the Intermediate 100 Target Category Scholastic Clary Target Program (SCTP).
○ Whiz Kid's Key to Awesomeness: In only his second year as a member of the Hot Shots Youth Trap Shooting team for the Fin, Fur and Feather Club in Millis, Bush performed like a seasoned shooter and took the coveted SCTP championship with a final score of 75 points.
Find out what's happening in Holliston-Hopkintonfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
For those of you unfamiliar with the sport of trap shooting, it entails a four-inch-wide bright biodegradable clay disk (known as a “bird”) being shot out of an oscillating trap machine moving from left to right. Each shotgun-toting partipant is then given just one shot to hit the bird once it takes flight.
Because the trap machine is always covered, shooters are unable to tell which direction the bird will be thrown, and as it falls approximately 50 yards from the trap house, each shooter has to use great precision to make their shots count. Bush’s score of 75 points means that he was able to accomplish this feat not once, but several times during the competition.
The event was held at the Minuteman Sportsman’s Club in Burlington Massachusetts, and with the sport's growing popularity, there was enough stiff competition from around the state to make the victory a serious accomplishment for Bush. In addition, with the impressive win under his belt, Bush is now preparing to compete in both the New Hampshire and Maine State Open Trap Championships later this summer.
While at first it may seem strange to think of a gun-centered sport as being an appropriate activity for young participants, the adult coaches running the program here in Massachusetts have a clear mission statement centered on teaching responsbility and safety to their participants. According to their official website, the Massachusetts SCTP mission is to “create and promote personal growth opportunities for school-age youth through clay-target sports. The STCP offers high quality team-based sports programs, lead by trained adult coaches, that are safe, challenging and fun.”
Sounds right on the mark doesn’t it?