The NDA trap team is ready to start its second official season. And, according to some returning members, this year will be even better than last.

“We have more than 30 new people signed up to come and shoot with us and even if half of them show up it will be great,” Cole Peters said.

Peters, who won the conference last year, is excited to get back into the season and believes the team may do just as well as it did last year.  

“I think we will be good again, we have a lot of returning members that were really good last year, so it will be fun,” Peters said.

Most people probably did not even know that NDA had a trap team.

The team was started last year by a few students who felt that shooting is a sport and that the school should have a team that can compete against the other schools in the area.

The adult that helped bring the team to the administration and volunteered to coach was senior Jackson Strohmeyer’s dad, Jamie. Mr. Strohmeyer and the school sat down and talked, and they agreed to terms that established the trap team as an official club of NDA.

The competitions for the team are set up so that each shooter shoots 25 times and then his score is recorded.

After every other person has shot the first 25, the first shooter will go up again and shoot 25 more times.

The final score is obviously out of fifty, and a contestant gets a point by hitting the clay that is launched into the air after the shooter says, “Pull!”

When one’s score is recorded, it is plugged into a computer which keeps statistics on who has shot best and who is leading the conference individually, and as a team.

Peters hopes that this year the team wins the conference instead of taking second.

“We were pretty good last year and we were close to winning but this year with all the new members I am hoping we can have a few shooters who are really good and can lead us to the front of the conference,” he said.

Along with winning the conference, the team has a goal of sending more people to the state competition.

“Everyone is invited to the state competition but not everyone wanted to go last year. I hope we bring more people this year,” Peters said.

The season begins in the spring and Peters encourages all of those who signed up to go out and compete.