Trap team coaches speak at Nashville Rotary Club

This week, Vickie and Vince Cook were the guest speakers at the Nashville Rotary Club meeting. Vickie is the head coach of the Nashville School District trap team and Vince is the assistant coach.

Vickie said they had 57 members last year. Thirty were 6th through 8th graders and 27 were 9th through 12th graders. She said when they started coaching five years ago, they only had 16 members. Vickie explained why she feels the program is growing as fast as it is.

Vickie explained a trap team consists of five members. A round of trap is 25 shots and high school teams shoot two rounds. She said the teams shoot at Grandview and they pay $2 a round. Vickie said the program is sponsored by the Arkansas Game and Fish and supported by sponsors, grants and the school district.

Vickie said students can compete in the Amateur Trap Association or earn scholarships to compete on college squads. She said currently Southern Arkansas University, the University of the Ozarks and UA Cossatot have trap teams. Vickie said individual members can earn scholarships from the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission by placing at the state tournament. Vickie said Nashville had two junior and two senior high squads compete at state last year and only the top 16 squads from a region move on to the state tournament. She said Nashville has won two state championships in the junior division since the program started. 

Vince said guns can cost anywhere from $300 to $20,000, but he has seen kids win with their grandpa’s old shotgun. He said he enjoyed working with the kids who have not been raised around guns or hunting. Vince said he enjoyed watching them learn how to load a gun and fire a gun to winning the last man standing tournament several years later.

Unlike other sports, trap is growing throughout the state.

Vickie said the upcoming trap season will be from February to June. And you want to be competing in June because that’s when the state tournament is held.