Trio of Wampus Cats headed to state trap shooting tourney

CLARK FORK — Junior Rebecca Heilman, eighth-grader Kyler Heilman, and seventh-grader Breckham Noble will all be representing the Clark Fork Trap Shooting Club, the club’s first year in existence, at the Idaho Trap Shooting State Tournament set to be held this Saturday at the Boise Gun Club in Kuna.

For a couple of years, Clark Fork has pondered the idea of putting together an alternative club for students not involved in the schools’ ‘mainstream’ sports. Pondering the idea of a fishing club, that idea eventually became trap shooting. This year, CFHS Assistant Principal and Athletic Director, KC MacDonald, along with the help of other school administrators, made it happen.

MacDonald filled out all the paperwork, got the dates figured out, and even took six-hour coaching courses alongside CFHS school counselor Amanda Heilman and Hope Elementary fifth-sixth grade teacher Adam Noble so that the team would be set for 2024. Only one problem remained — Clark Fork no longer has a gun club and the athletes needed a place to train.

After the Sandpoint Gun Club got wind that Clark Fork’s trap shooters needed some help, they offered a hand immediately. MacDonald said all of the club's members were happy to see younger generations participating in the sport and were willing to do anything.

“They even did a shoot for just us once to make the kids less nervous,” MacDonald said. “A huge shutout to Sandpoint Gun Club’s board members for rallying around them.”

Clark Fork High’s ultimate goal? To make trap shooting an official high school sport so athletes can get a varsity letter and other perks. Believe it or not, 26 other schools in Idaho have clubs as well … Kootenai, Coeur d’Alene, Timberlake, St. Maries, and Lewiston to name a few.

“We hope to get more athletes and will begin working on sponsorships for this upcoming school year,” MacDonald said. “We are very excited as this club could lead to scholarships, give an avenue for students to move on into secondary education or just gain another lifetime sport.”

Another good thing about the club is that, at the moment, you don’t need to be from the Clark Fork area to join. Clark Fork will potentially be working with Valor Christian in Sandpoint and the Selle Valley Carden School to grow numbers, and if they do, will then move on to working with the Sandpoint Gun Club to hopefully find a date and time where just the youth can shoot and practice.

With things finally coming together, MacDonald said he would love to be able to one day tell the board that an athlete got a scholarship for shooting — the thought of it even gives him chills.

“I think a lot of kids would be interested in this area,” MacDonald said. “We can go as low as sixth grade as of right now as long as they're able to hold a 12 gauge shotgun … It’s important that right now, we all find kids in our communities to build teams so maybe we could all compete against each other one day."

Creating and sustaining clubs does unfortunately require a monetary sum. Shotguns, ammo, clay targets, and shooting fees present challenges, but thankfully the Sandpoint Gun Club helped out big time this year, giving Clark Fork a membership. They also helped out with safety courses.

“The Sandpoint Gun Club has been phenomenal,” MacDonald said. “There have been so many guys and ladies helping out and loving on our kids. It’s been unreal. I can’t talk enough good about those guys and what they have going on.”

Clark Fork's Trap Shooting Club competes in the Idaho State High School Clay Target League, which has both fall and spring seasons. Almost 1,800 high school, college, and homeschool teams that roster roughly 52,000 athletes currently exist throughout the United States. Saturday’s state tournament will officially mark the first time students for Clark Fork were able to compete in a high school trap shooting event.

If interested in sponsoring or helping out the Clark Fork Trap Shooting Club, or are interested in joining the team, contact kc.macdonald@lposd.org.