Nashville, Tenn.—The 13th Annual Nashville Sporting Clays Shoot, held Saturday, April 13, at the Nashville Gun Club, was a smashing success, with a record-breaking 41 youth participants on eight teams.
This was the first year the Nashville event had local unions sponsor youth shooting teams, and it nearly doubled the turnout, going from 72 to 133 shooters. Longtime USA member Anthony Nicholson, retired business manager of Insulators Local 86 and president of the Nashville Building and Construction Trades Council (BCTC), came up with the idea last year.
“We’ve had this shoot for years, and there were always a few youth shooters mixed in,” said Nicholson. “Someone would bring their grandkid or someone from the neighborhood, but this year was different. I saw that we had a sponsor for a youth shooter, so why not a sponsor for a youth team? And that’s when union sponsors stepped up in a big way.”
Union sponsors of the eight youth teams included Insulators Local 86, Electrical Workers Local 492, Ironworkers Local 492, Nashville BCTC, Roofers Local 136, and Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 572.
The event is a great way to get the word out to these kids about opportunities within the trades, too, says USA Events Manager Chris Piltz. “Our shoots don’t just bring these kids out to learn shooting sports,” he says. “They get to spend time at an event with our union labor force that they don’t hear about in school. They learn about the employment opportunities with unions that are out there. It’s union outreach packaged in a way that meets them on their own terms.”
Eric Coons is the former president of the Nashville BCTC, which sponsored a youth team. He can’t think of a better way to engage the next generation. “We believe we have a civic responsibility to our community,” he says. “It’s our way of giving back to the kids who might not have an opportunity to enjoy the great outdoors. We want kids to learn how to handle a gun responsibly and learn from experienced shooters. Hopefully, this event will spark an interest in things other than their iPads.”
Thanks to the event sponsors, no shooter went home hungry, though their shoulder may have been tender from blasting more than 15,000 clays and 12,000 rounds of ammo. In addition, sponsors provided awards, door prizes, and drawings for everything from hunting gear to Milwaukee tools to firearms.
Launched in 2009, the USA shooting program unites union members of all trades and ranks through friendly competition and fellowship while raising funds to support USA conservation efforts, member programs, and vital operations of the organization. The Nashville shoot was the fifth of 25 USA shooting events scheduled across the country this year.
Union Sportsmen’s Alliance (USA): The USA is a union-dedicated, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose members hunt, fish, shoot and volunteer their skills for conservation. The USA is uniting the union community through conservation to preserve North America’s outdoor heritage. For more information, visit www.unionsportsmen.org or connect on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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