Students involved in interesting sport

Several students have taken their shot at an interesting sport outside of school. Trapshooting has recently been known as the fastest growing sport in Iowa, and Bettendorf has contributed to this growth with a club team.

The sport consists of a shooter aiming at a small clay disk being shot through the air to simulate the flight of a bird. The shooter then shoots at the disk with a shotgun and, if he or she hits it, the disk is “dead.” Scores are then based on the number of “dead” clays.

“I have been on the team since my freshman year, and I compete every Tuesday and every Saturday,” said Lauren Hawley, a senior.

The sport technically goes all year round, but Hawley says that some people take a break in the winter because it is so cold outside.

“I like that there is a lot of skill involved, so that if you do get a high score, you have to earn it, and it’s very rhythmic, so you have to follow the same motion every time to make sure that you get the same shot,” said Zach Lewis, who has participated in trapshooting since eighth grade.

Lewis is far from the only student that sees this appeal; the sport is picking up speed, and in recent years the team has gained quite a few more members.

“Our team has grown recently, it was a team of about 20 high schoolers before. Recently, we’ve pulled in more middle schoolers and even more high schoolers, so now we have over 30. So we have the opportunity to travel more to meets. Every year our team has an opportunity to go to State, which is one to four days. The trap range is a mile long with shooters going continuously throughout the days,” Lewis said.

Both Lewis and Hawley recommend the sport, saying it is a great way to meet new people and learn a new skill.

Senior Lauren Hawley shooting.