Article - Menard County Sportsman's Club

The Menard County Sportsman's club is set to begin it's 2012 Summer Trap League. The league will kick off on Tuesday, March 20 with the club's annual membership meeting and banquet to be held at the River Bank Lodge in Petersburg, IL. Cocktails begin at 6:00. Dinner begins at 6:30. Anyone interested in joining the club or shooting in the summer trap league is encouraged to attend. Membership renawals, new memberships, and teams will be signed up at the door. The following Tuesday, March 27, will be league practice night at the MCSC trap range starting at 5:00pm. The league officially begins on Tuesday, April 3. Teams can register to compete in the summer league up to the 4th week of the season.

The basic format of the league is similar to ATA handicap, only in team form. On each shooting night, each team member shoots 2 rounds of 25 targets (50 total targets per shooter, 250 total targets per team) from their team's handicap yardage. The team's handicap yardage is based upon the average scores of the five team members shooting that night. Teams made up of high average shooters will shoot from longer yardage than teams made up of shooters with lower average scores. Unlike ATA handicap (an individual competition), the entire team shoots from the same handicap yardage. This format helps level the playing field between experienced competitive teams and teams of new or more casual shooters.

On each shooting night, a team "shoots against" another team chosen "from the hat" at random. Each night is worth a total of three points toward a team’s league score. If one team outshoots the opposing team during their first round, they earn one point. If they outshoot the opposing team during their second round, they earn a second point. If their overall total is higher than that of the opposing team, they earn a third point. If there are any ties, the points are split. For example, let's say that Team A and Team B are shooting against each other. Team A hits 120 targets during their first found and Team B hits 115. Team A earns one point. The score is 1 to 0. Then, Team A hits 120 targets during their second round and Team B hits 120. Since there is a tie, the points are split. The score is 1.5 to .5. The total number of targets hit by Team A is 240. The total for Team B is 235. So, Team A earns one point. The total score for the night is 2.5 to .5. Team A is the winner that night. As the season progresses, these points are added up. The team with the most points is, logically, in 1st place. The last night of the season is called "position night". On that night, the 1st place team shoots against the 2nd place team, the 3rd place team shoots against the 4th place team, and so on. This gives each team one more opportunity to take points away from their closest competitor. At the end of the season, the league is divided into three equally-sized groups (A, B, and C), based on the team points totals. The team with the highest points total for each group will be named group champion. This gives every team a chance to compete for a group title, regardless of their overall league ranking.

This year's trap league promises to be fun and competitive for everyone. We invite anyone interested in participating to come out to the March 20 meeting and banquet. For more information about the trap league, take a look at the clubs's Rules & Regs page and Events Calendar.