For members of the Warrenton FFA trap shooting team, a love of the sport and desire to get better are all the reason they need for an afternoon on the range.

Warrenton’s team is nearing the end of a six-week season of competitive meets against other FFA league teams from as close as Montgomery and as far away as Quincy. This week on Wednesday was the area qualifier, in Quincy, to move on to the district-level competition.

“This is our sixth year (as a team). Two years ago, we got second in the league, and then last year we were down a little bit in fourth,” said coach Dan Burkemper.

Team members also took the four top honors at a recent charity shoot at Gateway Gun Club, involving 30 teams of all ages.

Scores at meets other than the area qualifier don’t impact whether a team moves on to FFA league districts, Burkemper said. That makes those prior shoots a good opportunity for reflection and self-improvement, without too much fretting over the results.

Senior members of the team said that not worrying too much is actually one of the keys to doing well.

“If I miss one (shot) and I get upset over it, I miss more,” said senior Adrienne Kelley. “If I just let it go and don’t think about it, I’ll hit the next one.”

Unlike other sports, trap shooting is not about athleticism. It’s an exercise in focus, coordination and practice, where men and women compete on equal footing. And when it’s going well, Kelley said, you know it.

“Once you pull that trigger, you usually know if you’re going to hit or not,” she commented.

Although there are physical things shooters can do to improve their performance, Senior Micabe Buchanan said his biggest improvements came with mental exercises he started doing.

“Burkember has always told us, when you’re at home and you’re not doing anything, just take your gun, raise it up to your shoulder and follow along the cracks in your ceiling,” Buchanan said. “It’s all muscle memory. It’s all in your head.”

And because shooters are so quiet while on the line, team members joked that every one of them is singing a song in their head to stay focused and calm at the same time. Buchanan commented that humming Joe Diffie made a big boost to his scores.

“It’s mostly a mind game,” said senior Tanner Hargis. “You’re quiet while your teammates are shooting. It’s like a good 60 seconds or so until you shoot again, so you’re just standing there, zoned in.”

He added that having fun while you’re shooting is the best way to shoot well. “But if you’re really cracking down on yourself like, ‘Oh man, I have to hit a 25,’ you’re usually not going to hit a 25.”

The other driver for self improvement for member of the trap team is having team members to encourage and compete with. The Warrenton team has three squads that are defined by scores.

“If you’re the top of B team, and you have to average around 23 to make it up to A team, you’re looking at that bottom guy,” commented senior Grant Kelly.

But there’s also a sense of accomplishment when teammates do well. When team members rotate stations during a meet, they exchange fist bumps with every shooter down the line.

“Like at practice on Monday, one of our buddies totally was not hitting anything, and he was really down on himself,” Kelly recalled. “All of us came together and pep talked him, and next round he shot a 22.”