The Warrenton FFA Chapter made great strides in the second year of its shooting sports program.Shooting sports are among the fastest growing activities for young people and FFA membership has allowed for increased opportunity and participation.With the aid of an NRA Foundation Grant, 19 students competed with the FFA Trapshooting held at various schools and gun clubs through the fall season.The season ended in October for the team with the “A” squad placing in the Top 5 of teams at the Area 5 FFA Shoot to move onto district competition.FFA member and trapshooter Nick Schneider said he joined the team because he’s always enjoyed shooting trap for fun and wanted to take it to the next level to compete and get to be a better shooter.“I like the competitiveness of it,” he said. “It’s always fun to see how I shot compared to other shooters.”The high team score was a 212, with Nick being top shooter, shooting 44 out of 50 clay birds on a very windy day at Quincy Gun Club.The girls team earned the conference championship plaque for most points earned by a girls team throughout the season.The NRA Foundation funded a cargo trailer, clay bird thrower, gun safe, gun and ammo storage boxes, along with cleaning supplies to make the successful year possible.FFA students specialized in trapshooting, which is shooting clay pigeons as they fly away from the shooter at 16 yards from the trap house.The sport is a cousin of skeet shooting and sporting clays, similar events where the “birds” are flung from different directions.The trapshooting team also received help from Benchrest Rifle Club in Wright City and its president, Scott Pieper.The club opened its doors to the students, parents and coaches so the team could have a practice site.FFA