Behind the scenes of the Trap Team

Shot after shot, hit after hit, the Royals trap continues to prove that they are a proud, and competitive.

“The interest in the district is so much that we have 40 kids on the team and 12 on a waiting list,” Mr. Mark Czech, head coach of the HHS trap team said.

12,000 students this year are participating statewide in high school league clay shooting.

20 of the kids on the roster this year are new shooters. “Every year we get bigger,” Czech said.

The Royals practice at Parks sportsman’s club in Long Lake. They perform in the same place. The Royals compete with other teams by doing virtual shots. They shoot as a team and submit their scores online to the Minnesota State High School Clay Target League.

“We have tons of kids that don’t hunt at all, but they just love the shooting sports,” Czech said.

When all schools register they are all divided against different conferences.The conferences are based on team size. Hopkins is in class four. There are about 40 teams in class four, and it is split into five conferences of eight teams based on location.

Students provide all their own transportation and equipment to team practices and meets. The fees they pay include targets which they buy from the shooting club.

There are three branches of Hopkins trap shooting, Varsity, Junior Varsity, and Novice based on shooting average. The ages of Hopkins trap shooters range all the way from grades 7-12.

One of the only gender neutral sports everyone competes equally based on score.

“What I appreciate the most is that it’s a gender neutral sport,” Czech said. “We have always been state contenders, we have gone to the state championship every year the last 12 years”

The Royals pioneered the MSHSCTL back in 2005 and it has become a very prevalent league in Minnesota high school sports in the past 12 years.

“We started everything about the Minnesota State High School Clay Target League,” Czech said.

The Royals have earned with their hard work numerous state tournament appearances, several conference titles, and individual honors.