Page 31 - May/June 2022 Outdoor Oklahoma

For several thousand high school and mid-
dle school students across Oklahoma, it’s a DANIEL GRIFFITH/ODWC DANIEL GRIFFITH/ODWC
matter of pride for them to be able to shoul-
der their shotguns and give it their best shot
at earning a state championship title.
These student-athletes are participants
in the Oklahoma Scholastic Shooting Sports
Program (OKSSSP), one of the Oklahoma
Department of Wildlife Conservation’s suite
of educational curriculums designed for
school students. The OKSSSP furnishes all of the clay targets Each shooter on winning
used for its events. With each five-person team teams receives a wooden disc
Coordinator Damon Springer, a Senior served 125 clays per round, thousands of targets simulating a clay target.
are thrown during the course of the day.
Education Specialist in the Communication
and Education Division, has been in charge of
OKSSSP since it began in 2013. The first year, DON P. BROWN/ODWC
50 schools were recruited to the new program.
Each year has seen more schools sign up, and
now about half of Oklahoma’s 400 or so high
schools are involved.
“OKSSSP gets a lot of praise and thanks for
what it’s done,” Springer said. “This is the kind
of sport you don’t have to be an athlete to be
really good and excel in.”
Schools incorporate OKSSSP in various
ways. Many of them use it as a part of a
yearlong outdoor skills class, where stu-
dents also participate in the ODWC’s other
education programs including Oklahoma
OKSSSP assistant coordinator Jason Smith, seated, and coordinator Damon Springer
Archery in the Schools, Explore Bowhunting
look over the status of registrations for an upcoming regional shooting competition.
and Hunter Education. Recordkeeping is an important part of conducting the statewide program that
involves more than 100 schools.
In OKSSSP, students learn proper firearms
handling and safety, and they are usually using
their own shotguns to participate in trapshoot- DANIEL GRIFFITH/ODWC
ing. Coaches are required to attend training
sessions with ODWC before they are certified
to teach OKSSSP.
It’s a competitive sport, and each spring
ODWC holds four regional tournaments and
one state finals event. More than 1,600 youths
participate in those events.
A large part of conducting regional and
state shoots falls on Education Specialist
Jason Smith, OKSSSP’s assistant coordinator.

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