From The Reload:

High schoolers are falling in love with competitive clay-target shooting.

“In the beginning of my shooting journey I became hooked because it felt like the first thing I was pretty good at and I felt like I could excel at,” Brendan Birch, a recent high school graduate who competed for the Frederick Stars and Stripes, told The Reload. “What continued to grow my connection to this sport is the friendships and advice received from everyone around me.”

The Stars and Stripes are a clay target club team based in Frederick County who competes statewide in the Maryland Clay Target High School League and nationally in the USA High School Clay Target League. Both leagues are divisions of a broader organization, the USA Clay Target League or USACTL.