What is Trap and Skeet?
To get a better understanding and truly acknowledge Coach Hanzel and the Trinity Trap and Skeet teams’ success, one must know the basics and rules that go along with the sport itself. Starting with trap shooting, trap is the oldest shotgun shooting sport in America. Trapshooting gets its name from the device, called a trap, which throws clay targets in to the air. Competitors then shoot at the clay targets thrown from a trap house located in front of the shooter. The trap rotates in a random sequence, presenting the shooter with a variety of shots going away, angling to the right, to the left, and flying straightaway.
Trap is usually shot in teams of five shooters. A round of trap consists of 25 targets per shooter. A trap field has five positions, or stations, numbered consecutively from left to right. Five clay targets are then thrown for each shooter at each position, with one shot being fired at each target. After firing five rounds in rotation, each squad member moves one station to his right, with the shooter on station five moving over to station one.
Moving onto skeet shooting, a skeet field consists of two houses located 42 yards apart. A machine then throws targets from each of the two houses, with one house higher than the other. The first shooting area, also known as a station, is located just below the “high house.” The shooter works their way along a semi-circle, stopping at a total of seven stations, the seventh being at the “low house.” There is then an eighth station that is centered between the two houses forcing the shooter to fire nearly straight up at a target raveling faster than 60 miles per hour. When the different positions are combined, it is easy to see why this type of shooting requires a great deal of skill.