This Thursday, the Minot High trapshooting team will have its first practice of the spring season at the Minot Gun Club.

Minot High School began operating a club trapshooting team in 2019. As a club sport, Minot’s trapshooting team is not affiliated with the North Dakota High School Athletic Association. However, much like other spring sport activities, the trap season was canceled a year ago due to the coronavirus.

Despite the one-year layoff, it has not hindered the participation numbers of Minot’s relatively young trap program. According to head coach Lynn Nord, this year’s team consists of 52 students, up by 14 from the team’s inaugural season. Nord, who has been with the Minot team since its inception, credits the growing interest in trapshooting to the overall enthusiasm for the outdoors within the region.

“The love for hunting and fishing runs deep in this area,” Nord tells the Minot Daily News. “Word of mouth helps our program as well. Kids really enjoy getting out to the range and shooting targets, and I think they are having a great time with it.”

Along with Nord, Minot’s trapshooting team has five other coaches to provide instruction. This year’s club is comprised of students from grades 7-12, and unlike other spring sports, the trapshooting team is co-ed. As Nord states, the club promotes an inclusive environment.

“Anybody is welcome to join us. The main thing we want to promote is to have fun, and to do everything safely,” the Minot coach adds.

This year, Minot will compete in Class 3A which is the biggest of the three total classes in the North Dakota State High School Clay Target League. Schools are divided up among the three classes based on the size of each program. Within Class 3A, Minot, Bismarck Century, Mandan and Wahpeton make up Conference 1, and Central, Fargo North, Legacy, Oak Grove, South Prairie and Williston make up Conference 2.

After Thursday’s practice, Minot plans to begin its five-week season on April 22 with meets to be held once per week. Unlike other spring sports, opposing schools do not face one another during actual competition as scores are tallied remotely. Another distinguishing difference in trap is that season scores are compiled on a cumulative basis rather than game-by-game or meet-by-meet. In addition, shooters compete in one of three categories based on ability level; novice, junior varsity and varsity.

As far as expectations are concerned, Nord insists he is not worried about winning a conference or state title at season’s end. Instead, the trap coach wants to simply continue to grow the program with increased participation numbers while also enhancing the awareness of the sport.

“The parents are really key in helping us along because they pitch in to help keep score or whatever else is needed of them,” Nord continues. “Getting our program to this point has been a group effort from everybody in the community.”