Palmyra youth clay target team builds regional following in Morgan County

At Jacksonville Sportsmans Club, the South County Vipers are turning weeknight clay target practice into a regional draw, with more than 30 shooters from sixth through 12th grade coming from Palmyra and nearby schools including Pleasant Plains and Routt Catholic. The appeal is practical and immediate: a program built around safety, discipline and a schedule that asks families to show up, stay involved and keep moving across Morgan County.

How a practice week really works

The team’s calendar is built on repetition. Trap practice runs Tuesday nights from 5:00 to 7:30 p.m. at 2021 New Lake Road in Jacksonville, while sporting clays is set for Thursdays and skeet for Friday evenings at Jokers Wild Shooting Range in Chesterfield. That means the Vipers are not a once-a-week club stop, but a multi-night, multi-venue commitment that pulls kids and parents into a steady routine through the season.

One practice day shows why the program has taken hold. Kids arrive knowing they will be coached on safety first, then asked to repeat the same basics until they become habits, from how they handle a shotgun to how they move through the line. The team says adult volunteers and coaches stress responsible gun handling from storage to cleaning to transportation, which is a big reason families see this as more than a game.

What trap, sporting clays and skeet look like

For families new to the sport, the three disciplines are similar enough to fit under one team but different enough to keep the athletes learning. Trap shooters fire two rounds of 25 shells. Sporting clays is one round of 50 shells, and skeet uses two boxes of 25 shells. In other words, a shooter is not just repeating one motion all spring. Each format asks for timing, balance and composure in a different way.

That variety also helps explain why the team draws such a wide age range. The Source’s reporting described an 18-year-old competing against a 12-year-old, which captures the culture of the sport better than a scoreboard does. On a good night, some Vipers are routinely breaking 47 or more targets, and that kind of performance keeps the practice line competitive without losing the family atmosphere that younger shooters need.

Why parents are buying in now

The Vipers present themselves as a learn-to-shoot and team-based youth development program for boys and girls in grades 6 through 12, with safety training and a final safety field day required before full participation. That structure matters to parents who want a sport that is organized, supervised and rooted in responsibility rather than chaos. The Illinois league behind the team puts safety, fun and marksmanship in that order, and says participation is for safety-certified student athletes on school-approved teams.

Families also need to be ready for paperwork and coordination. The team requires student-athlete registration forms, and students whose schools do not field their own clay target team can participate through a cooperative agreement. For families in Jacksonville, Palmyra and the surrounding area, that means the door is open even if the school itself does not sponsor a squad.

The cost side is real, too. The team lists a $200 trap range and league registration fee, and the league’s equipment-and-gear rules cover shotguns, ammunition, eye protection, hearing protection, attire and foot pads. Add the weekly drives to Jacksonville and Chesterfield, and the sport becomes a commitment that families make together, not a drop-off activity.

A Morgan County program with a wider footprint

The Vipers’ reach goes well beyond Palmyra. Their roster size, the mix of students from multiple schools and the Class 2A competition level place them firmly inside the Illinois High School Clay Target League system, where scores are tracked across a regular season, Reserve Week protects athletes who miss a scoring week, and postseason events stretch from late May into summer. The 2026 state calendar put skeet on May 29 in Decatur, trap on May 30 to 31 at Brittany Shooting Park near Bunker Hill, sporting clays on June 13 at NILO near Brighton, and national championship competition in Mason, Michigan, from July 8 to 12.

That regional schedule helps explain the team’s following in Morgan County. The program asks young shooters to learn discipline in one place, then test it in another, and it gives families a local reason to keep showing up week after week. For parents who want details, coach Dave Pence can be reached at 217-306-6279 or DPence@greenview.com, and the team’s cooperative agreement process keeps the path open for students whose schools do not have their own clay target program.