JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The pop of guns rang across the field at Jacksonville Clay Target Sports Friday morning as kids from across the United States and even a couple of other countries compete in the Junior World Skeet Championship this weekend.
Children as young as 12 years old will compete for several different titles throughout the weekend.
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“I kind of just relax myself,” Ethan Ballentine said. “I fix myself and just don’t think about other people. I just focus on me, just think that every target counts.”
Ethan is 12 years old and one of the nearly 100 kids competing at the Junior World Championships.
The process is meticulous and routine as shooters set up for their big moment.
“I’m thinking,” Owen Ballentine said. “I’m going through my checklist of what I need to do. Eyes in my gun... Yell pull.”
And when he does say “pull” targets will launch from nearby towers and the shooters will attempt to hit them mid-flight.
The shooters will move across eight different spots in a semicircle with the goal of hitting each and every shot.
“Not a lot of other sports where you’re firing a shotgun at a moving target,” Jacksonville Clay Target Sports President Patrick Heatherington said.
The opening round began with shooters progressively shooting smaller and smaller gauges.
In skeet, the margin of error is so small that you have to be just about perfect to advance. Shooters are so in tune with their guns that for Connor Thigpen, it’s almost an extension of his body.
So much so, he’s competing with the big boys and girls.
“This past year in the 20 gauge, I won the Open World Championship in San Antonio,” Thigpen said. “Against everybody including adults like anybody from people my age to I guess 60. I guess old people do this sport too.”
The Open World Championship comes with the accolades and sponsorships of being one of the best shooters.
It also comes with a free parking spot at the National Skeet Shooting Association — which at 15 years old, Thigpen can’t fully take advantage of it, yet.
This weekend, the Texas native returned to Jacksonville.
It’s the place he first stepped on the big stage in 2020.
“Back when I was 11 this is actually the first place I ever shot Junior Worlds and where I shot my first 100 straight,” Thigpen said. “It feels great. It’s good to be back. It’s a really beautiful place and it brings back memories.”
Connor could be on a summer trip like many kids his age are, but he said this competition is all he needs.
“This is my break,” Thigpen said. “I really enjoy it. It’s just a vacation for me. I’m doing what I love. That’s kind of my break.”
The competition will continue throughout the weekend with winners announced on Sunday.