Level I Course
The purpose of the Level I Instructor Course is to produce an instructor who can teach beginning, novice, and recreational shooters up to entry level competitors in sporting clays. Level I Instructors are encouraged to be active competitors, will encourage their students to compete in the sport, and will promote the sport to new shooters. The ideal candidate for a Level I Instructor is a good communicator who understands the basic fundamentals of shotgunning, meets the prerequisites below, and has had some experience in coaching, teaching, or mentoring. While attending the course, the candidate will be instructed how to teach the fundamentals of shotgunning, assess eye dominance and basic gun fit, as well as call a miss. While the Level I Instructor is not expected to be a proficient diagnostician, the candidate is expected to show aptitude for diagnosing the causes of a miss on targets of basic to intermediate levels of difficulty. Not everyone passes the Level I course; please be sure to carefully weigh your experience and understanding of the fundamentals of shooting a shotgun before signing up for the course.
Level I Criteria
Applicants must:
- Be a paid and active member of the NSCA (CLM memberships do not qualify)
- Be 18 years or older
- Have at least two years of shotgun shooting experience
- Have taken lessons (2 hours) from Level II or equivalent before the course
- Meet the Shooting Proficiency Requirement by EITHER having earned an NSCA C-Class rating at some point and shot a minimum of 3,000 lifetime registered targets OR by passing a basic Shooting Proficiency Test (SPT) during the course.
Any questions regarding the above requirements should be directed to the Chief Instructor.
Level I Cost
In addition to the $600 registration fee for the 3-day course which is submitted along with the application form to NSCA Headquarters, each applicant is responsible for bringing his/her own gun and approximately 250 shells. Students are also accountable for target fees of the host club and a percentage of the examiners/certifying instructors expenses. (This will vary depending on the number of students in each course and the amount of travel required for the examiner/certifying instructor.)
