By Don Currie, NSCA Chief Instructor
The NSCA’s Instructor Certification Program was formed in 1990 against the backdrop of the relatively new and rapidly growing sport of Sporting Clays. Until the mid-1980s, clay target sports had been dominated by the disciplines of skeet and trap. With the creation of the National Sporting Clays Association in 1989, under the governance of the National Skeet Shooting Association, the NSCA’s Executive Director, Michael Hampton Sr., had a vision to grow the sport of Sporting Clays by establishing qualified instructors at every shooting ground in the country.
While England was home to a well-established core of shooting instructors under the Clay Pigeon Shooting Association (CPSA), the concept of shooting instruction in the United States was somewhat groundbreaking. At the time, Americans tended to ascribe to the idea that shooting was a skill one came by naturally or were taught by their fathers. In a 1990 issue of Sporting Clays Magazine, published prior to the inauguration of the NSCA’s instructor program, there were fewer than a dozen “wingshooting instructors” listed and only two shooting schools mentioned, one being the Orvis Wingshooting School in Manchester, Vermont, still in existence today.
The concept of the NSCA’s Certified Instructor Program was to train instructors at “three levels of expertise,” with the initial courses oriented around teaching beginning and novice shooters, with more advanced courses for “journeyman and master instructors” to be held later. In order for instructors to attend the more advanced-level courses, candidates were required to pass the beginning instructor course.
Hampton Sr. recruited Ed Sherer and Henry Burns, both accomplished and recognized skeet shooters, to organize and develop the curriculum for the fledgling program. In June of 1990, the call went out to sporting clays shooters across the country, encouraging those interested to enroll in one of two three-day NSCA “certification seminars” offered at the National Shooting Complex in San Antonio, Texas. On July 20-22 and August 24-26, 1990, the program graduated its first 27 instructors.
As is true today, the initial course was three days, and graduation was not guaranteed. To be certified, the candidates were evaluated based on a variety of skills covering subjects such as “firearm safety, general shotgun knowledge, ability to demonstrate all the basic sporting clays techniques, recognize student errors and know how to correct those errors.” Most importantly, candidates had to “be able to teach.” Participants had to teach one other, as well as the chief instructors, and pass an extensive written examination. According to Hampton, “In the early days, many of the folks that attended the certification courses were more interested in learning how to shoot better than learning how to coach sporting clays.”
In 1991, the first full year of the program’s existence, Hampton hired John Higgins as the NSCA’s first Chief Instructor, a CPSA Certified Instructor from England who wrote the initial manuals for Levels I and II. The first NSCA Level II Certification Course was held on October 25, 1991, at the National Shooting Complex. In that same year, an additional four Level I courses were held, three of which were hosted at other sporting clays courses across the country. By the end of 1991, there were 58 Level I and 13 Level II instructors, and the program was well underway.
On March 2, 1995, the first four-day Level III Instructor Certification Course was held at the National Shooting Complex. Hampton Sr., John Higgins, as the Chief Instructor, and Roger Silcox, one of England’s most prominent shooting instructors, put together the curriculum. The three felt strongly that Level III Instructors should be the best of the best and able to instruct all clay target disciplines, including Skeet and Trap. Hampton enlisted the help of Todd Bender, an NSSA World Champion, to assist with the skeet curriculum. After hosting two Level III courses that year, with candidates undergoing four arduous days of testing and evaluation, the program graduated its first Level III Instructors.
The instructor program curriculum has been updated and improved almost constantly between the program’s inception in 1991 up to the present day. As we have learned more about the areas of physiology, psychology, and vision related to our sport, the curriculum has undergone continuous improvement and enhancement. The original curriculum underwent major revisions by the Chief Instructors throughout the life of the program: Peter Crabtree, who served as the Chief Instructor from 1996 to 2001, by Mike McAlpine (2001 – 2006), by Gary Greenway (2006 – 2014) assisted by Vance Barnes and Bruce Herring in 2007, and then again by Don Currie in 2014. Updates and improvements to the program continue on an ongoing basis.
Today, the instructor program offers six certification courses with the Scholastic Instructor, Recreational Instructor, and Club Range Safety Officer certifications added to the program in 2015. The program now graduates an average of 250-300 candidates and hosts over 30 courses annually at member courses throughout the country and internationally.
The vision of Michael Hampton Sr. and the work of Chief Instructors Ed Sherer and Henry Burns were the genesis of what is today the most in-depth and well-respected sporting clays instructor certification program in North America. While the program and curriculum have evolved significantly, the basic tenets, the three-level certification hierarchy, and the program’s emphasis on advancing shooters, remains. As trap-machine technology and the skill of target setters and shooters continue to evolve, so too will the demand for competent instructors. It is the goal of the NSCA to continue to evolve and improve its instructor program to keep pace with the evolution of our sport.
In 2022, Michael Hampton Sr. said, “The Instructor Program was and continues to be one of the most important programs for the NSCA.”
Are you ready to begin your journey as a sporting clays instructor and ambassador for our sport? Instructing beginning, novice, and youth shooters can be an incredibly rewarding experience. We encourage you to join the ranks of other men and lady shooters who attended the Level I course and have ushered in generations of new shooters to our sport. The 3-day NSCA Level I Instructor Certification Courses are hosted at member clubs throughout the year and all over the country. We invite you to locate a Level I Course nearest you and enroll today.
