Trapshooting event brings thousands to Sparta

SPARTA, Ill. (KBSI) – Eighteen years and counting for the World Shooting and Recreational Complex in Sparta proudly hosts a trapshooting event for people of all ages.

Many from other towns, states and countries come to this small town in southern Illinois for a chance to compete and win money.

David Zofko is from Ohio. He came to the first trap shooting event at the World Shooting Recreational Complex back in 2006.

He has made many relationships from this sport. David travels to many trap shooting events, but he says nothing beats this one.

“My buddy and I said, ‘Hey we got room. There’s just two of us. You would be the third. You want to shoot with us?’ he said. Sure I’ll shoot with you. So we squaded together, and we shot that day and he said why don’t you guys come and stay at my house instead of staying at that hotel? We said sure we’ll do that. For the next year when we came, we stayed at their house, and we’ve been doing that ever since. It’s been a wonderful relationship.”

Zofko says why he believes this is one of the greatest sports to participate in and anyone at any age has the chance to be a champion.

“You bring your money and your shotgun, and you buy your shotgun shells and you can shoot for the world championship,” he said. “You can’t play in the world championship for the Superbowl unless you play on a team and qualify, the world series you can’t do that unless you qualify, but this is a sport where you bring your money, you bring your guns and shoot, and you can become the world champion.”

Chris Deterding is from southern Illinois. He has been shooting ever since he was a boy, and he even taught his boys how to shoot.

Deterding came with his family and friends as well as many others who gather to shoot for 10 days.

“The trap line is three and a half miles long and there’s 27 banks along the trap line,” said Deterding. “You got an A bank, a B bank, a C bank, and a D bank and you shoot 25 at each bank. You start at B. Next gets done you move to C you move to D you keep moving because there are so many people here there are over 2 thousand shooters here today.”

I also got to meet 33 Time All American trap shooter Richard Marshall Jr. who is also a professional trapshooter instructor and has a podcast called Trap Talk from the Back Fence.

“There’s separate events. There’s a 200 singles championship, doubles championship, and Saturday, which tomorrow will be the grand American handicap, which is the biggest event of all. It’s like the Daytona 500 or the World Series or the NFL Super Bowl.”