Vista Outdoor Foundation (VOF) has awarded a multi-year grant to the Scholastic Shooting Sports Foundation (SSSF) to support its volunteer coach education initiative, specific to the shooting sports and youth development. VOF received more than 100 requests for funding as part of this year’s grant approval process. SSSF was one of 10 organizations selected to receive grants, and each were approved after a rigorous review by its board, based on operational, geographic and mission-based criteria.
Vista Outdoor—the company that has Federal ammunition, CCI, Speer, Blackhawk, Bushnell and other legends in the industry under its corporate umbrella—created VOF to support “…non-profit partners and programs that unite outdoor enthusiasts to: conserve open space, get kids off screens and into the outdoors, expand access and opportunities for recreation in underserved communities and diversify outdoor recreation,” according to its website.
In 2020, the SSSF launched its Basic Shooting Coach Education Program, an initiative to further grow youth shooting sports teams throughout the country. Offering a comprehensive curriculum for prospective coaches, the SSSF training program allows adult volunteers to digest online material at their own pace before becoming certified via a short, four-hour in-person session. To date, nearly 1,000 coaches have become certified through the SSSF Basic Shooting Coach Education Program, with an additional several hundred having completed the online curriculum.
SSSF was originally established in 2007 to manage the National Shooting Sports Foundation’s popular Scholastic Trap program, and in 2012 it expanded by establishing a Scholastic Pistol effort now known as Scholastic Action Shooting Sports. It also administers a scholarship program that, since 2013, has awarded more than $640,000 to 730 graduating high school seniors . The organization is “…dedicated to providing shooting-sports education and opportunities to school-age youths around the United States to encourage young athlete personal growth and development.”
