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Guest post: youth PFS shooter Ethan Ballentine

11/18/2022

By Caleb Revill

10-year-old Ethan Ballentine stares up the sightless barrel of his Browning Citori Feather 725 shotgun. While he aims carefully, he advances his gaze to a soaring clay pigeon. Like clockwork, Ethan’s body pivots and follows the bright orange disc as it glides across the sky. His posture is forward, his aim is steady and his timing is perfect as he squeezes the trigger and the target explodes.

While this process has been routine for Ethan’s practice, this time things are different. Ethan just performed the unthinkable by achieving a perfect 100 straight in a formal skeet shooting competition -and he may have just broken a world record by being the youngest person to do so.

World record or not, nailing all 100 flying targets with a 20 gauge for a perfect score in competition is an awesome feat for any skeet shooter. The accomplishment has rippled across the skeet shooting world, and respected shooters among the National Skeet Shooting Association (NSSA) have taken notice.

The family’s message? Anyone can skeet shoot, and everyone should give it a try.

Meet the Ballentines

Ethan isn’t the only Ballentine to skeet shoot. In fact, Ethan wouldn’t have ever tried the sport if it weren’t for traveling with his older brother Owen for his skeet shooting competitions over the last couple of years. The two brothers are supported by their parents, Bradley and Monique, who have invested greatly into their sons’ sport.

Take one step into the Ballentine household and it’s obvious the family has found its passion in competitive skeet shooting. Shotgun ammunition is everywhere, from cabinets and drawers to closets.

Empty shells are piled by the hundreds in plastic bags scattered across the floor just waiting to be recycled by the family’s shotshell reloader machine. One particular cabinet displaying several of the brothers’ skeet shooting awards even uses repurposed shells for drawer handles. It’s evident that the family lives and breathes the shooting sport.

It may not seem typical for a family out of the big city of Memphis to be so invested in skeet shooting. According to Bradley, that’s precisely the beauty of the sport.

“Any family can do this,” Bradley said. “If you work real hard at this, you can do what we’re doing. I think a lot of people don’t understand the sport or know what it’s about. They might be nervous about it ... We literally are absolutely city slickers. (Monique and I) lived in Memphis our whole life. The boys went to a private school called Briarcrest Christian School. We knew nothing of this sport until we moved up here five years ago and a guy at work told me about the shooting sports that they have here.”

Studying up on skeet shooting

So just what is skeet shooting anyway? According to the NSSA’s “History of Skeet,” the century-old shooting sport originated in Andover, Massachusetts in 1920 with the first national competition held in 1926. Skeet Shooting has since been recognized as an international Olympic sport since 1968.

The sport involves individuals using a shotgun -preferably over/under barreled- to fire at targets from eight different shooting stations evenly distributed across a semicircular field. Two trap houses -a high house and low house- sit behind station 1 and 7 and fire orange projectile “clay pigeons.”

“During a round of skeet, a shooter will fire at 25 targets consisting of singles thrown one at a time from the high and low house and doubles from each station, from Stations 1, 2, 6 and 7,” the NSSA manual on skeet shooting explains. “This totals 24 shots. The 25th target is called the ‘option’ and is a repeat of your first miss or an extra target from Low 8 if you have not missed.”

As one can probably tell, it’s more complex than just shooting a target out of the air with a shotgun. While the rules may seem complicated at first, skeet shooting is almost totally the same at every course in every competition and is super standardized. The skill comes down to muscle memory, technique and repetition.

Going pro

After giving the sport a try for two years with South Gibson County’s Skeet Shooting team, the family decided to take Owen solo into professional competitions. Not long after watching his brother compete, Ethan decided to give it a try himself.

“It has literally taken over our life,” Bradley said. “Every cent we have goes into this. We love it.”

The sport has had a tremendous impact on Ethan and Owen’s grades. The couple excitedly reported that their two sons went from C and B grades to straight A’s in no time. Bradley attributes that to the confidence and discipline that the sport has taught them.

“That’s probably the main reason that we actually do it,” Bradley said. “Their grades went straight up.”

Bradley stressed that safety is the number one core value of the sport. He said that skeet shooting is one of the safest sports, citing a national event that the family attended along with 5,000 others in Marengo, Ohio that boasts zero accidents.

“The NSSA officials and referees are extremely big on safety,” Bradley said. “Even the pro shooters that they referee for are instructed on safety.”

The Ballentine family practices thousands of rounds per month regularly at their “home range” at Southgate Gun Club in Lavinia, Tennessee.

“That club’s been there almost 50 years,” Bradley said. “That’s a great place for people in this area to get involved. Come up on any given weekend Friday, Saturday or Sunday. We’re out there and are able to assist anybody.”

The skeet shooting season starts in April and ends in July. Bradley said that it’s the perfect summer sport because it doesn’t cause participants to miss school. Slowly but surely as the family went to more and more competitions, Bradley and Monique noticed their sons’ progression in the sport.

“We joke that we used to count how many they hit,” Bradley said. “Now we count how many they miss.”

That hard work and dedication culminated in a possible world record set by Ethan at the Hillbilly Open iShoot competition in Blue Springs, Mississippi late October. There, Ethan hit all 100 of his targets in the 12 gauge competition using a 20 gauge shotgun. This made the accomplishment that much more impressive as it was more difficult with less pellets.

Since his big competition, prestigious shotgun manufacturers DuPont Krieghoff and Krieghoff International have sent personalized notes to Ethan congratulating him on his 100 straight. Bradley said that he hopes Ethan’s story will motivate more locals to try out the sport.

“You can meet amazing people and go at your own pace and learn a skill for life while traveling too,” Bradley said.

His boys agree.

“My favorite part about skeet shooting is meeting new people from different places,” Owen said. “I got to shoot with someone from Alaska.”

“I like that this sport gives me more confidence,” Ethan added. “I can learn different things from skeet shooting, and it’s a more active sport.”

TAKING AIM - Ethan Ballentine and his brother Owen demonstrate the posturing they take when aiming in skeet shooting competitions. The two have practiced immensely over the last couple of years, and their hard work is paying off. Ethan recently set what could be a world record as the youngest person to shoot a perfect 100 straight in competition. Photo by Caleb Revill.

AWARD-WINNING SKEET SHOOTERS Ethan Ballentine (left) and his brother Owen pose for a photo holding up their vests alongside some of their medals and awards at their home in Milan. Photo by Caleb Revill.

THE SKEET FIELD - The NSSA manual on skeet shooting explains how the field is set up and operated during competition. “During a round of skeet, a shooter will fire at 25 targets consisting of singles thrown one at a time from the high and low house and doubles from each station, from Stations 1, 2, 6 and 7,” the manual explains. “This totals 24 shots. The 25th target is called the ‘option’ and is a repeat of your first miss or an extra target from Low 8 if you have not missed.” Graphic by the National Skeet Shooters Association Manual.