Find out how Pilla Performance Eyewear started, how it has evolved and how it is now the leading eyewear in shooting sports. We also discuss other sports and professional fields that Pilla eyewear is used.

Philip Pilla - Pilla Performance Eyewear

Tom Seay, one of Wendell's students, sits down and asks questions only he knows how to ask to be able to get a little further into the methods that one of the greats teach.  Learn even more about the thought process that goes into simply shooting a clay target.......or is it that simple?

Tom Seay / Wendell Cherry

We get into the conversation about porting and how to overall make your gun shoot smoother and more consistent.  We also discussed the spreader shell and find out just how they work.......or do they really work? Heritage Gunsmiths, Inc. was established over 50 years ago by Ken Eyster. Dedicated to serving discriminating shooters and sportsman, Heritage Gunsmiths, Inc. provides custom gunsmithing to insure the performance optimization of existing quality shotgun barrels, stock work, and decorative gun engraving as well as other products and services. Heritage Gunsmiths, Inc. does not use any automatic or production tooling, but rather completes each operation with individual handwork and hand-operated machines to insure each barrel is correctly adapted to achieve the best performance with the shooter.

Jim Eyster - Heritage Gunsmiths

Continuing on from the first episode, we find out about the post-shot routine and continue to listen to how and why Wendell does certain things at tournaments and during practice.  We also discuss a question that Anthony Matarese Jr. sent in about aging and eyesight.

Wendell Cherry - 2/2

We were able to sit down with one of the sport's greatest shooters and coaches and get some very valuable information on what it takes to be a great shooter and what it takes to be a great coach.  Find out what the "grid system" is and how to use it.  Listen to how Wendell learned to shoot clays and how he teaches his students.  Find out what a true practice session is and so much more in the first episode of the Wendell Cherry Series.

Wendell Cherry - 1/2

In this episode, Brad talks about how to prepare for the upcoming season, how to become a pro shooter, how to practice when you do not have a gun club nearby and his top 10 "Hot Shots" for the 2020 shooting season.  Get great advice from one of the best in the game today.

Brad Kidd Jr. #2

Anthony Matarese Jr. came back on the podcast to touch upon some topics from episode #31.  If you want to figure out how to be a better competitor, then this is the episode you need to listen to.  So much valuable information from a World Champ!

Anthony Matarese Jr. #2

Don is the chief instructor of the National Sporting Clays Association and one of the most sought-after shooting coaches in our sport.  Competing in the shooting sports since age 8 and instructing as an apprentice at age 16, Don is that rare combination of Champion, Instructor, and Coach.  Don regularly propels shotgun enthusiasts of all ages and experience levels to breakthrough performance whether in the field or in competition. His qualifications include:   Chief Instructor, NSCA (National Sporting Clays Association) (2014 – present) Professional, Full-time Shotgun Coach – Specializing in clay target sports (Sporting Clays, Skeet, Trap) and upland bird hunting Master Gun Fitter – partnering with select manufacturers and stock-makers to create custom-fitted shotguns for discerning clients 2011 National Champion in Side-by-Side Shotgun 2012 Florida State Champion in Side-by-Side Shotgun Master Class NSCA Competitor Certified Level III NSCA Instructor (National Sporting Clays Association) Fellow, Association of Professional Shooting Instructors (FAPSI), UK Member of the Institute of Clay Shooting Instructors (MICSI), UK Author of Mastering Sporting Clays (Stackpole Books) Co-Producer of two instructional DVDs: Focus-Movement-Faith and Target Tactics for Sporting Clays Writer and columnist for ClayShooting USA and Clay Target Nation (formerly Sporting Clays Magazine) Certified NRA Instructor: Shotgun, Rifle, Pistol and NRA Range Safety Officer Orvis® Wingshooting School Instructor Orvis® Fly Fishing School Instructor Former General Manager of the Gilchrist Club, an exclusive 27,000-acre upland hunting resort Experienced guide and avid upland bird hunter Instructor, US Army Infantry and Ranger Schools (Fort Benning, Georgia) – Instructor of marksmanship, weapons, and tactics

Don Currie - Chief NSCA Instructor

Haylyn Hanks, 16 years old, is definitely one of the best junior shooters in the country.  She has won several shoots from huge regionals to the silver medal in 2019 at the World FITASC Lady's division.  Haylyn is a very dedicated and determined shooter and we look for big moves for this young lady in the future.  In this episode she discusses her shooting goals, her new coaching career and what she wants to do once she graduates college.

Haylyn Hanks

Tom Mack has been on the All American Team for 15 consecutive years. He is an Official Shooting Instructor for Clay Shooting USA. In June 2013, Tom was inducted into the inaugural class of the Michigan Sporting Clays Hall of Fame.

Tom Mack

Fred is a lifelong resident of the state of Florida and a graduate of the University of Florida College of Agriculture Animal Science Department. Bringing many years of land and wildlife experience to the team as well as a keen understanding of the hospitality industry, Fred has taken a lead role in bringing Quail Creek Plantation from its humble beginnings to where it is today. Fred is a level one sporting clays instructor and has traveled the world in pursuit of hunting adventure. Fred feels truly blessed to have created a career out of his passion for the outdoors.

Fred Fanizzi - Quail Creek Plantation

Designed and tested in collaboration with the Beretta Shooting Team, 694 is the new over-and-under platform designed specifically for competition shooting, with a precise objective in mind: to help shooters increase their success rate. Thanks to a meticulous mechanical and ergonomic design process, the 694 represents a perfectly balanced over-and-under competition shotgun. Natural and immediate when shouldering, it features a precise swing and it’s easy to control. The new shape of the action and the stock provide an increased field of vision, while the new forend iron system allows the user to maintain the opening load constant over time, and the Steelium Plus barrels guarantee a dense, uniform pattern every time. The slim, modern design lends the 694 a "racing" feel, for a bold, winning look. Guests on the Podcast Include: Anthony Matarese Jr, Zach Kienbaum, Roch Cole, Bryan Buzzi and CarloAlberto Tolettini

The All New Beretta 694

Dominic's experience as a top competitor has given him a unique understanding of the game that only a few possess. As a member of the U.S. Sporting Clays Team, Dominic has had the opportunity to represent the United States at World Championships and other international events on a multitude of occasions. In addition to titles, he has also set several records including becoming the youngest male PSCA professional shooter in history, and winning a world concurrent title by the largest margin ever recorded.

Dominic Gross

Grace Started out hunting, and exploring a little in Olympic Bunker trap in high school, I soon learned that sporting clays would become my priority and main interest out of all the shooting sports! SCTP played a major role in my shooting career. I was on the varsity team and all four year of high school we went to Nationals in Sparta, Illinois. I won Lady Championship of my division all four years! I have recently expressed some interest in 3 gun and I would like to see where the future may possibly take me in that discipline.

Grace Callahan

Todd is 16years old, a junior in High School and lives in Maryville, TN which is in east TN about 30minutes south of Knoxville and about 45 minutes north of where Bill McGuire lives.  Todd is Homeschooled which is a co-op set up so he has classes with other kids and they probably have as many options for clubs, teams & activities as a traditional school does. Shooting is a great motivator for Todd - if he doesn't have his homework done, he doesn't get to go to the shoot. In 2015 Todd started shooting a shotgun at 12 years old when he joined the William Blount SCTP team after a hunting buddy told Todd about SCTP. Until then he had no idea that SCTP and NSCA existed and had never even seen someone shoot a clay target. Coincidentally, their SCTP team practices at the same place where Bill McGuire got started.  Todd's great-grandfather (Papa) got him started in hunting and was certainly Todd's biggest fan.  The two of them went deer and turkey hunting every chance they got.  When we had Papa's funeral service last year at our farm Todd's great-grandmother asked Todd put on small shooting display because nothing would have made Papa happier. April 2017 Gamaliel - 1st NSCA event ever.  Todd thought he was big stuff because the weekend before he had shot his first 100 straight in sporting clays at a charity shoot.  He signed up for the NSCA and as an E class shooter at his first NSCA event we put in for ALL options including HOA (even though Rhonda Barfield was kindly discouraging us because people like Wendell Cherry, Bill McGuire and Tom Seay were there). Moving on to 2018, Todd won the SCTP Nationals Sporting Clays with a 198/200 and in July punched into Master Class. Now in 2019, Todd ended up in 7th place in the World English at Northbrook after the super final.  What's funny is that he didn't even know there was such a thing as a super final until Sunday morning.  He about missed the super final not realizing they were going to take the top 6 scores instead of top 6 shooters. Todd won the NE Regional Sporting Clays at the Cardinal Center in 2019, finished 9th in the SE Regional and is headed out to Texas to make big things happen at Nationals.

Todd Hitch

Gary Fitzjarrell is a name that everyone knows.  If it is not from the range, then it is from his very popular facebook group, Clay Target Shooters with nearly 13k members and growing rapidly.  Gary tells it like it is, but you can always count on a good laugh or a friendly handshake every time you see him. Gary has been shooting clays his entire life with a list of accomplishments too long to mention here. However, some of his local achievements are a perennial member of the IL All-State Team, 2 Time State FITASC Champion, State Champion and IL State Hall of Fame member since 2005. In addition to his exceptional shooting accomplishments, Gary is also a sought after shooting coach, target setter and is now operating FLC Outfitters full time.FLC Shooting Grounds in White Hall, IL is a members only club, that is open to the public during its monthly tournaments.  FLC offers two 12 station sporting courses, 5 stand, full-time practice parcour and a helice ring. FLC Shooting Grounds sits in the middle of the Fitzjarrell Families 1700 acre farm in Western Illinois and is run by IL Hall of Fame member Gary Fitzjarrell. No longer actively farming, Gary has decided to focus on his competitive shooting and running a first-rate gun club. With 25 years of competition shooting for Junior and more than 50 years for Senior, the Fitzjarrells hope this club is one of the best clubs in Illinois. If foul language bothers you, please o not listen to this episode as it is UNEDITED.

Gary Fitzjarrell

Bill McGuire was in Macon Georgia at Kevin DeMichiel's house for the weekend for a clinic they were holding over the weekend.  We sat down to telling stories and decided to record a podcast episode.  We hope that you enjoy the conversation.  There is not a lot of clay coaching or technique advice, but we had a good time with it.

Stories With Bill McGuire

If you are not interested in listening to our opening day dove season stories, fast forward to 12:20 At 15 years old, Theo began his quest to win sporting clay championships by relocating to Texas to pursue a professional shooting career. Ribbs studied his professional shooting career under legendary sporting clay champion and olympic medalist Dan Carlisle. Carlisle immediately discovered Theo’s natural talent. And at age sixteen quickly rose to become Junior national champion.  By twenty-one years old Theo entered the professional ranks with great success winning major championships.  His success gathered the attention among other professional athletes from major league sports, who he has tutored and coached to enhance their recreational clay shooting skills.

Theo Ribbs

Vincent Hancock has been shooting since he was a very young child and started competing when he was 11 years old.  Hancock also holds several national records in Men’s Skeet.  In 2005, at the young age of 16, Vincent won his first World Championship title in Men’s Skeet and went on to win the prestigious International Shooting Sport Federation’s Shooter of the Year award.   His gold-medal victory in London, puts him in elite company having become the first Olympic skeet shooter to win gold medals in the same event in consecutive Olympic Games. Earning his fourth World Championship title in 2018, Hancock is the first person ever to win four World titles in Men’s Skeet; eclipsing Abdullah Alrashidi of Kuwait and Jury Tsuranov of the Soviet Union. Hancock is also now one of three men in the Shotgun discipline to earn four world titles in his career, joining Michel Carrega of France and Giovanni Pellielo of Italy. Hancock is a two-time Olympic champion, four-time World Champion, 16-time World Cup medalist (including 12 wins) and five-time World Cup Finals medalist.

Vincent Hancock

It has been nearly a year since we had Joe on the podcast and his shooting performance is unbelievable.  After a R/U at the 2019 World English Sporting Clay Championship, we had to find out just what it is that he is doing differently.  He has his mental game, his physical game and his personal life dialed in and going in the right direction which has led him to great success.  He is quickly becoming one of the best shooters out right now and definitely one of the best sub juniors.  This episode dives deep into what Joe does as far as practice and how he mentally prepares for tournaments.

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