Submitted by Alaska SCTP Staff
Five High School Teams Break Ground For New Shooting Club
7th Summit is a dream come true for Neil and Lindy Moss, and for countless families who have needed an accessible facility for their sport shooting purposes. 7 years in the making, 7th Summit Shooting Park & Outdoor Experiences hosted a groundbreaking ceremony, on Tuesday, August 30, with local leaders and dignitaries, including Governor Mike Dunleavey in attendance. The facility will accommodate many outdoor opportunities for local youth, with a focus on shooting sports, and is estimated to cost roughly 3.5 million dollars. It will be the largest club of its kind in the state, one of the largest in the United States, and is likely the only one owned by a youth shooting program.
“This fall we will have more than 20 athletes shooting for their collegiate team, most on scholarship! For the first time, we will have a club at UAA- our very first collegiate team here in Alaska, as a direct result of this program,” said Lorinda ‘Lindy’ Moss, head coach of the academically-elite leadership team AlaskaYESS Varsity Team. The team is made up of a dozen athletes from all over the state that travel to collegiate and regional competitions for the purpose of gaining scholarships on university clay target sports teams.
The new shooting club, 7th Summit, won’t have an official address until the road is built, but it will be located at Mile 8.5, second right after Settlers Bay, at the end of Carmel Rd. Having a facility like this will allow for a wide range of shooting sports that cannot currently be accommodated in the Mat-Su area. Word is already getting out about this triumph for local youth shooting sports, with many enthusiasts not realizing that the facility has yet to be built. Lorinda Moss said that they received over 100 applicants for the 6 Mat-Su teams the most of which will be turned away until the facility is up and running. Once operational, 7th Summit will have 7 combo trap and skeet fields, 2 sporting clays walkthroughs, and three 5-stands, accommodating approximately 200 youth with a wide range of outdoor and shooting opportunities.
Governor Mike Dunleavey attended the recent groundbreaking, along with a list of local dignitaries like Representative Kevin McCabe, Mat-Su Borough Mayor Edna Devries, Borough Manager Mike Brown, Wasilla Mayor Glenda Ledford, several local Mat-Su Assembly members, and others.
“Responsible gun ownership starts with training and practice,” said Governor Mike Dunleavy. “I am pleased to see a new facility open that allows all Alaskans, young and old, to safely learn about and approve their shooting skills.”
Local high school and youth teams outgrew their previous two facilities years ago, which served as the impetus for their dogged pursuit of 7th Summit Shooting Park.
This facility will serve more than 19 clay target sports teams across the state, and eventually archery, biathlon, and indoor rifle teams as well. Archery teams are welcome to the fold, along with various other shooting clubs, including biathlon, in order to grow the facility’s appeal to shooting enthusiasts in a variety of disciplines, and the folks at Alaska SCTP are building those community connections now, at the ground level.
“7th Summit was first conceived as a place where high school teams and young shooters in Alaska would have an opportunity to shoot at lower cost, to be able to shoot more targets, more disciplines, more often, and to be more competitive on the national level, with more kids going to university on scholarship through this sport. With the size of 7th Summit, we will be able to accommodate more types of outdoor activities. Our focus is primarily on developing the character of youth in a positive direction,” said Neil Moss, President of Alaska SCTP (Scholastic Clay Target Program)
For additional information, interested parties should contact Lorinda “Lindy” Moss at 907-354-5344.