Clay shooting may be a hobby, but this Rock Hill teen earned college scholarship for it
In a dark auditorium in February, a handful of South Pointe High School football players signed letters of intent to play college ball — with one exception.
One-by-one, the football stars sat down at the table with student photographers in the rows of chairs flashing cameras. Xavier Preston and Mikey Mann signed to Newberry College. Zantwan Nelson signed to Hampton University. Six football players came to the table in all.
Then one football player sat at the table and signed for something else — to shoot sporting clays.
Six years in the making, Jackson Switzer, a 17-year-old long snapper, signed a full scholarship to Montreat College in North Carolina.
“It’s definitely been fun,” Switzer said one afternoon at Rocky Creek Sporting Clays in Richburg, S.C. as the sound of gunfire blasted in the distance.
Switzer shoots with the Rocky Creek Clay Dusters youth club. He first started shooting in sixth grade.
Sporting clays are sometimes referred to as “golf with a shotgun,” according to the National Sporting Clays Association. It’s the closest thing to field shooting of all shotgun sports and simulates duck, pheasant and other bird hunting, the association says on its website.
Switzer has a handle on his sport, even if he misses a couple of times like he did at Rocky Creek one Sunday afternoon. But it’s all in the fun of the game.
How he got a sporting clay scholarship
Switzer said he learned to hunt at three years old and became interested in sporting clays when a family friend recommended the sport. He decided to try it out.
Then, Montreat clay target shooting coach Hub Powell started contacting him two years ago. `
Powell was in touch with the South Carolina Youth Shooting Foundation to find recruits from area shooting clubs, Switzer said. The teen met Powell after he filled out a form detailing his potential interest in shooting for a college team.
“I didn’t think anybody would reach out to me,” he said.
Switzer is not boastful. He shifts his gaze towards his dad when asked about his best scores.
“It actually goes back to when he was three years old when he shot his first gun,” said Chris Switzer, Jackson’s dad. “He absolutely loved shooting with a gun, bow, whatever, ever since.”
Chris Switzer said his son is “a natural shot.”
“Occasionally I’ll shoot with him but he’s far superior to me and I would rather see the joy he gets out of it — that’s what makes me happy,” he said.
One thing that catches Jackson Switzer’s eye is the beauty of where Montreat College shoots. Like gentlemen duck hunting at a European estate, the Montreat team practices at the 129-year-old Biltmore estate in Asheville, N.C.
“Their course overlooks the vineyard and it’s just beautiful,” he said. “I fell in love with the coach and the atmosphere and the college and everything. And that made my decision a lot easier.”
