FROM THE SHORES OF BODØ, NORWAY, senior Marthe Risto has come to learn and love the USA Clay Target League. Hunting grouse and fishing is a family activity for the foreign exchange student back home, so when her new host parents in south- western Minnesota told her about the Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg (KMS) Saints Trap Team, she was all in.
PullUSA: Why did you join the League?
Marthe Risto: Before I came here last summer, my host parents had been talking to me about their trap shooting team. Back home, I like to go hunting and I like to shoot and I like to fish. They told me I should join. And once I started school, people were talking about it. I decided I wanted to be a part of a team and not just shoot on my own.
PullUSA: Do they have any teams or leagues like this in Norway?
Risto: They have some teams, but nothing like this. They are not related to the school in any way.
PullUSA: Did your parents introduce you to shooting and hunting?
Risto: Yes. I don’t think I would have joined the team if I hadn’t gone hunting with my mom. She has always encouraged me to do stuff like that, so when I saw the opportunity here, I just had to do it.
PullUSA: Have your parents come to visit?
Risto: Yeah, when my parents visited me, my mom came to watch. She really liked it. She likes that I’m a part of that. She thinks it’s very cool that we have a team for it and that it is related to the school.
PullUSA: Have the coaches been helpful?
Risto: They have been very kind and nice. They’ve been very helpful with everything, especially in the beginning and getting the firearms safety certification, when I didn’t really know how the team and everything around it works.
PullUSA: What do you like most about the League?
Risto: In many other sports, you have to be very good, and they only play the best ones. I feel like in trap, you don’t. Everybody gets an opportunity to do it and be a part of the team.
