{"id":37242,"date":"2026-05-05T14:07:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T19:07:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/?p=37242"},"modified":"2026-05-05T14:07:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T19:07:14","slug":"illinois-clay-target-league-season-now-underway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/sports\/more-sports\/37242-illinois-clay-target-league-season-now-underway\/","title":{"rendered":"Illinois Clay Target League Season Now Underway"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"pdfprnt-buttons pdfprnt-buttons-post pdfprnt-top-right\"><a href=\"javascript: window.print()\" class=\"pdfprnt-button pdfprnt-button-print\" target=\"_self\" ><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/plugins\/pdf-print\/images\/print.png\" alt=\"image_print\" title=\"Print Content\" \/><span class=\"pdfprnt-button-title pdfprnt-button-print-title\">Print<\/span><\/a><\/div><p>The season is underway for 2,233 student athletes participating in the Illinois State High School Clay Target League (ILSHSCTL) programs this spring. Those athletes are competing on 126 high school teams across the state, supported by hundreds of coaches, team staff, and other volunteers. The ILSHSCTL is a part of the USA Clay Target League (USACTL), which provides extracurricular shooting sports programs to schools in over 40 states.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Schools want the opportunity to give their students a place to develop their confidence, sportsmanship, and teamwork without the high costs and limited playing opportunities of traditional sports,&#8221; said John Nelson, President of the USACTL. &#8220;Everyone can participate in clay target sports, and it\u2019s clear that the opportunity for students to participate on their school\u2019s team influences athletes\u2019 lives for the better.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Schools from this area that compete are Altamont,\u00a0 Beecher City, Cumberland, Dieterich, Effingham, Newton, St. Anthony, St. Elmo, South Central, Stewardson-Strasburg and Teutopolis.<\/p>\n<p>A number of new teams were started nationwide, including in Illinois, as schools took advantage of the League\u2019s offer to start a team for free. Details on that program can be found at\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/click.agilitypr.delivery\/ls\/click?upn=u001.IEpAQqXZwYMuoDus637W2pKZZuSZ9CxVXfrCVvHrDg0gouD-2FxyHbvB14aSp8fcC1LzvaHehsq5MMPOZAfojKgQ-3D-3DQDXU_D6QME6zz7bvwnZNhAWKee-2B31pua-2F-2B0Fe-2Fw3tfwvPR0tAtIpGKFqKspM13NOnhFiqnr6LRup-2Ff2-2BtA2Bb-2FFi-2BCrYNv11NeKqzcdp0R0qgPwH5YG9cBTOOM3N0yXdDQv1qXT-2FodHx8KT0Dl8UTRKrNVTQMonz0a-2Blg3B8RQc2Uqky-2FOY-2Bz0-2F5pkQ43FtGQz84ABAOGp99MnuhBRONMi-2FLkgR-2F-2BHqfe8oxD8tpMjz-2Fwh12ITXeQUKqgEwurY3Sb1b1dl15DczpMjTc-2Fhq1mJe-2BZrVnIoo08oKoqSiMgyZbGYvOWjUp54-2F-2FuoyNSM9ROfmw2r-2Baz-2BtATIh4-2FOxpB2xmaP-2FQNX-2Bp7VxupZ8H-2FE-2B4-2BrszrWr4wYCSnzQPOlFiTBAPS3YoQG93SPpTuNHDK5qPlWZGjrLA7rbMFPTvBYlGFholFXiJ2-2F4YAG8Y1XxrFOW4SrqoRbrH6zR9Ds-2FE41HqwZ1lskahiMTNtnzN1XIBCL8Q-3D\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/click.agilitypr.delivery\/ls\/click?upn%3Du001.IEpAQqXZwYMuoDus637W2pKZZuSZ9CxVXfrCVvHrDg0gouD-2FxyHbvB14aSp8fcC1LzvaHehsq5MMPOZAfojKgQ-3D-3DQDXU_D6QME6zz7bvwnZNhAWKee-2B31pua-2F-2B0Fe-2Fw3tfwvPR0tAtIpGKFqKspM13NOnhFiqnr6LRup-2Ff2-2BtA2Bb-2FFi-2BCrYNv11NeKqzcdp0R0qgPwH5YG9cBTOOM3N0yXdDQv1qXT-2FodHx8KT0Dl8UTRKrNVTQMonz0a-2Blg3B8RQc2Uqky-2FOY-2Bz0-2F5pkQ43FtGQz84ABAOGp99MnuhBRONMi-2FLkgR-2F-2BHqfe8oxD8tpMjz-2Fwh12ITXeQUKqgEwurY3Sb1b1dl15DczpMjTc-2Fhq1mJe-2BZrVnIoo08oKoqSiMgyZbGYvOWjUp54-2F-2FuoyNSM9ROfmw2r-2Baz-2BtATIh4-2FOxpB2xmaP-2FQNX-2Bp7VxupZ8H-2FE-2B4-2BrszrWr4wYCSnzQPOlFiTBAPS3YoQG93SPpTuNHDK5qPlWZGjrLA7rbMFPTvBYlGFholFXiJ2-2F4YAG8Y1XxrFOW4SrqoRbrH6zR9Ds-2FE41HqwZ1lskahiMTNtnzN1XIBCL8Q-3D&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1778093179244000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1Pi9scvBt1IcQHy1I2_LHQ\">https:\/\/il.usaclaytarget.com\/<wbr \/>start-a-team<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The high school athletes&#8217; nine-week spring season is already underway, and will conclude May 24th. Most participants are then expected to participate in the State Tournament in June, with the top athletes in the nation eligible to compete at the USA High School Clay Target League National Championship in July.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The season is underway for 2,233 student athletes participating in the Illinois State High School Clay Target League (ILSHSCTL) programs this spring. Those athletes are competing on 126 high school [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-more-sports"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Illinois Clay Target League Season Now Underway - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/sports\/more-sports\/37242-illinois-clay-target-league-season-now-underway\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Illinois Clay Target League Season Now Underway - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/sports\/more-sports\/37242-illinois-clay-target-league-season-now-underway\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-05T19:07:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Millie Lange\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Millie Lange\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/sports\\\/more-sports\\\/37242-illinois-clay-target-league-season-now-underway\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/sports\\\/more-sports\\\/37242-illinois-clay-target-league-season-now-underway\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Millie Lange\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0ecf2a966f6bc51e38a364270d9d4aa2\"},\"headline\":\"Illinois Clay Target League Season Now Underway\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-05T19:07:14+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/sports\\\/more-sports\\\/37242-illinois-clay-target-league-season-now-underway\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":248,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"More Sports\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/sports\\\/more-sports\\\/37242-illinois-clay-target-league-season-now-underway\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/sports\\\/more-sports\\\/37242-illinois-clay-target-league-season-now-underway\\\/\",\"name\":\"Illinois Clay Target League Season Now Underway - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-05T19:07:14+00:00\",\"description\":\"Effingham's News and Sports Leader\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/sports\\\/more-sports\\\/37242-illinois-clay-target-league-season-now-underway\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/sports\\\/more-sports\\\/37242-illinois-clay-target-league-season-now-underway\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/sports\\\/more-sports\\\/37242-illinois-clay-target-league-season-now-underway\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Illinois Clay Target League Season Now Underway\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/premier-logo-v1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/premier-logo-v1.png\",\"width\":272,\"height\":69,\"caption\":\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0ecf2a966f6bc51e38a364270d9d4aa2\",\"name\":\"Millie Lange\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/author\\\/millie-lange\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Illinois Clay Target League Season Now Underway - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3","description":"Effingham's News and Sports Leader","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/sports\/more-sports\/37242-illinois-clay-target-league-season-now-underway\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Illinois Clay Target League Season Now Underway - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3","og_description":"Effingham's News and Sports Leader","og_url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/sports\/more-sports\/37242-illinois-clay-target-league-season-now-underway\/","og_site_name":"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3","article_published_time":"2026-05-05T19:07:14+00:00","author":"Millie Lange","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Millie Lange","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/sports\/more-sports\/37242-illinois-clay-target-league-season-now-underway\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/sports\/more-sports\/37242-illinois-clay-target-league-season-now-underway\/"},"author":{"name":"Millie Lange","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/0ecf2a966f6bc51e38a364270d9d4aa2"},"headline":"Illinois Clay Target League Season Now Underway","datePublished":"2026-05-05T19:07:14+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/sports\/more-sports\/37242-illinois-clay-target-league-season-now-underway\/"},"wordCount":248,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#organization"},"articleSection":["More Sports"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/sports\/more-sports\/37242-illinois-clay-target-league-season-now-underway\/","url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/sports\/more-sports\/37242-illinois-clay-target-league-season-now-underway\/","name":"Illinois Clay Target League Season Now Underway - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2026-05-05T19:07:14+00:00","description":"Effingham's News and Sports Leader","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/sports\/more-sports\/37242-illinois-clay-target-league-season-now-underway\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/sports\/more-sports\/37242-illinois-clay-target-league-season-now-underway\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/sports\/more-sports\/37242-illinois-clay-target-league-season-now-underway\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Illinois Clay Target League Season Now Underway"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/","name":"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#organization","name":"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3","url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/premier-logo-v1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/premier-logo-v1.png","width":272,"height":69,"caption":"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/0ecf2a966f6bc51e38a364270d9d4aa2","name":"Millie Lange","url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/author\/millie-lange\/"}]}},"modified_by":"Millie Lange","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37242"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37242\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37243,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37242\/revisions\/37243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}