Dexter’s Trap Team is Now a Self-Funded Sport

The Dexter High School Trap Team has gone from being a student directed club to now being designated by Dexter Community Schools (DCS) into what it truly is.

The Dexter Dreadnaught Trap Team, based at the Ann Arbor Moose Sportsman League and part of the Michigan High School Clay Target Association, is now a self-funded sport, like hockey, equestrian and dance.

This comes after a vote of the DCS school board and recommendation made by the Superintendent and Athletic Director that the board should approve adding the Trap Team as a self-funded sport starting in the spring of 2025.

In explaining the decision to the Sun Times News, DCS Superintendent Chris Timmis said “By adding the Trap Team from being a student club to a self-funded sport we can run it through our athletic program just like all other sports.”

Timmis said the Dexter schools’ athletic structure consists of two types of sports. He said most of their teams are “school-funded” sports, which means the district pays for a base number of coaches for the sport, transportation, entry fees, officials, and some safety equipment. Parents and teams fund additional coaches, uniforms, etc. 

“Then, we have a handful of ‘self-funded’ sports that run through the athletic department and, for anyone outside of the accounting, are DHS sports,” Timmis said. “The self-funded programs are hockey, equestrian, dance, and the trap team.” 

All of these self-funded teams have unique structures that are quite costly (i.e., ice time, horses, national competitions, etc). Like those other self-funded teams, parents of the trap shooting team play an important part and so do the Dexter Trap Team Board.

Tracy Lambert, Trap Team Board President, said becoming a self-funded team protects the team and allows it to continue if something happens, such as coaches leaving. On the field of competition, Lambert said nothing really changes for the team, which is now getting their spring season underway. The team at DHS was created in 2016-2017.

This spring season’s team is made up of 35 kids, a mix of boys and girls. They have a new coach this year in Cole Horvath, who is an alumnus and former member of the trap team at DHS.

In their recommendation, Timmis and Athletic Director Mike Bavineau said trap shooting teams are growing throughout the state of Michigan and are fully insured through USA Clays.

“Moving the Dexter Trap Club from a DHS student club to a DHS self-funded sport would allow the team to formally operate under athletics, raise money for paid coach(es), and follow the same process as any other sport (i.e., physicals, registration through the school systems, grade checks, etc),” the recommendation said. “This structure provides a long-term structure to support a student activity of interest to our students.”

Photo: The 2024 Dexter Dreadnaught Trap Team