Our focus on youth programs is to continue the many traditions of sportsmen for today and tomorrow, for generations to come, with access to skills and adequate resources to enjoy the outdoors.
WCLSC Youth Program and Events Throughout the Year
> New England Outdoor Expo - Intro to Archery
> Kids Day’s across the County
> Raffle for 3 Junior Conservation Camp Scholarships
> William Tell 3D Archery Program
> Young Guns Trap Competition
> Big MOE (Mass Outdoor Expo)
See our Photo Gallery Page for More Youth Program Pictures
A Brief Overview, written/posted 8 2019
The Worcester County League Kids Days programs provides a foundation of projects and best practices to enable a club to host a community and members kids day. The foundation includes project kits for a nominal fee. For example in 2019, for $4 per youth kit, the kit included wood and seeds to make pollinator flower boxes; tailored walking sticks, and bird seed cone treats. The sporting club then wraps additional programs around these indoor-to-outdoor projects including archery skills, fishing skills, show-and-tell of wildlife, and a food program. The program goal is to encourage more youth to find enjoyment and interest in the outdoors, with the support of parents and sporting clubs. Past year projects have included blue bird nest boxes, bat-houses, wildlife footprint identification, and a selection of "How-to" books for fishing, hunting, and outdoor survival. In 2019, 8 county-wide clubs participated in the program, whereby over 300 kits were made. The 2020 project in development is bee-houses for native pollinators that do not live in a colony. The cornerstone of the program is a project to build or assemble an item, then take it outdoors for use and observation for the rest of the year. Ideal for youth ages 4-15. More details can be found at this website: http://www.wclsc.org/kids-day.html
The Worcester County League Young Guns Youth Trap Competition Program has several goals, one them is to engage youth to participate in a safe and fun year-round outdoor shooting sports. There is a gap between a youth with interest to shoot trap at a local club and formal youth ATA/competition teams, leagues, and meets. Young Guns provides a free competition for Youth 18 and under, across 12 or more supporting clubs that leads to a finals match for prize money. The aspect of the program being free is to encourage more skills practice in a supportive and competitive setting in various day/evening times with various trap equipment and various landscape backdrops and to ability to meet other shooters across the county with similar interests. Some clubs have ATA team members that participate; some clubs have darn-good hunters that can mentor anyone to hit a moving target; and everyone recognizes the need to engage youth knowing some families have parents that are not active in the sport. In 2019, Young Guns had 14 qualifying shoots across Worcester and Middlesex county, shooters shot 2 rounds of clay, with 30 competitors vying for $1500 in prize money. The program runs from May through August. More details can be found at this website: http://www.wclsc.org/young-guns-overview.html
The Worcester County League William Tell Youth 3D Archery Shoot Program has several goals, one them is to engage youth to participate in a safe and fun year-round outdoor shooting sport. There is a gap between a youth with interest to shoot 3D archery at a local club and formal programs such as the Central MA Safari League. William Tell provides a free, fun competition for Youth 16 and under, across 6 or more supporting clubs. The aspect of the program being free is to encourage more skills practice in a supportive setting in various terrains with various 3D targets and the ability to meet other shooters across the county with similar interests. In 2019, William Tell had 6 shoots across Worcester and Middlesex county, shooters shot 15 stations, with over 20 archers participating during the season. The program runs from May through July. More details can be found at this website: http://www.wclsc.org/william-tell-3d-youth-archery.html
The Worcester County League raises funds every year to provide 3 youth to attend the MA Junior Conservation Camp for free. Each year we WCL accepts applications between January through March, and in March makes a selection of 3 youth to attend. The Junior Conservation Camp is a program for youth ages 13-17 to learn a variety of skills and know-how over 12 days at an overnight camp. Skills include wildlife conservation, land/soil/forest management, basic survival skills, fishing skills, shooting skills, map & compass skills, wildlife identification, and boating skills. Campers meet like-minded youth from across the state. WCL enables youth whose family may have limited resources, can participate in an enriching program. The program is intended to establish a foundation for a youth to pursue outdoor recreation and respect nature's resources for a life-time. The league raises over $3000.00 for 3 campers to attend camp. More details can be found at this website: http://www.wclsc.org/junior-conservation-camp-overview.html
The Worcester County League has many member clubs that partner with the MA Wildlife to offer youth education programs include Basic Hunter Education, Youth Pheasant Hunter Education and Special 1-day Youth Shoot, Youth Turkey Hunter Education and Special 1-day Youth Shoot, and Special 1-day Youth Deer Shoot. https://www.mass.gov/massachusetts-hunter-education-program The programs are for Youth ages 12-17. https://www.mass.gov/service-details/hunting-regulations-for-minors Many clubs supplement the basic course with optional/additional skills training, access to mentors with hunters with dogs and with access to private land. WCL is an advocate for these programs and advocates for regulation changes to improve youth hunting opportunities - examples include the recent increase in Youth Turkey hunting hours to a full day and continued requests for MA Legislators to remove restrictions and eligibility to hunt with a cross-bow,
Every year, FAWNS organizes the Mass Outdoor Expo, also known as the Big MOE. Worcester County League is a major sponsor each year. There are over 40 activity stations at the Big MOE to attract 4000 visitors each year. WCL each year conducts the activities in one or more stations - such as bird nesting box building, walking sticks, food station, and or a WCL informational booth. Many sporting clubs , who are members of WCL, take on activity stations such as archery, trap shooting, rifle shooting, and fishing. Several partners of WCL and advertisers also support the Big MOE such as MA Wildlife and Whitetails Unlimited. Overall, the Big MOE is synergistic and complementary to everything WCL has as part of its 4 Point Program and its many Youth Programs. To learn more about WCL and the BIG MOE, visit this website: http://www.wclsc.org/big-moe-mass-outdoor-expo.html and http://fawnsexpo.com/
The Worcester County League has many member clubs and recognizes many have club-specific programs that span Scout Venturing Programs, fishing programs, indoor archery skills, marksmanship skills, hunting skills, excursions, and educational programs. WCL is a flexible enabler and communicator to share awareness and contacts of these programs, should other clubs want to replicate another club's programs; additionally should many clubs want to formalize/expand a program across the county, we can help resource and provide the organizational program skills in conjunction with the requesting clubs.
The Worcester County League Young Guns Youth Trap Competition Program has several goals, one them is to engage youth to participate in a safe and fun year-round outdoor shooting sports. There is a gap between a youth with interest to shoot trap at a local club and formal youth ATA/competition teams, leagues, and meets. Young Guns provides a free competition for Youth 18 and under, across 12 or more supporting clubs that leads to a finals match for prize money. The aspect of the program being free is to encourage more skills practice in a supportive and competitive setting in various day/evening times with various trap equipment and various landscape backdrops and to ability to meet other shooters across the county with similar interests. Some clubs have ATA team members that participate; some clubs have darn-good hunters that can mentor anyone to hit a moving target; and everyone recognizes the need to engage youth knowing some families have parents that are not active in the sport. In 2019, Young Guns had 14 qualifying shoots across Worcester and Middlesex county, shooters shot 2 rounds of clay, with 30 competitors vying for $1500 in prize money. The program runs from May through August. More details can be found at this website: http://www.wclsc.org/young-guns-overview.html
The Worcester County League William Tell Youth 3D Archery Shoot Program has several goals, one them is to engage youth to participate in a safe and fun year-round outdoor shooting sport. There is a gap between a youth with interest to shoot 3D archery at a local club and formal programs such as the Central MA Safari League. William Tell provides a free, fun competition for Youth 16 and under, across 6 or more supporting clubs. The aspect of the program being free is to encourage more skills practice in a supportive setting in various terrains with various 3D targets and the ability to meet other shooters across the county with similar interests. In 2019, William Tell had 6 shoots across Worcester and Middlesex county, shooters shot 15 stations, with over 20 archers participating during the season. The program runs from May through July. More details can be found at this website: http://www.wclsc.org/william-tell-3d-youth-archery.html
The Worcester County League raises funds every year to provide 3 youth to attend the MA Junior Conservation Camp for free. Each year we WCL accepts applications between January through March, and in March makes a selection of 3 youth to attend. The Junior Conservation Camp is a program for youth ages 13-17 to learn a variety of skills and know-how over 12 days at an overnight camp. Skills include wildlife conservation, land/soil/forest management, basic survival skills, fishing skills, shooting skills, map & compass skills, wildlife identification, and boating skills. Campers meet like-minded youth from across the state. WCL enables youth whose family may have limited resources, can participate in an enriching program. The program is intended to establish a foundation for a youth to pursue outdoor recreation and respect nature's resources for a life-time. The league raises over $3000.00 for 3 campers to attend camp. More details can be found at this website: http://www.wclsc.org/junior-conservation-camp-overview.html
The Worcester County League has many member clubs that partner with the MA Wildlife to offer youth education programs include Basic Hunter Education, Youth Pheasant Hunter Education and Special 1-day Youth Shoot, Youth Turkey Hunter Education and Special 1-day Youth Shoot, and Special 1-day Youth Deer Shoot. https://www.mass.gov/massachusetts-hunter-education-program The programs are for Youth ages 12-17. https://www.mass.gov/service-details/hunting-regulations-for-minors Many clubs supplement the basic course with optional/additional skills training, access to mentors with hunters with dogs and with access to private land. WCL is an advocate for these programs and advocates for regulation changes to improve youth hunting opportunities - examples include the recent increase in Youth Turkey hunting hours to a full day and continued requests for MA Legislators to remove restrictions and eligibility to hunt with a cross-bow,
Every year, FAWNS organizes the Mass Outdoor Expo, also known as the Big MOE. Worcester County League is a major sponsor each year. There are over 40 activity stations at the Big MOE to attract 4000 visitors each year. WCL each year conducts the activities in one or more stations - such as bird nesting box building, walking sticks, food station, and or a WCL informational booth. Many sporting clubs , who are members of WCL, take on activity stations such as archery, trap shooting, rifle shooting, and fishing. Several partners of WCL and advertisers also support the Big MOE such as MA Wildlife and Whitetails Unlimited. Overall, the Big MOE is synergistic and complementary to everything WCL has as part of its 4 Point Program and its many Youth Programs. To learn more about WCL and the BIG MOE, visit this website: http://www.wclsc.org/big-moe-mass-outdoor-expo.html and http://fawnsexpo.com/
The Worcester County League has many member clubs and recognizes many have club-specific programs that span Scout Venturing Programs, fishing programs, indoor archery skills, marksmanship skills, hunting skills, excursions, and educational programs. WCL is a flexible enabler and communicator to share awareness and contacts of these programs, should other clubs want to replicate another club's programs; additionally should many clubs want to formalize/expand a program across the county, we can help resource and provide the organizational program skills in conjunction with the requesting clubs.
