NSSA - National Skeet Shooting Association

The National Skeet Shooting Association is the world's largest organization dedicated to the sport of Skeet Shooting.

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Referee Resources

Referee Handbook

The Referee Handbook dictates the official NSSA procedures for shooting, scoring, safety, protests, and other areas of shoot management with which referees must be familiar.

Download the 2025 NSSA Referee Handbook

Download the Referee Advancement Application

Becoming a Referee

Candidates wishing to become certified as a skeet referee must complete an application and pass the NSSA referee test. Complete an application and submit it to your state association for approval.

Clubs hosting a Referee Training Clinic may apply for an NSSA grant to help offset expenses.

Download Referee Clinic Grant Application.

Download Sample Referee Training Day Curriculum

Find your state association and click on its ID number for contact information.

Download the NSSA Referee Application

Download the 2025 NSSA Referee Test

Click this to Find a Referee

Lori Desatoff Fund Is Inaugural Founding Endowment

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The recently created NSSA-NSCA Endowment Committee is pleased to announce the establishment of its first Founding Endowment, the Lori Desatoff Endowment. Named in honor of the late Lori Higgins Desatoff, one of the most accomplished and influential Lady skeet shooters in NSSA’s history, the endowment was established by Lori’s family as a permanently restricted fund, with spendable proceeds used to benefit youth shooting and recognition of women in the sport.

As a Founding Endowment, the fund will be initiated with a pledge of at least $100,000. The Lori Desatoff Endowment will be recognized by the association as the inaugural member of the Founders’ Circle and heading a plaque of founders in the Hal duPont NSSA-NSCA Hall of Fame and Museum.

In the 1970s through 1990s, Lori Desatoff was known not only as the best Lady shooter of her time – and possibly the best Lady shooter to date – but as one of skeet’s greatest competitors ever. As her fellow competitors can attest, she wasn’t just interested in beating the other ladies but in winning Open championships and honors. She was among the first women to win an Open World Championship, and she won two in 1987. She made the All-American Open Team five times, along with the Ladies All-American Team 14 times. She holds several Ladies concurrent records, won 22 Ladies World Championships, and was Ladies High Average Leader 60 times. She was inducted into the California, Zone 7, and NSSA Halls of Fame.

According to Lori’s son Eric Desatoff, who was instrumental in setting up the endowment, the family’s motivation in setting up the fund was to cement his mother’s legacy for future generations. “My own kids’ relationship with their grandmother was cut short by her death, and I want them to know who she was and all she accomplished,” said Eric. “Many shooters of today and in the future won’t know who she was because they never saw her compete, so hopefully having her name associated with the programs this endowment will help fund will bring her legacy to light for them and inspire others to accomplish what she did. For those who did know her, creating a lasting memorial to her will help make sure her death isn’t the last they will hear from her. It will help keep her alive in the eyes of her friends and family.”

Eric Desatoff pointed out that skeet was very important to Lori for a long time, and even when she was not competing, she was involved in some way – helping run shoots, refereeing, and doing whatever was needed to make an event happen and give others the opportunity to shoot. “Creating this endowment is a way for her to continue giving back to the sport she loved,” he said.

Making the Lori Desatoff Endowment the inaugural member of the Founders’ Circle was also meaningful to Eric and his family. “It felt right to have her be first one more time,” he pointed out. “She had so many events in her career that were breakthrough moments, especially for women’s shooting, such as setting and breaking women’s HOA records, winning two World Championships in one day, and turning the ‘men’s team’ into the Open team. It just seemed like a fitting end to the legacy she created.”

The fund’s stated mission is to use spendable proceeds “to benefit the Association’s programs with an emphasis in this order of priority: Junior World, Youth Skeet Camps, and recognition of women in the sport.” It is a permanent fund, so only the proceeds from its investment will be used.

“The main goal for me is to give these young shooters opportunities to grow and become future champions,” said Eric. “She would love knowing that this fund had helped create a future champion by giving them training and opportunities to shoot and giving them a leg up when they’re trying to get started. I would love to see my own two boys someday be able to recognize the impact from their grandmother’s legacy.”

While the fund is established by Lori Desatoff’s family, others who wish to contribute can do so. Click here for more information. You can also find a DONATE button throughout MyNSSA.com and MyNSCA.com; just designate your contribution for the Lori Desatoff Endowment. You can also mail your check to the Lori Desatoff Endowment, NSSA-NSCA, 5931 Roft Rd., San Antonio, TX 78253.

If you would like to discuss a potential donation or creating a restricted fund, contact Misty Thomaston, 210-688-3371 ext. 213, mthomaston@nssa-nsca.com.

Long-time Member Howard Confer Passes

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Howard and Letitia ConferNSSA regrets to report the death of Howard Confer, one of the association’s longest-serving active members and the person most responsible for the high-quality targets thrown at the World Skeet Championships. He died peacefully at home on October 23, 2016, at the age of 97.

Howard was an ambassador for the game of skeet in his home state of Michigan and the nation. He was inducted into the NSSA Hall of Fame in 1975 as the Ray Boller Award recipient and as a shooter in 1979. He is also in the Michigan Skeet Hall of Fame. Howard attended the World Skeet Championships 54 times, shooting in 52 consecutive World Shoots and winning a world championship in 1954. He served as NSSA president 1976-1978.

Howard Confer’s estate encourages his friends to donate to NSSA’s general fund,
youth shooting initiatives, or NSSA Museum in his memory.

Click here to donate.

As a long-time member of the Detroit Gun Club, Howard was a member of the famed Michigan Wreckers 5-man team that dominated team events in the 1960s and holds a number of team world records. Until the past few months, he was still active in the game and was still coaching at the Detroit Gun Club, as well as remaining busy designing clay target traps and installing sporting clays courses across the U.S.

Although he served his club and NSSA tirelessly in many ways, his greatest contribution was his quest for perfection in the targets thrown at the World Skeet Championships and other events. Howard wanted every target thrown to be perfect, and it especially mattered to him that the World Shoot throw targets worthy of the status of the event. That meant no broken targets from the machine and every target flying the same. To reduce the number of broken targets, he started by having referees count them, then analyzed the reason for the breakage: was it the manufacturing process, the way they were shipped and handled, the way they were loaded into the machine, a problem with the machine, or something else?

“At first he would ride on the back of the truck, watch us unload the boxes, and make sure we were handling targets correctly,” said Barney Brown, a trap expert at the National Shooting Complex and protégé of Howard’s. “He developed an 18-point checklist for every machine. If there were too many broken targets, his common phrase was ‘pull it,’ meaning we had to pull the machine and determine what the problem was.

“Howard was absolutely committed to ensuring quality in each and every target, in each and every machine and event. He certainly helped me become better at serving the industry. He revolutionized quality control and checks and balances in targets. I’m a better man for even meeting him. At first he was a mentor, making sure I was learning and doing what I should, but he evolved into an honest friend and someone I looked up to,” Brown said.

“Howard was a fixture in NSSA for over 55 years,” said Louise Terry, an NSSA past president who served with Howard in many capacities over decades. “His life was dedicated to our sport and he gave willingly of his time to the association. Howard was the primary person who dedicated years of focus to target quality, especially at the World Shoot. Anyone who has attended the World Shoot can attribute the high-quality targets to his work. Nobody loved skeet more than Howard, and this is a great loss to our association.”

Howard is survived by his wife of 71 years, Letitia; children Daniel (Debbie) and Sheri (Steve) Confer; grandchildren Carrie and Cole (Maria) Confer and Hunter and Sara Dzierbicki; and great grandson, Xavier Confer.

Funeral Service will be at Lynch & Sons Funeral Home in Clawson, Michigan, on Monday, October 31 at 11 a.m. Obituary and condolences are at lynchfuneraldirectors.com. A memorial service will be held at Detroit Gun Club on December 23 at 1 p.m.

Howard Confer’s estate wishes to encourage people to give to the NSSA in memory of Howard. At their request, we have set up a donation form for that purpose. Those who wish to remember Howard and his love of skeet shooting can click here to make a tax deductible donation online.

If you prefer to mail a donation, you may send a check to NSSA with the following on the memo line, or provide a separate letter accompanying the check:

In memory of Howard Confer to support (a) the NSSA Skeet Program, (b) NSSA Youth Skeet Shooting or (c) NSSA HOF/Museum.

For your tax records, the Federal Tax ID number of NSSA is 75-0108632.

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Member Benefits / Offers

The National Skeet Shooting Association is all about giving you more: more fun, more friendship, more camaraderie, and most of all, more value. As a member, you’ll enjoy these exclusive benefits:

Publications and Credentials

  • Monthly issues of Clay Target Nation magazine, the official publication of NSSA. Read it online or download the digital edition, or subscribe to the print issue.
  • Subscription to NSSA’s weekly e-newsletters, Target Talk and Target Talk Lessons, with news, shooting tips, in-depth articles, and expert commentary
  • Access to the National Shooting Complex, the premier shotgun shooting facility in the world
  • Window decal to display with pride
  • Exclusive scholarship program for high school seniors, with four annual awards of $5,000 each
  • Distinctive personal ID card which shows you belong to a group that prides itself in maintaining the honor, integrity and rules of the game

Improve Your Scores

  • Access members-only features at MyNSSA.com, with shoot results, personal shooting history, points races, downloadable forms, and more
  • Enjoy computerized scorekeeping and classification systems through NSSA headquarters, determining your rank by performance in class so shooters compete only with others of the same skill level
  • Use handy membership and shoot record classification cards.
  • Receive annual recognition through All-American, Class All-American, High Average Leaders, and other recognition programs

Participate in More Events

  • Invitations to registered NSSA tournaments, including State and Zone Shoots
  • Take part in the annual World Skeet Championships, open to all members of all classes, with the opportunity to inspect the latest guns and accessories, share in recognition of top shooters, and compete in the world’s greatest skeet extravaganza
  • Participate in the Crossfire program, which allows shooters to enter registered Sporting Clays tournaments without a separate NSCA membership.
  • Become an NSSA Certified Instructor through courses hosted at local gun clubs, conducted by the NSSA Chief Instructor or other master instructors upon request
  • Become certified as an official skeet referee
  • Participate in the association’s governance as an NSSA Director, Zone Committee Person, or officer
  • Vote in the bi-annual election of NSSA Directors and participate in the annual NSSA membership meeting

Save Money with Discounts and Free Merchandise

  • With our Shooting for Rewards program, earn points for every target shot and spend them on logo clothing, shoot certificates, shooting gear, and other useful items.
  • Get NSSA member-only competitively priced rates on gun floater insurance for individual members and liability insurance for clubs through Sportsman’s Insurance Agency, Inc. and Lockton Affinity Outdoor (U.S. members only).

The NSSA or NSCA reserves the right to terminate, not renew and deny membership to any person or organization at any time for any reason, or no reason, in its sole and absolute discretion, subject to applicable law.  Membership in the NSSA or NSCA is a privilege and not a right. 

Member Club Benefits

Skeet clubs benefit in many ways from becoming NSSA affiliated member clubs. Some of the benefits of membership include:

  • The opportunity to hold registered shoots that attract the most active, involved skeet shooters to your club
  • Use of both the NSSA Skeet Manager and iSkeet for FREE! Skeet Manager helps manage tournaments and reporting scores to NSSA. The iSkeet functionality assists with online scoreboards, online registration, and other online features.
  • The opportunity to apply for grants to help offset the cost of offerings at your club, enhancing the experience your club has to offer.
  • The opportunity to participate in the NSSA Certified Instructor program to develop instructors for your club
  • Participation in the NSSA Referees program, to develop referees for your club and to gain access to NSSA referees
  • Discounted club advertising packages in Clay Target Nation magazine and Target Talk e-newsletter to promote your shoots, facilities, and/or hunting opportunities
  • Ability to purchase gun club liability insurance and instructors insurance through SIAI and Lockton Affinity Outdoor (U.S. clubs only).
  • Inclusion in the NSSA’s list of member clubs and their registered shoots where shooters have the ability to search for clubs and shoots at the tip of their fingertips.
  • Inclusion in shoot calendars sent to national and regional press.
  • Access to a wealth of information and tools including members-only materials (Records Annuals and archived magazines including Clay Target Nation, Skeet Shooting Review, and more).
  • Regular updates from NSSA headquarters on rules changes, events, and other issues affecting club and shoot management.
  • Opportunity to promote your shoots and facilities on NSSA’s official Facebook page, Facebook.com/MyNSSA.
  • Toll-free number (800-877-5338) through which gun clubs can quickly receive answers to questions and assistance with membership issues from experienced and dedicated NSSA headquarters staff. Headquarter hours are Monday – Friday, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. CT.

Join Or Renew Now

 

The NSSA or NSCA reserves the right to terminate, not renew and deny membership to any person or organization at any time for any reason, or no reason, in its sole and absolute discretion, subject to applicable law.  Membership in the NSSA or NSCA is a privilege and not a right. 

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