The great folks from Cross Creek Clays discuss their upcoming Night Stalker Shoot and Chad Roberts From California talks about his NSCA career along with his views on the PSCA.
In 1991 Chad had $400 in his pocket, his truck and his BMX bike when he made his move to Southern California to follow his dream to race BMX as a Pro. Although being a Pro was the ultimate goal he first set out to make his mark as an Amateur…. 13 years later and after winning State, National and 5 Amateur World Titles, he got his chance to turn pro and fulfill a lifelong dream. His pro career stretched over the next 4 years, where he stayed highly competitive and got to travel all over the world. He even dabbled in mountain bike racing, resulting in a couple of national titles.
In 2006, one year before he decided to walk away from the world of competitive BMX, he had his first taste of sporting clays during a bicycle race in West Virginia. Although he grew up on a ranch and had shot guns before, he had not experienced this type of shooting before and was HOOKED. Coming home to California he really didn’t think sporting clays would be very popular. He soon realized that sporting clays was alive and extremely popular in Southern California.
He picked his first shotgun up on January 1, 2007, and has been at it ever since. He retired from competitive BMX in 2007 but occasionally still rides, whether it is on the BMX, Road or Mountain Bike. He even surfs a few times a week…
Shooting clays grew in him at a feverish rate. He started competing in March of 2007 and by August 2009 he had reached Master Class status. During that time, he also achieved his NSCA Level 1 Certification and began teaching at his local range, Triple B Clays in El Monte, California where he still to this day continues to teach there on weekends and any other free time he has.
He also started his own shooting instruction company called Breakpoint Shooting Instruction. Many ask, why the name? His answer: “Breakpoint is where you see the target the best and that is where you shoot it.” Simple enough. He was under the tutelage of top shooter Anthony Materese Jr. Since the beginning, he always maintains that you should get a good coach from the start. Anthony is one of the best. In 2014, while Anthony went after his own goal of making the Olympic Team for Olympic Trap, Chad went out and spent the year trying to make the 2015 PSCA tour. With enough points, Chad was invited to the Semi-Final Qualifier held in Tiller, Arkansas at the Delta Resort. There is always going to be “that person” that is right on the bubble of making it and this time it was Chad. He missed the cut by one bird putting him out of contention or a possible PSCA Pro Card for 2015.
The PSCA was on his mind coming into the 2015 season. With a new Beretta DT11 and taking a major step outside the box he had been in, he decided it was time to make a change. He was approached at the 2014 National Championships by one of the best shooters and coaches in the business, PSCA Tour Pro, Wendell Cherry. Cherry noticed his drive and willingness to work hard and offered to work with him. Chad knew that, with the landscape always changing in Sporting Clays, this could be the right move. He took the offer and set forth of “rebuilding” his game with Wendell. He also knew that no taught technique could work without a good mental coach. He then approached longtime Mental Coach and good friend Mark Taylor, who has written a few books on the mental game of shooting and also is currently working with many young Olympic hopefuls. He had never worked with a sporting clay shooter before. Lastly, he has his wonderfully supportive girlfriend Jennifer, who loves to watch him shoot and keeps him looking flashy so you won’t forget him, as his self-proclaimed manager. The combination was looking like a perfect path to success.
For the next 6 months, goals were built, events were entered and targets were shot, sometimes with the thought that things were not going to be as easy as was thought in the beginning. He kept at it with raw determination. Coming into the last 2 PSCA events he said the light turned on and started to see that the hard work was starting to pay off.
He went to the 2015 National Championships with some attainable goals. He stayed steady and did the work and in the end got the call that he had enough points to make the top 52 men and was eligible for his first PSCA Pro Card.
Chad doesn’t have a lot of accolades in shooting. He was not honing his skills at 10 years old on the range or an avid hunter like some of the pros. Shooting was in his life at a young age, but more as a necessity than a sport. He turned to California to be a bike racer and live the beach life. When he retired from BMX, the competitive fire was still in him. Sporting clays filled that void, and that world has been absolutely wonderful to him.
He wants people to know that you don’t have to live in Texas or on the East Coast to be competitive in Sporting Clays. He wants people to know that ANYBODY can do this sport, no matter who you are or where you live. You don’t have to be a hunter. You can be a small-town Montana boy turned to big-city California guy like him now, and be in the mix with the best. He wants to share his knowledge with anybody who wants to learn. He says it is a great sport filled with the best people. EVERYONE should give it a try. They will like it.
He can be found teaching away at Triple B’s, surfing or riding his BMX bike on any given weekend or out on the PSCA Tour trying to make a name in this sport. He is doing it for all that think they can’t do it. If he can achieve the things he has in his short career, then he thinks anybody can…. He is wild and crazy and is ready to bring it to the PSCA… LOOK OUT!!! Here he comes…
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