FITASC
FITASC Sporting originated in France many years ago and is administered by (FITASC) or to give it its full title “ Federation Internationale de Tir aux Armes Sportives de Chasse” which is based at 10 Rue de Lisbon in Paris.
FITASC Sporting is regarded as the toughest and most popular of the Sporting Clay Disciplines.
The system of shooting FITASC Sporting has evolved over a number of years.
Prior to the 1988 FITASC Sporting World Championships that were held in Australia, what is now known as “Old Style FITASC Sporting” was used for all FITASC Sporting events.
Whilst Old Style FITASC is still considered by shooters, as the optimum enjoyment for Sporting Clay Shooters, it is very restricted by the number of competitors that can compete.
Under the Old Style System a World Championship field was a maximum of 288 competitors over 8 Parcour grounds.
FITASC has the philosophy of allowing all members to participate at a competition & has been a great formula in helping this sport to grow. Due to the sport’s popularity the competitions had started to fill up with the maximum spaces available & members had to be turned away, a solution had to be found to cater for all.
As the host for the 1988 World Championships “Field and Game Federation of Australia” proposed to FITASC the “New System FITASC Sporting”.
The new system adopts a linear type layout, using four or five separate Shooting Stands to shoot a round of 25 targets, instead of the traditional One Shooting Stand which incorporated four different shooting positions.
Ray McFarlane was chosen by the Australian Federation to travel to the La Rabot Shooting Ground in France to demonstrate the new system to FITASC.
FITASC decided to trial this new system at the 1988 World Championships at Geelong, Australia.
The trial was successful and the new system was then adopted by FITASC for all major competitions.
This new system now allows in excess of one thousand, Two hundred competitors to compete at an event if they decide to participate. This proved to be a successful result for the sport & all of the members who wish to compete at major FITASC sporting events.
New System – FITASC Sporting
All aspects of the Old style FITASC are incorporated into the New System, the only difference is that each of the Four (or five) Shooting stands are separated, similar to the holes on a golf course
Each Shooting Stand has its own dedicated set of traps. Ie: The Squad shoots Stand One then moves onto a separate Shooting stand to shoot Stand Two and so on. When the Squad leaves Stand One a new Squad is then able to move in and then start shooting.
Whereas under the Old System only one Squad was able to shoot a single Parcour at a time, set up with four Stands. It then follows that with eight layouts under the Old System there could only be eight squads shooting at the same time (one squad each on the eight Parcours set up for the Competition).
In the year 2000 when the World Championships were held in Durby, Belgium, the number of Shooting Stands per Layout was increased to five. Stand One had five traps and shot five singles double barrel, Stands two to five had three traps each and shot three singles double barrel and one double on each.
With this system there will be anywhere between 32 (4 stand layout) to 40 squads (5 stand layout) out on the courses once the system is up & running.
Old Style FITASC
This was the original system used by FITASC to conduct International Events
Eight Layouts or Parcours were used to shoot a 200 target event.
In old Style, a Parcour has a minimum of four traps set out in a field or wooded area.
Inside the perimeter of the four traps are placed four Shooting Stands, three of the Shooting Stands throw Four Single Targets and One Double, the Fourth Shooting Stand throws either Five Singles and One Double or Three Singles and Two Doubles.
Only one squad of six shooters can shoot at the Parcour at any one time, and as they move around the four Shooting stands they are being presented with varying target trajectories and angles from the four Traps. This can take up to 50 minutes for the shooting sequence to be completed by a squad.
Single Targets are shot at first. When the shooter calls for a target, one target is thrown. The shooter is allowed a maximum of two shots at a single to break the target. If it is hit with either the first or second shot it is scored one, if it is missed with both shots it is scored zero.
Doubles are thrown after the single target sequence has been completed. Each squad member is only allowed to load a maximum of two shells in their gun when the Doubles are thrown. They may shoot one or two shells at a target if they wish. The shooter is scored one for each target of the double he hits or zero for each target of the double he misses. If they hit both targets with one shell the Double will be scored one & one.
There are three types of double:
a) Double on report, this is when the second target is released on the report of the shot at the first target.
b) Double Simultaneous, two targets released at the same time from either one or two traps.
c) Double Rafale, two targets released from the same trap, the second target following the same trajectory as the first target.
d) The Traps are marked in a clockwise direction with a sign visible to the squad members in the shooting ring, with – A – B – C – D
e) The Shooting Stands are marked – Stand 1, Stand 2, Stand 3, and Stand 4.
At each Shooting Stand there is a menu with the order of targets displayed, the shooters in their turn shoot the Single Targets as displayed on the Menu Board. When the whole Squad has all shot the Single Targets, they then repeat the process & shoot at the Doubles. The process follows on with the second shooter in the squad stepping into the shooting ring to start the process of shooting the Double, followed by the rest of the Squad. This sequence is then followed at the other three Shooting stands with the third squad member shooting the Singles & the fourth member shooting the Doubles. On the third station this rotation sequence then moves on to the fifth squad member to shoot the singles & the sixth squad member to shoot the doubles. The squad members then rotate to the next in line for the fourth station.
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