President’s Message – November 2026
(November 2026)
We held our second annual Harley Shepherd youth trap tournament on Sunday November 1, 2026. It was a great turnout with 29 students from Saint Charles Sportman’s club, Bryon High School, State Line, and Cornerstone trap teams. Saint Charles Sportsman’s Club won the event. Congratulation Saint Charles. We also gave awards to the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place individual winners for the boys and girls. Picture will be added to our website soon. Thanks to Ben Ratze for organizing this very successful tournament. I received may complements from coaches and parents. Well done to Ben and Staff.
Jeremy Hernadez won the handgun league. Congratulation Jeremy. I want to thank George and Sue Ketter for running the league. It was a lot of fun and well done. Let’s do it again next year.
Also, I want to thank Jeremy for installing the new club cameras.
We held a Stonehenge Shoot on October 24. It was well attended and the winners were 1st place Steve Howlett and 2nd place Steve Wiltgen. Congratulations Steve 1 and Steve 2. If you enjoyed the shoot, please give us some feedback about future event. Thanks to all that participated.
The Winnebago County Highway Department excavated the area around our main gate driveway in order to help eliminate the road derby from washing down into our parking lot. Hopefully this will fix the problem.
Be advised that our membership renewal forms will be mailed during the 2026 mid-December time frame.
Since our chief safety office and skeet machine mechanic, Brad Yocum, has moved to Minnesota, we are in need of a new chief safety office and skeet machine mechanic. If you are interested in one or both of these positions, please contact me at sam.valenza@att.net. Also, if you would like to become a safety officers, contact me at the above email address.
2026 Projects
- Replace camera system – complete
- Seal parking lot blacktop – Spring 2027
- 5-Stand shooting shelter – completed
2026 Events
- Landfill lunch – completed
- High school trap invitational – completed
- Tutorials – completed
If anyone is interested in getting certified for the handgun range, please contact
George Ketter at 815-631-9366, Caleb Davis at 815-243-1483 or Greg Baylander at
815-494-7321. You will need to bring a handgun, ammo, eye and ear protection and a $25.00 annual fee (cash or check).
Remember gun safety is our number 1 priority.
Rockford Skeet Club Mission Statement
The Rockford Skeet Club’s mission is to promote clay target shooting and complementary shooting sports. The objectives are to promote those characteristics of honesty, good fellowship, self-discipline, team-play, and self-reliance which are the essentials of good sportsmanship. It is the duty of all members to contribute to the wellbeing, to protect, to grow, and to enhance the club and its membership.
Best Regards,
Sam Valenza
President, Rockford Skeet Club