There will soon be a new team pursuing championships on campus: The University of Alabama shooting team.

Representatives of the National Wild Turkey Federation gathered Tuesday morning at Denny Chimes to present a check for $20,000 to Matt Chapman, president and founder of the UA Chapter of NWTF. Bev Leigh III, a board member of the Alabama Chapter of the NWTF, said the donation to the shooting team was an important measure in the federation’s newest initiative.

“The NWTF is currently pursuing a new initiative, if you would: Save the Habitat, Save the Hunt,” Leigh said. “Doing this comes exactly under the umbrella of what we’re trying to do over the next 10 years: conserve land and bring in half a million new hunters. It’s really a perfect fit.”

Phil Savage, president of the Alabama Chapter of the NWTF, said part of the mission of the NWTF is “to support hunting heritage, which obviously includes shooting sports.” Savage said he and the other directors of the NWTF are tasked with distributing a “superfund” within the state to further the federation’s mission.

Tyler Briggs, regional director of NWTF for central Alabama, said a key factor in the NWTF’s support of the team is the ability to get college-aged students involved with conservation and hunting.

“Shooting teams are becoming a big thing. It’s getting very popular in the SEC,” Briggs said. “They even have an SEC Championship now. Take a big university like The University of Alabama. There’s kids that don’t play football that want to get involved with shooting but haven’t been able to get involved past a high school, 4H-type level. We support conservation hunting and hunting heritage, and that goes right hand-in-hand with shooting sports. We decided we couldn’t donate the money to a better source.”

A significant amount of the money will be used to secure a facility for the team, along with a previous $6,000 donation that covered architectural fees.

“Our involvement here is to support [the team] financially and take them to the next level competitively,” Leigh said. “That’s going to involve the construction of a shooting facility where they can practice in close proximity to the campus, if not on the campus. We’re looking for the appropriate site now, and fundraising efforts have already been started.”

The members of the team are looking forward to being competitive as soon as possible.

“Ultimately, our goal is to shoot against the best teams in the country,” team member Cody Larocque said. “They have nationals in San Antonio every spring and conference championships against other schools in the SEC and the Southeast in general that we’d like to shoot against.”

The team will be traveling to Augusta, Ga., in January to compete in the SEC Championships.