The Orange Beach High School shooting team has "banged out" several state championships over the past four years, but now the team is getting more attention and will soon share the wealth.

City of Orange Beach Shooting Team Coach Matt Parker said the state-of-the-art facilities will soon be open to the public.

"It'll be built in a big kind of lodge with big porches on the front and everything. And that'll be the clubhouse. And you can come and just hang out, watch people shoot, or come and pay and shoot."

The facility currently has five overlay fields for skeet or trap and a pistol/handgun range. The city's 80 acres will be developed over time. 

However, Parker, who coaches the high school shooting team, said the facility will be the premier site for the state of Alabama's school teams.

"We'll have events here," said Parker. "We'll have tournaments here. That way these kids don't have to travel so far for tournaments.

"This will be hands down the nicest facility in the state of Alabama and one of the top two or three in the southeast."

The Orange Beach Shooting Team currently consists of 32 team members from sixth grade to 12th grade.

They have won multiple state championships and runner-up titles. The team recently participated in a trap tournament south of Montgomery, where three sixth graders swept the podium, bringing home first, second, and third place.

"This was their first tournament, and they were so excited," Parker remembered. "So, they were just, they were pumped."

The team will go to Childersburg for its next state tournament in June. After that, the team will only get July and August off before it's back to the range to hone their skill.

While the shooting team doesn't always get the attention it deserves, Parker said participating in the sport can help develop sportsmanship, teamwork, and firearm safety in children who may not otherwise receive them.

"We have a lot of kids on this team that do not participate in any other sport, so they're not baseball players, they're not football players, but they can excel at this," Parker said. "This is an Olympic sport. They can go to college on college scholarships and they can go shoot in the Olympics off this sport right here. Plus, it brings in fundamental gun safety and gun ownership."

The students participate in a three-hour NRA gun safety class every year. The coaches are all Scholastic Clay Target Program certified, and they are all NRA-certified range safety officers. Parker said safety is paramount.

"Fun fact: this is the safest sport in high school or college sports," Parker continued. "They don't get head injuries, they don't twist an ankle, they don't blow a knee out. This is the safest sport."

Rivers Looney is one of those team members who no longer plays football because of a knee injury. Being a part of the shooting team has allowed him to win three times at state. He has won first place in the advanced group, second place in skeet and first place in sporting clays.

Looney said shooting is in his blood. His grandfather flew P-47's in World War II and taught his grandson how to shoot when he was only three years old. Even though he is very experienced, he said anybody can learn how to shoot, no matter how much experience and how much money they have.

"You can definitely do it with the right coaches," Looney said. "It's just really just fundamentals, learning how to lead and all that. But if you have good coaches, anyone can be good at it."

He's only in eighth grade now, but Looney hopes to one day get a college scholarship and to shoot in the U.S. team.

In the meantime, his coach hopes he understands he and his team are appreciated.

"They don't get near the recognition they should," Parker said. "They haven't even been in the yearbook, but they are a great team. This is a great group of kids."

According to the range website, the pistol range will be open to the public every other Saturday beginning April 12.