Regions and Divisions

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NCSSAA will be divided into three regions across the country: East, Central, and West. Regional events will be divided across these three regions, but teams are not limited to competitions within their specific region. Regions in no way impact divisions or rankings.

East: Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Vermont, West Virginia

Central: Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Wisconsin

West: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming

Looking to nationally recognized organizations, NCSSAA will follow NCAA, NAIA, and NJCAA divisions for team and individual ranking. The breakdown is as follows:

Division I - Institution with NCAA Division I athletics 

Division II - Institution with NCAA Division II athletics 

Division III - Institution with NCAA Division III athletics 

Division IV - Institution with NAIA athletics or private institution with no athletic designation 

Division V - Institution with NJCAA athletics and all two-year institutions: junior college, community college, technical or trade school

WHY?

NCSSAA is following this structure to increase legitimacy for the sport, to provide

consistency and better understanding, and to protect the long history of shooting sports and

its strong competitive nature. Here's an explanation of how it accomplishes these goals:

• Traditionally, divisions have been based on the number of athletes in attendance at National competitions. While this format certainly has some merit, it has allowed teams to bounce divisions from year to year and other teams to "play the numbers game" and bring fewer competitors to compete in a lower division.
• Institutions are familiar with nationally recognized organizations such as NCAA, NAIA, and NJCAA. While shooting sports do not fall under governance of these organizations, this structure adds some consistency within athletic departments. While many are not familiar with divisions of various shooting sports organizations, they are familiar with divisions of athletics of their main sports.

As teams are locked into specific divisions, the playing field should level significantly. Teams

are then able to bring as many competitors as they'd like to competitions without penalty (as

long as all athletes are qualified to compete at Nationals). In addition, the structure is

significantly easier for individuals unfamiliar with shooting sports to understand.