NRA Women readers are familiar with the name Anne Mauro, who was awarded the 2025 Golden Bullseye for NRA Woman of the Year, for her significant efforts and accomplishments in helping to advance women’s participation in the shooting sports.
Mauro had previously shared with us how she came to found the beginner’s shotgun clinic—Ladies Discover Sporting Clays Experience—which is held annually now during the National Sporting Clays Association (NSCA) National Championships in San Antonio every October.
“I noticed years ago during the … Championships that most of the ladies would just ride around on the golf carts as their other family members competed,” she said. “Many would stop me and say how they admired I was out there competing. I would tell these ladies, “If I can do this, so can you.”
NSCA agreed to let Mauro create and run a ladies clinic, but cautioned they didn’t think many women would sign up. Mauro was undeterred by their pessimism. “I designed a great introduction program and recruited a few female competitive shooters I knew would be great to help assist,” she said. “This small program to start sold-out in its first year.”
That led Mauro to expand the programming and location on the grounds over the years. The program is now one of the highlighted sold-out events during the NSCA Nationals. “I went from three cages on a practice course to now being in the National Shooting Complex stadium. Mauro’s quest to continue the growth of woman in the shooting sports culminated with her adding the event’s first Intermediate Shotgun Clinic in 2025, which also sold out immediately.
NRA Women accompanied American Rifleman TV in 2025 to the NSCA Nationals, not only to check out the elite-level sporting clays competition, but to sit in on the clinics that Mauro established. The Texas-based DIVA-WOW women’s outdoors organization had a large presence at the event, with Certified Shotgun Instructors and RSO’s assisting shooters at each station.
One DIVA WOW member, NRA Certified Instructor Melanie Sturgis, said, "The camaraderie here is just outstanding. I've never seen anything like it. There's nobody a stranger. If you see somebody sitting alone, you go over to them and say, 'Hey, what are you shooting? Who's on your squad? Do you want to go to lunch with us? What would you like to do?’ ”she said. “Trade technical tips on gear. We share each other's guns with each other. We talk about shell velocity and why it matters and shot size and things like that. We love this so much, we want to share what we know with everybody."
Watch the full ARTV episode here to learn everything the participants and instructors had to say about this wildly popular event.
