Archery in school

[troutms]

My boys attend a private school and some people were wanting to form an archery club and suggested that I be the "coach". Although I have bowhunted for 25 years and have been shooting traditional for 6 years, I don't know where to start. I don't feel qualified to be teaching archery that's for sure, but if there is some interest, I would be happy to help introduce archery to others. Any help or direction would be greatly appreciated.

[MT Longbow]

That would be great if we didnt live in a litigeous society...I dont think a waiver signed by the students would even cover it if someone got hurt...its a shame ...I agree it would be great...but it opens up too many issues...even in a private school

[Soilarch]

I've looked into this to some extent.

JOAD, NASP, ASAP, NADA


Punch those things into google combined with the word "archery" and you'll get some direction.

Also, read this short pamphlet

 http://www.esdf.org/2010/08/02/starting-an-archery-program-from-scratch/

Best wishes.

[Don Stokes]

Troutms, here's a link to the info on the MS public school archery program. The required bows have wheels, but they are "zero letoff", so I presume they are shot like a traditional bow. Our local newspaper covers the competition between schools.

 http://archeryintheschools.org/activea.asp

[Benny Nganabbarru]

All the best with that. The kids really do love it, and some become hooked and will be the bowhunters of tomorrow.

[bendbig]

Lookup NASP (National Archery School Program) All students are required to use the same bow. PM me I might be able to put you in touch with our schools coach. Our small county school is the past National Champ and current back to back state champ.

[maineac]

If run well the opportunity from injury from bows and or arrows is pretty much nill.  The National Archery in the Schools Program has an impeccable record.  They also require instructors to be trained, but have a great price on start up packages for schools.

[buckeye_hunter]

I'm fairly sure it can be done since there is a National Archery School Program as stated above.

I think it may be a little harder to get it going with recurves and longbows though. The above program is for compounds I believe.

Regardless, Get after it! I need to do so as well. There is no excuse for me, as a teacher, not to get it going in my school district.

[moebow]

This has been addressed several times but it is worth covering again.

For NASP the numbers run something like this.  There are 48 states that have NASP in their school programs and they ARE "changing lives one arrow at a time."  The national tournament is being held in Louisville KY next weekend and will have about 8000 shooters in one 2 day tournament!!!!  These 8000 are the ones that qualified in their respective state championships and will represent over 2 MILLION kids that have been in the program since it started in KY in 2002.

Yes, they do use the Mathews Genesis compound bow, BUT BEFORE YOU TUNE OUT,  This bow has NO let off, NO wall, NO sights, NO release.  It can be adjusted to draw weights of 10 to 20 pounds and has a draw length up to about 30 inches. It shoots much more like our equipment than any other compound out there.

The kids ALL shoot the same bow and arrow. So their performance is based on their own ability and NOT by how much "stuff" they can buy to "get an edge."

NASP has a training system for coaches that is specifically set up for those that have NO archery experience and to get your BAI (Basic archery instructor) rating takes one 8 hour training session.  Usually, in most states the central coordinating agency is the state's DNR,Fish and wildlife, or whatever it's called by that state.

Here is an example of the success of the program.  Hill City MN is sending their entire team to Louisville -- 31 students with 8 coaches.  Their elementary team (there are three divisions, High school, middle school and elementary) just won the MN state elementary team championship.  By the way, Hill City MN has a population of a little over 700 people TOTAL!  Where else have you ever heard of a town that small qualifying for a National Championship in ANY school sport??? and against schools of ANY size??

I know many of you are "hard over" about the use of longbows and recurves for the kids.  Fearing that they will end up on the "dark side" but I submit that if you REALLY check out the equipment and the program, you will see that it is far more "traditional" in nature than you might believe.  They shoot WITHOUT sights, releases, stabilizers or any of the other "stuff.  Bare bow, fingers only and all the same equipment.

Don't let your self perceived level of archery (or instructional) experience hold you back.  If you like archery and kids and if you feel that you want to promote the sport we all love to future generations -- GET INVOLVED!!!!!!!

Google "NASP archery" for the web page.

[Cyclic-Rivers]

Hopefully this doesn't get deleted because its not trad hunting related.  I think everyone can see this is for the greater good of the sport.

If I remember correctly the only injury during our archery school program was  a girl who was running back from the bathroom trying to get back in time for her turn, who tripped and hit her head on the floor.    

She cried because she was sent  to the nurses office and wasn't able to shoot anymore that day

[owlbait]

Doesn't Compton's do some Bowhunter Ed stuff too?

[ti-guy]

Yeah I think Compton have something for that  

[Bowwild]

NASP.
10 years old.
Non-Profit
8,800 schools
1,916,000 students this school year
10.6 million students to date
47 states
Washington DC
New Brunswick
Alberta
British Columbia
Saskatchewan
Nova Scotia
South Africa
Namibia
Australia
New Zealand

22,000 teachers certified to present NASP lessons during the school day as part of class.

77% of NASP students have never shot a bow before.
26% buy personal archery equipment within their first year of NASP

56% of NASP kids say they want to know more about bowhunting.

NASP is, as it was designed to be, the largest shooter development program in conservation history.  

It is common for parents and others to assist the schools with their archery program, especially after school clubs.

The NASP nationals are this coming Friday and Saturday in Louisville, KY.  7,090 kids from 35 states are registered.  

These kids are taught to shoot barebow with fingers.

There are many adult recurve and longbow archers, some that folks here would know or have heard of that have beneffited in their personal shooting by going through FREE NASP training. I won't drop names because our focus is the kids.

MS's Coordinator is Waldo Cleland.  Your state just trained 38 Wildlife Conservation officers and gave a $2,000,000 facility to MS NASP.  I'd highly recommend you contact Waldo and he can get you in a training.  He's going to host the largest training in about 7 years this coming early June.  I'll be coming down to help.  No charge for the 8-24 hour training.

[LBR]

We just got the NASP approved in Itawamba County for next semester--it's already in Lee County.  The state championship was a few weeks ago in Jackson, with South Pontotoc taking 1st and Amory taking 2nd.  My wife and I were there, and it was simply amazing how well it was run.

There's more to tell than I can type.  Call me at 662-231-4817 if you want.  I can get you hooked up with Mr. Waldo Cleland, our state director for the NASP.  Super nice guy with plenty of stories to tell--among other things, he used to hunt with Paul Schaffer.

We'll be having coach's certification classes soon, locally--if you want to get involved, it will save a trip to Jackson.

Chad

[troutms]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. Chad, I will see you next week. I need a couple of strings made.

[creekwood]

Here in the state of Iowa, the NASP program is growing in the school systems every year.  Only good can come from it.