National Archery in the Schools Program

[imskippy]

Originally posted by crotch horn:
It is a great program. ANYTHING that promotes hunting as fun or in a good light to kids and their parents is a VERY good thing. We all need to support programs that get our youth thinking outdoors.

Thats the beauty of the program is that it does not introduce hunting, but the sport of archery.

[Ssamac]

One note: I agree that getting a bow into the kids hands is great, even a wheel bow. I host a shoot on Labor Day and we use Genesis bows borrowed from a large NASP school in Galesburgh. The people who help me are all wheel bow shooters with a lot of experience and good instructors. Even get a couple of pro shooters from Hoyt and PSE. Would be nice if I could get more trad shooters there.

Back to NASP. The one down side is that they need a sponsor (teacher). The teacher does not have to know how to shoot a bow. In our local school, the gym teacher has never shot a bow. The kids have fun but they get a bit bored or frustrated because they don't progress. Seems like the program is going to die because of that.

NASP should have a qualified instructor. Where it does, it's great

Sam

[Holm-Made]

I teach NASP at the small elementary school where I am the gym teacher.  I enjoy it but I'm always ready for the unit to be done after the 2 weeks.  I do it with 2nd, 3rd, and 4th graders.  There is one of me and an average of 26 kids in the class. Stressful to say the least.  The genesis bows allow the kids to have success and fun right away.  I always bring in a selfbow, longbow and a recurve and do a shooting demo for the kids to show them the traditional side of it.  This year I dazzled the kids by breaking balloons at 12 meters while laying on my back.  

The best thing we can do as a traditional community to promote traditional equiptment is to volunteer in the NASP program to help the teacher with safety and instruction and ask for a chance to demonstrate our bows.  You can also volunteer to help with maintance of equipment.  This is a very expensive unit if you have to hire pro shops to refletch arrows, reserve strings, etc.
Yes, I wish the NASP program consisted of stickbows but what traditional bow company would be willing to donate thousands of bows at cost so the schools could afford it?  NASP is growing by leaps and bounds,  join in and take the opportunity to show the kids that there is life beyond the compound.

Sam, some teachers use NASP as an introductory to archery.  They have a small unit where the kids get exposure to the sport.  Others are more into it (they are archers themselves most likely) and take it to another level where they have an after school program and they compete on the local, state, and even national level. It is all good.  My program falls somewhere in between.  Anybody can get certified through NASP and with approval from the school, coach an after school program.  Maybe your local school could use someone to take the program under it's wing and expand it?  
Chad

[swp]

I run a NASP program as an afterschool archery program for the parks department I work at. It is getting a lot of kids involved in archery. How can that be a bad thing?

[BobCo 1965]

Originally posted by Ssamac:


Back to NASP. The one down side is that they need a sponsor (teacher). The teacher does not have to know how to shoot a bow. In our local school, the gym teacher has never shot a bow. The kids have fun but they get a bit bored or frustrated because they don't progress. Seems like the program is going to die because of that.

NASP should have a qualified instructor. Where it does, it's great

Sam

Gotta agree with that. My son is in that predicament right now. The school program is split between boys and girls (not coed) and the girls are taking their turn right now. Neither the men's or women's PE teacher has experience except for this portion of PE. Luckily, my son was eager to get his own certification however he had to wait till his 15th birthday (required minimum age). Two weeks ago he was sucessful in passing the education, shooting and test and is now certified. The teachers are now asking him for help and assistance. He is also allowed to bring his own bow which most definetely better then the equipment on hand.

[mrpenguin]

I run an archery club at my high school.  We shoot a few times a year (weather and time permitting) using the NASP Genesis bows.  The kids are taught the instinctive method and I am a stickler on encouraging them to focus on their form.  The bow are perfect because they do allow weight adjustment and consistency of grip.  IMHO, shooting a bow with no let-off, no sights, with fingers is more-or-less traditional, nes ce pas?  Is 'traditional' about the bow or the method?  I guess that's the question.  IMHO, traditional is about the mentality and method of hunting, not the bow in hand.  An instinctively shot bow with fingers, proper respect for the sport complete with hours logged of practice, and respect for the game tend to define traditional archery for me... so, regardless, I find NASP essential in maintaining the sport!  Plus how many of us started on the compound and made a switch or shoot both?  Kids shooting any bow any way equals a win for archery  

[Ssamac]

I hear you. A number of us have volunteered, most a lot more qualified than me since they have been intructors for years, but the School Supt only permits certified teachers to be in the school programs. That goes for baseball, basketball etc.

Net result of this is that they have hired some very poor teachers who are excellent basketball coaches and vice versa. I applaud this gym teacher for doing as much as she can and getting the program started and getting herself licensed to teach this as part of gym class. Many of us chipped in to cover the cost. (There's a matching fund for this). But this could get a lot farther if there were an experienced instructor who could show the kids how to shoot, identify form issues, etc.

But sure better than not having the program at all.

sam

[2ndxarnd]

ALL for archery in the schools, wheelie bow or traditional. Archery with any bow is better than the gun he could be holding hanging with the wrong club outside of school.

[maineac]

It is a great program.  I am trained and run it as a club for my 7th and 8th graders (I am not a phys. ed teacher).  The genesis bows with the wheels store more energy for the draw weight and give a faster flatter arrow flight, giving a quicker level of success and satisfaction. I have also been supplementing with trad bows, but only the older bows can draw bows that give the same speed as the mathews do at less weight.  No sights and finger release still teach the fundamentals of form, and the kids love to try the trad equipment. Any one we can bite with teh archery bug is a good addition.

[sunshine]

just a quick note about NASP. this weekend in Louisville, KY they are having the NASP national tournament. 7600 kids are preregistered. how can that be bad for anything. people volunteering to run the tournament, schools accepting archery in today's society, parents supporting a shooting sport, and thousands of kids introduced to archery. just let the arrows fly.

[Morning Star]

just a quick note about NASP. this weekend in Louisville, KY they are having the NASP national tournament. 7600 kids are preregistered. how can that be bad for anything. people volunteering to run the tournament, schools accepting archery in today's society, parents supporting a shooting sport, and thousands of kids introduced to archery. just let the arrows fly.

 

That's what I'm talking about! Nice.  NASP is promoted/supported by my State bowhunting association.  I think every State association should have NASP on their agenda.
I always do my best to reach out and help kids and others get a foothold in archery.  I think we all should.  But, this program reaches so many more.

[shortstroke 91]

I'd like to see it embraced by every school in the country. I wish they'd had it when I was in school. Any time you can get a bow (wheels or not) in the hands of kids it has to be a good thing.

[oneshot-onekill]

I see this program as a huge boost to hunting....the number of young hunters has dropped and the number of kids indictrinated into the anti hunting group has increased. Even if every kid doesnt decide to hunt with a bow maybe they won't be against it. My daughter started on a Genesis bow and loved it...but she wanted a bow like dad shoots....now she shoots recurve.

[BEN]

I just got back from the NASP Nationals in KY.
My youngest sister and her team shot yesterday.

Never saw so many kids and bows in my life.
345 targets lined up; 7110 kids shooting in 1 day!!!  

All in all a very good idea IMO! But as said above, I think the captains/sponsors should HAVE to have som archery know-how; some of the school teams were very under-coached and the kids could feel it. On the biggest stage of their young lives, so far, some teams were taking their practice shots alone with their coaches talking on phones and not paying any attention.  But the teams that had "into-it" coaches were alot more successfull from what I could see.

There was even at least 1 team from Alaska!!

The Genesis bows are a good choice for a school program----limited funds, time, etc..... 1 bow for all draw-lengths without adjustment and consistent # at each draw. All kids can be coached the same and when it comes to a tournament---no 1 school gets an advantage because they have more money to spend on better bows.

Get the kids into archery-----they'll be too busy for drugs and trouble!!  

[Herdbull]

I was told when we tried to donate some Primal Dreams DVD that NASP are not realy allowed to teach or talk much about hunting formally, but on the side and after class the instructors can point the kids who ask about hunting in the right direction. Our condensed edition of PD is perfect for that, so some intructors lend out copies after class. If nothing else it lets the kids know its OK to hunt regardless if they are ever given the opportunity. Mike

[Holm-Made]

Mike, that may be the case in your state or local school district, I don't know.  That is not the case in MN however.  Any message about not talking about hunting hasn't been portrayed in any way in the training or communication we have had.

Our program is administered through the State DNR and they have a big push toward hunter recruitment at a young age right now.  

We sometimes shoot at animal targets for fun.  Of course I teach at a rural school and no doubt that makes a difference.  Chad

[Mr.Vic]

ELDON IOWA
What sport can have a 4th-grade girl standing next to a 12th-grade boy, they are members of the same team, and neither one has a distant advantage over the other?
If you guessed archery, you are correct.
At the Cardinal Schools, their archery team consists of 94 members ranging from 4th graders to seniors in high school.
While in competition, they split up into three different age brackets, elementary (4th-6th grades), middle (7th and 8th grades), and high school (9th-12th grades), but the team practices as one.

The team shares more in common than just practices, they share a distinct title: State Champions.
The Cardinal Schools recently swept the Iowa State Tournament in Archery taking first in the elementary, middle, and high school levels.

   Kids with any bow is good medicine.

[684Kevin]

Great way to get young people involved in the outdoors.  As for the Genesis Bows being used, it produces great performance for all sizes of youth and is very easy to shoot.  The easier it is for youth to grasp archery, the most likely chance they will keep an interest in it.  Super way to teach our youth concentration/patience and hand/eye motor skills. Hope this program eventually grows into something that all schools can participate in.

[KentuckyTJ]

Originally posted by sunshine:
just a quick note about NASP. this weekend in Louisville, KY they are having the NASP national tournament. 7600 kids are preregistered. how can that be bad for anything. people volunteering to run the tournament, schools accepting archery in today's society, parents supporting a shooting sport, and thousands of kids introduced to archery. just let the arrows fly.

I believe it's the 22nd and 23rd of March.
 http://fw.ky.gov/pdf/nasp2010statetournament.pdf

[swp]

This was the National tournament Tom, it was yesterday and today. What you are looking at is the state tournament. Saw the results on FB last night and it looked like Kentucky was doing quite well.