Archery in School Brings Many Benefits: A Relatively Inexpensive Sport Every Student Can Participate In

Target archery as a competitive school sport is becoming more popular every year in many schools across the nation, much to the pleasure of both parents and school administrators. Unlike other school sports, the target archery programs are successful in engaging all students. Most other competitive school sports programs limit participation to those physically able to perform according to the physical demands of a particular sport.

When the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife collaborated with the Department of Education in 2000 to develop archery as part of the Physical Education curriculum, they had no idea their National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP) would become an instant success and grow to what it is today. It started with a pilot program in 22 Kentucky middle schools, consisting of a 2-week course. The PE teachers completed a 12-hour National Archery Association certification course, and students were required to use equipment designed for the school programs.

A survey done before the Kentucky archery classes began indicated 72% of the students did not own a bow; 62% had never shot a bow. After the class, 89% of the students said they enjoyed the archery class, and 45 % wanted to buy their own archery equipment. A surprising 59% wanted to become archers, and 38% wanted to try bow hunting - in a state where only 9% of its citizens hunt.

Since Kentucky's successful pilot program, every state and several countries have contacted the Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife Resources to learn more about implementing archery programs in their schools.

How the program works:

The Department of Natural Resources offers free basic archery instructor courses to educators, predominantly PE teachers, who wish to implement the program in their school. The course includes safe range set-up, eye dominance, string bow training aids, the 11 steps to archery success, coaching techniques, positive reinforcement and feedback, safety orientation and equipment nomenclature and inspection.