By Nick Simonson

The National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP) will be hosting its annual State Tournament on Mar. 15 and 16 at the Minot State Fair Center, bringing hundreds of top shooters from schools around the state to compete in four events to determine North Dakota’s top archers, according to Jeff Long, the organization’s State Coordinator.

“There’s actually four different events going on within the NASP State Tournament, we have the NASP bullseye, which is what everyone kind of envisions with the Olympic-style target; we have a NASP IBO 3D program and that one has just grown tremendously,” Long details, adding that more advanced spin-off program called Varsity Archery showcases higher-tech bows with sights and releases used in both a 3D and paper target competitions; “a kid could go to the NASP State Tournament and compete in four different events,” Long states.  

The program began in 2003 with an introduction to 21 schools in Kentucky and has grown to become a nationwide phenomenon and has expanded. into Canada and to overseas countries such as Namibia, Zimbabwe and New Zealand along with several others.  Made part of these schools’ physical education curricula, along with its simplicity and low cost of starting a program, has kept NASP growing year after year and has helped attract more archers to competitive shooting in optional tournaments and in other archery leagues and events.  As part of the uniform nature of the program, each school that signs up is provided with a dozen bows and five targets to introduce their students to archery as part of a gym class, with grants available from many state agencies, the state NASP programs ,and from the national office to help offset those costs where needed. This in turn keeps expenses low for those looking to participate and provides tons of benefits in a safe environment.  

“There’s a lot of beneficial things with archery, and of course the program is based on safety first.  So, their safety protocols are second to none, and it’s pretty impressive that they have zero safety incidents.  When you realize the number of kids – 1.2 or 1.3 million per year – when you consider the volume of kids, that’s pretty impressive,” Long states.

Currently about half of the schools in North Dakota boast a NASP program, consisting of either the in-class module introducing students to archery or a competitive after-school option, or both.  In recent seasons, NASP participants in grades 4-12 have totaled more than 16,000 in the state, with hundreds taking part in weekend tournaments throughout North Dakota, often traveling to two events per weekend to keep their aim and competitive edge leading up to the March finale in Minot. Through these events and the in-school programs, NASP introduces the safe and enjoyable pursuit of target archery, but according to Long, it likely provides a link to the outdoors, spurring an interest in bow hunting options in the Peace Garden State.  

“There can be no doubt when you put a bow in the hand of that many kids, some of these kids are going to get fired up about shooting a bow and they’re going to have curiosity about other shooting sport things, other hunting, and/or fishing, bowfishing, whatever the case may be. You know that’s naturally going to happen, you can’t really deny that,” Long states, adding, “our interest in bowhunting and bow license sales started to increase all around the time NASP started to take off in North Dakota.  Is it the reason that all that happened? No. Is it a contributing factor?  I think it’s pretty hard to say that it’s not,”.”

More information on NASP can be found at naspschools.org.  For those looking to join a team or start a program at their school, Long (who also serves as the Education Coordinator for the North Dakota Game & Fish Department) can be contacted at his office number of 701-328-6322.

Simonson is the lead writer and editor of Dakota Edge Outdoors.

Featured Photo: Archers take aim at a NASP event. Each year nearly half the schools in North Dakota participate in the program and thousands of kids pick up a bow as part of a PE course in archery or a competitive option under NASP. DEO Photo courtesy of Ryan Nelson.