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The officer walking past an
elementary age girl caught her attention and asked,
“How’s it going?” With an exited twinkle in her eye
she replied, “I’m scared, but I’m having fun.”
This scene was undoubtedly
replayed several times throughout the day on Friday
March 9, 2007 as 183 Indiana students from 8 schools
gathered at Kokomo, Indiana for the first National
Archery in the Schools, Indiana state tournament. |
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The National Archery in the Schools Program or NASP
started in Kentucky several years ago. This popular
program soon spread across that state and spilled
over the border and now is taught as part of the
physical education curriculum in 41 states across
the US.
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NASP was introduced to educators from 10 Indiana
schools at a workshop held in Hayden, Indiana in
January 2005. Since that time it has spread across
the state and teachers from 33 schools have been
certified as instructors and more than 20,000
Indiana students have been learning to shoot archery
in their PE classes.
Since 2003 the national tournament has been held in
Louisville, Ky. The explosive growth of the program
has now made it necessary for each state sending
participants to hold a state tournament to qualify
students to compete on the national level.
The task of organizing this event in Indiana fell to
Tim Beck, the Indiana NASP coordinator. Tim, who
along with Dirk Studebaker serve as the hunter
education coordinators for the IDNR, Law Enforcement
Division. Leaning heavily upon the Indiana Hunter
Education Association and the conservation officers
of the Law Enforcement Division, Beck and team
pulled off one fine show.
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Another group whose support
made this first event possible was the Indiana Field
Archery Association. The group who was planning to
hold their own indoor state competition on March
10th and 11th agreed to host the students
at their venue in the Johanning Civic Center in
Kokomo.
“These guys were
great,” Beck said, we came in on Thursday
night to an empty space and watched the IFAA
members transform it into a first rate venue
for our competition on Friday.” |
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Schools participating in this
first annual competition included: Hayden Elementary
and Sand Creek Elementary both from Jennings County,
Boonville Jr High from Warrick County, Roosevelt
Middle School of White County, Wabash High School of
Wabash County, Boonville and Castle High Schools of
Warrick County and Borden Senior High School of
Clark County.
Students began arriving for the
first round of competition at 8 am. Coaches checked
in their teams and equipment was checked by
volunteers from the Indiana Hunter Education
Association. After finding their designated places
in the waiting area coaches were busy giving last
minute instructions. Soon it was time to begin and
each team marched in to begin the competition.
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Members of the IFAA served as
officials for the competition. They helped the
students find their places and patiently answered
questions from anxious shooters.
Top male shooter for the day
was Tyler Butcher of Boonville Sr. High and top
female honors went to Kate Whitacre of Castle High
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The top teams from each
division and the top five male and female shooters
from each division will be invited to the national
NASP tournament in Louisville, KY to be held in
June.
In the Elementary Division top
male shooters were Jacob Gordon, Josh Duchi and
Jacob Murray of Hayden Elementary. Top girls were
Kayla Kirkpatrick of Hayden and Claire Myers and
Casey McQueen of Sand Creek Elementary. The Jr-Hi
honors went to Matthew Porter of Boonville Jr-Hi,
Kyle Craig of Borden Jr-Hi and Zach Henderson of
Boonville Jr-Hi. Taylor Gentry, Katie Powell and
Macanda Simpson all of Boonville Jr-Hi took the
female honors. In the high school competition
Castle High School swept the female bracket with
awards going to Kate Whitacre, Melissa Wagner and
Mandy Cleveland. The high school men were led by
Chris Howlett of Borden High School, Brian Hatfield
of Castle High School and Tyler Butcher of Boonville
Sr- Hi School.
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Kayla Kirkpatrick and Jacob
Gordon were awarded Scholarships to the 10th
annual Karl E. Kelley Memorial Conservation
Officers Youth Camp. The Spirit Award
for the day went to a very boisterous Borden
High School. |
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“There were a lot of people who
helped to make this first NASP event in Indiana a
great success.” stated Tim Beck “ I could not have
done it without my committee and I need to give a
special thanks to Chris Clark, Dirk Studebaker, Barb
Trenary, ICO Andy Runyon and Ron Hoffman. There
were a large group of Conservation Officers that
were allowed to work this tournament. Among this
group were Rodney Clear who did a great job as the
MC for the day and the always impressive ICO Honor
Guard that presented the colors at the awards
ceremony. ICO Andy Cline sang the national anthem
to start the awards. Thanks to them and to the Law
Enforcement Division for allowing them to come.
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There was also a big list of sponsors
that helped to cover the cost of the event.
The Indiana Conservation Officers
Organization paid for all of the trophies
and awards. The Covered Bridge Chapter
of the NWTF, Three Rivers Archery Supply,
Easton Tru-Flite, LLC, Sportsman’s
Warehouse, Dick’ Sporting Goods, SURE-LOC,
Indiana Traditional Bowhunter’s Association,
Carroll’s Archery, Trenary |
Excavation & Farm Drainage, Boeglin Auctions,
Martin Brother TV & Appliances, Agri-Lawn, David
Windsor, The Jennings Family, Rick’s Archery Shack,
Lawrence and Lori Draeving and the Indiana Hunter
Education Association made financial donations.
Kokomo, “The City of Firsts”
lived up to its name at this memorable day that
hopefully will be the first of many to come with the
Indiana National Archery in the Schools Program.
Bill Beville
Indiana Conservation Officer
Operational District 9
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