1st NASP® World Tournament is History…Have You Seen the Ocean? By: Roy Grimes President, NASP®

In 2001, during the 6-month planning phase of the National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP®) one of the items on our wish list was to attract “Disney” as a partner.   We felt if NASP® could attract the interest of Disney that would be a sign of the program’s success.  During the winter of 2008 Kevin Stay at Mathews was contacted by a Disney official, Greg Waldron with a question about his hunting bow.  Of course no one can talk to Kevin, our NASP® Vice-President for more than a few minutes before they will hear about the program.  Greg was impressed with NASP®’s popularity and it’s Mission to help student. A few months later this encounter resulted in a meeting at Disney’s ESPN Wide World of Sports®.

During our first planning meeting we agreed to design a NASP® range at Disney’s Wilderness Resort, train Disney cast members to present NASP®-style archery lessons, and develop a 100 minute archery lesson for resort guests.  We also began discussions about establishing a NASP® tournament at Disney’s ESPN Wide World of Sports® complex.

A bit more than a year later we announced, at the 2009 NASP® National tournament in Louisville, Kentucky, that Disney and NASP® would join forces to conduct NASP®’s first world tournament.  This was only 5 months notice for schools that might like to participate and only weeks remained in most states’ school year to make plans, raise travel money, and keep teams practicing over the summer.  NASP® also had to develop an on-line registration system to allow teams to register, select flight times, and pay registration fees.  Registration for the tournament opened two days after Labor Day in September and closed on September 23.  NASP® offered partial travel grants to teams in South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada to help them make the trip.

The first NASP® World Tournament was conducted indoors at the new Josten’s Center on October 9th and 10th at Disney’s ESPN Wide World of Sports® complex.   A total of 609 archery students from 18 states and Saskatchewan participated in the 2-day event.  The most heavily represented grade levels at the tournament were grades 5th and 6th.  There were even 3, 3rd grade students competing, with special written permission from their Principals to “shoot up”. Proving once again that NASP® is an important co-gender activity, 44% of the participants were female.

Many of the student archers, coaches, teachers, and parents reported having a terrific time at this first NASP® World Tournament.  Carly Hedden, an 8th grade participant said, “It was an honor to be invited to compete with top Archers around the world. She said that participating in such a hi-profile event and visiting Disney were “…dreams come true for me.”  Carly’s mother, Susan commented that, “NASP® Archery teaches discipline and sportsmanship in a positive environment which are principles that I want my child to learn and live by.” 

Disney was a terrific host of the event helping to set-up and tear down, providing a facility coordinator, first aid, and ushers throughout the tournament.   Of course the first aid station was the least active place in the building because of archery’s terrific safety record! Nearly all the young archers were among the 4,565 students that participated in the 2009 NASP® National Tournament held in May, 2009.  Several of the students and their parents including Kevin, Cindy, and Cody Able from Lawrenceburg, KY were very impressed with the quality of the Disney facilities and the “niceness” of the Disney cast members.  It was obvious this tournament-inspired trip to Disney World® was a huge hit with many of the students, many of which had never been out-of-state, on an airplane, visited Disney before, and for those who drove over to Daytona Beach, had never seen the ocean.  Teacher, Eric Sowers at the Providence School in Nicholasville, KY reported, “Our kids loved the shooting facility and the professionalism. The tournament site had them in awe. You should have seen their faces when they saw the Atlantic Ocean for the first time. They truly had a once in a lifetime experience.”  Nathan Parcell of Brandenburg, Kentucky enjoyed meeting archers from around the country he has become acquainted with and to make new archer friends.

As is NASP®’s norm awards were presented to the top three teams in the elementary, middle, and high school divisions.  Again, as is NASP®’s standard, every archer used the same bow (without sights, stabilizers, or release aids), the same arrow, and shot 15 arrows at both 10 and 15 meters. Individual awards were presented to 1st-5th placing boys AND girls in 4, 5, and 6th grades and the middle school and high school divisions.   The overall boy and girl champions posted identical scores of 293 (out of 300).  The young lady World Champion was Kentucky’s Danielle Reddick from Trigg county High School. Two young men achieved identical scores of 293. However, Alabama’s Joshua Clarke was beat out by Michigan’s Steven Schram for overall top male archer in the World, based upon a higher number of “bulls-eyes”.   Six young archers were involved in a fast-paced, tie-breaking “shoot-off” immediately preceding the awards ceremony. The 1st placing teams in each division and individual winners are listed below. 

•             1st Place Elementary Team - Eagle Mountain Magnet - Batesville, AR

•             1st Place Middle School Team - Anderson County Middle School - Lawrenceburg, KY

•             1st Place High School Team – Meade County High School – Brandenburg, KY

•             1st Place 4th Grade Female – Riley Patton, Loganville, GA

•             1st Place 4th Grade Male – Jonathan Gallagher, Nancy, KY

•             1st Place 5th Grade Female – Kattie Raphun, Irvington, AL

•             1st Place 5th Grade Male – Jordan Campbell, Adairville, KY

•             1st Place 6th Grade Female – Sarah Shipley, Cadiz, KY

•             1st Place 6th Grade Male – Cameron Peyton, Lawrenceburg, KY

•             1st Place Middle School Female – Shaye Patterson, Cadiz, KY

•             1st Place Middle School Male – Steven Schram, Bark River, MI

•             1st Place High School Female – Danielle Reddick, Cadiz, KY

•             1st Place High School Male – Joshua Clarke, Irvington, AL

More than 300 trophies, plaques, and medals were awarded to the students.  Additionally, thanks to the generosity of several NASP® supporters, some winners received bows from Mathews Archery, arrows and repair kits from Easton Technical Products, targets from Morrell Manufacturing, and bow cases from the Genesis Outlet. One of the most hotly contested awards at NASP® tournaments are the “Spirit Awards” presented to one school in each of the three divisions. This award, a resin Bald Eagle, is presented to teams judged by a committee of volunteers for showing terrific enthusiasm, sportsmanship, and school spirit.   Teams that win these awards usually dress in special archery “uniforms”, sing, change, and carry their school’s banner.  It is always fun to see how the kids “spirit-up” whenever an official-looking NASP® person walks by their team carrying a clipboard! One of most spirited teams wore the new NASP® uniform shirt made by EOTAC.   The elementary division was won by Indiana’s Hayden Elementary, their 2nd year to take home the eagle. Kentucky’s Anderson County Middle and Meade County High Schools were spirited, great sports, and colorful enough to also win Spirit Awards.

Nearly forty states and provinces will conduct annual tournaments among their NASP® schools this coming January-April in 2010.  While vying for terrific prizes and notoriety among their peers, they also will be competing to see who will be among nearly 6,000 students at the NASP® national tournament scheduled for May 7th & 8th in Louisville, Kentucky.  See you there!

Complete results and pictures of this first NASP® World Tournament can be found at NASP®’s web site:  www.archeryintheschools.org

By: Roy Grimes

President, NASP