My name is Emma Hickerson, and I am so excited to be a 2024 NASP® Student Contributor! I am a senior at Riverdale High School in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. My city is one of the largest in the state for archery, and the majority of the schools in my county have teams. I love how much archery has grown here over the past 9 years I’ve been around, and I would love to see it expand to even more schools, especially at a collegiate level. Currently Tennessee has 2 Universities with archery programs, and I wish there was many more.
I was first introduced to archery in kindergarten and I knew from that moment on that archery was what I wanted to do forever. I got my first bow in 2nd grade, and a year later my dad started taking me to practices at the middle school down the road, where I met my first coach, Jeri Carmichael, who ran a JOAD club in addition to the NASP team. By the time I could join my elementary team, I was already one of the highest scorers on my team. At my first ever tournament, I ended up bringing home top shot! My 5th grade year, I placed 3rd at the Tennessee State Tournament in 3D with a 250.
Eventually I made my way up to middle school, where I got to be with the coach that taught me everything I know! It was amazing to be on one of the team that little 2nd grade me looked up to being on, with one of my favorite coaches ever! Then eventually I made it up to high school! My freshman year was 2020, so everything was still very much in pandemic mode, but I tried to make the best of it. Sophomore year became much more normal, and as tournaments started picking back up, I became much closer with my group of friends who I met through archery, many of which I’ve known since elementary school. For the past couple years I’ve also helped out at all the tournaments that my school or my old middle school have hosted, and I really enjoy getting to help out and to see all the teams. I’ve been at tournaments for a total of 20 hours before, between Friday night and all day Saturday!
Last year I scored my new highest score at 3D, with a 279, and a 284 at bullseye. My goal for my final season is to shoot at least a 290 in either bullseye or 3D. Archery truly does mean the world to me, and it will always be a part of my life. My current plans for after high school and college are to become a history teacher and archery coach at a school in my county, so I can pass my love for this sport down to a young generation of archers, and help the sport grow even more in my state!
