The National Archery in the School’s Press Release
“NASP® Nationals Seeing Double for 2018”
By: Brittany J Jones
March 26, 2018
Across the country, student archers are participating in state tournaments, gearing up for the main event this Spring, The National Archery in the School’s Program’s (NASP®) National Tournament, but with one major change. This spring, traveling to nationals will be easier on many folks as the tournament will be spilt into two separate events. The Eastern tournament will be held at its native location, Louisville, Kentucky’s Exposition Center during May 10-12, and the Western Tournament will be held in Salt Lake City, Utah’s Mountain America Exposition Center, April 12-14. Geographically speaking, this makes a lot of sense for the students, parents, and coaches who live out West. Travel time and expense will be significantly reduced for these participants, allowing for practice time!
This year, NASP® expects another record-breaking year as more than 15,000 archers are expected to shoot in the annual bulls-eye competition, a 4% increase from 2017. In addition to the bulls-eye competition, 5,000 youth are set to compete in NASP®’s companion event, the International Bow Hunting Organization’s 3D Challenge (IBO/3D), a 25% increase from last year’s event. Of course, 350 of those participants will be competing for the first time in the Western tournament, in Salt Lake City! More than 950 schools will be in attendance along with 28,000 friends and family and more than 180 volunteers. Speaking of volunteers, these hard-working and dedicated individuals will spend the first two days prior to the on-set of the tournament, setting up this reputable range. The format for the tournament will be like years prior with twenty-five flights, each 75 minutes in length. The archers will shoot from both ten and fifteen meter shooting lines. Each archer will shoot a series of practice arrows before launching their scored arrows. Each archer will shoot 45 arrows total. Roughly 750,000 arrows will be shot during both simultaneous events. Laid end to end, the thirty-inch arrows would cover more than 355 miles—that’s quite a lot of arrows!
As the archers approach their respective shooting lines and launch their arrows at this year’s event, the scores will be electronically tallied. The results from the tournament will be used to announce each state’s All- Star Team of twelve boys and twelve girls. Furthermore, teachers and coaches around the USA are reviewing student’s grades, and those archers who achieved honor roll status will receive Academic Archer (AA) recognition. With the grades and scores (from nationals) taken into consideration, some of these exceptional student archers will be named the All-American Archery Team! What an achievement to aim for! On Target For Life (OTFL), another key program that started in 2016 will also continue its recognition of students and coaches who have displayed academic excellence, community service, and leadership.
Starting this year, scholarships will be awarded at the World Tournament so that participants from both Eastern and Western tournaments may be present. $159,000 dollars in cash scholarships will be awarded to archers who achieve top honors in the bulls-eye competition, and $25,000 dollars will go to students who place at the top in the IBO/3D challenge.
The National Archery in the School’s Program is an ever-changing and inspiring program, and with its addition of a second national tournament and record-breaking suspected turnouts at both national and world events, 2018 is already proving to be another eventful and exceptional year! We look forward to seeing you in Louisville and Salt Lake City, this year!