STATE COLLEGE – A huge opportunity is “nocking” for Pennsylvania’s student archers.
The 2020 National Archery in the Schools Program State Tournament is set to be held March 13 in State College. It’s shaping up to be the biggest student archery tournament ever in Pennsylvania.
And the Pennsylvania Game Commission is encouraging all schools participating in the program, commonly referred to as NASP, to attend a state qualifier competition.
Individuals and teams alike will need to shoot a qualifying score at one of the many state-qualifying matches being held from October through February. The top-scoring teams and individuals will then earn and invite to the state championships.
The NASP state tournament has been growing each year since its inception in 2011, and the March 13 tournament to be held at the Penn State Multi-Sport Facility figures to be close to 1,000 participants.
Students from more than 45 schools across Pennsylvania are expected to participate. The increase is representative of growth in the program statewide.
NASP, which started in Kentucky in 2002 and has since gained participants around the globe, came to Pennsylvania in 2005. The Game Commission began coordinating the program in 2010 and, to present, the program has expanded to 300 schools.
The tournament should be a sight to see with 95 lanes, each with two archers, that will be operating at once. About 9,000 arrows will fly each hour. And somewhere near 50,000 arrows will be fired on the day.
Scholarships and prizes will be handed out to the top-performing archers in the state to help pay for continued education. Schools are reminded that they must shoot a qualifying score at a sanctioned state qualifier shoot.
Students can find state qualifiers listed on the following NASP Tournament Web site, http://nasptournaments.org. To use the Game Commission’s Web site to register, place your cursor over the “Education” tab, then click “National Archery in the Schools Program.” Registration is just a few more clicks away.
NASP helps school districts in Pennsylvania meet physical-education curriculum requirements standards set by the state Department of Education, and at the same time introduces students to the world of competitive archery.
Tournaments are held at the state, national and international levels, and Pennsylvania sent over 200 students to the 2019 national competition, which was held in Louisville, Ky.
To get NASP started in a Pennsylvania school, contact Todd Holmes, at the Game Commission headquarters, at 717-787-4250 (ext. 73330). Also, “PA NASP” can be found on Facebook at www.facebook.com/PennNASP.
