The 2014 NASP® National Tournament concludes with 10,443 student archers setting a new Guinness World Record. The event breaks its own record of 9,426 established last year. These 4th-­‐12th graders represent 665 schools in 39 states. An archery parent from the Pocahontas archery team in Pocahontas County, WV says, "You have more archers in this one competition than live in our entire county!" The event is held annually within the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville.

These young archers had to first make their school’s archery team and then advance through regional and state tournaments to attend the 2014 Nationals in Louisville. Valerie Sanders said, “My 5th grade son came from Hankinson, North Dakota for the 2nd year in a row. He shot his personal best score on Saturday. He was so excited. This is such a great program.” Because NASP® requires every team to contain at least 4 students of both genders 45%, of the contestants were female. The most represented grade levels at the tournament were 5th and 8th grade at 16% each of the total archers. Kentucky sent the most archers with 2,786 shooters. Indiana was second with 970 archers and Ohio 3rd of the 39 states with 872 students. Traveling the furthest were 32 archers from Alaska.

Attending the NASP® Nationals for the first time was Robert Geronimo from New Mexico’s Mescalero Apache Reservation School attend the tournament for the first time. Young Robert, a High School senior, is the great, great grandson of the famous Native American Chief “Geronimo”!

The top 3 reasons students give for enjoying the National Archery in the Schools Program® were evident during the 3-­‐day tournament. They were having great fun, enjoying new archery friends, and loving that kids of all sizes, genders, abilities, and backgrounds were enjoying success. A parent, Rechelle related this about her daughter, “Katey shoots with her brother. Her special developmental and motor challenges make it difficult for her to participate in other sports. She started with a ZERO score in January. At Nationals she shot a 155! She was the most proud we have ever seen her. So happy we had to remind her to walk from the targets because she was skipping with joy!”

New at this year’s NASP® Nationals was the launch of the NASP®/IBO 3D Challenge. The “Challenge” is a different kind of archery “game” involving simulated (foam) big game animals provided by Rinehart Targets. The National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF) sponsored each of the range’s wild turkey targets. We hope to recruit similar sponsorships for the Stone Sheep, White-­‐tail Deer, Pronghorn Antelope, and Black Bear in the future.

A total of 2,004 of the NASP® National contestants also participated in this 3D competition. This event is a partnership between the International Bowhunting Organization (IBO) and NASP® to provide a “next step” for NASP® archers who want to shoot 3D (61% when surveyed) and learn more about bowhunting (56%). The archers use the same equipment, at the same but unmarked distances, and follow identical safety protocols they have learned in NASP® classes at school. Missouri’s Joan Kriska said this about the 3D event, “The 3D shoot was so much fun for the kids! My 4th and 5th graders loved shooting alongside the kids from South Carolina. They talked about their accents the whole evening and weekend!” It is expected this format will be incorporated into many state tournaments starting in 2015. IBO’s Executive Director, Bryan Marcum reported that he and his volunteers, from as far away as Florida, enjoyed watching and hearing the students’ enthusiasm for 3D archery.

It took nearly 160 volunteers to conduct these record-­‐sized tournaments. They came from all walks of life including; parents, teachers, bowhunters, and church members. Cabela’s and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation helped feed and cloth (vests) the volunteers. The new Louisville Cabela’s store gave every coach discount coupons to provide equipment for their teams. Academy Sports + Outdoors provided gift cards to the volunteers as well.

The world’s largest archery tournament requires the biggest archery ranges, supplies, awards, and souvenirs. Sponsors included: Mathews Archery, Mission Archery, Morrell Targets, Gordon Composites, Easton Foundations, Easton Technical Products, NWTF, RMEF, Academy Sports + Outdoors, Field Logic, Rinehart Targets, EA Promotions, ATA, KY Army National Guard, Lancaster Archery, BCY, SCI, and Plano. Some of these and other supporters sponsored $77,000 in scholarships.

Plans are already underway to accommodate up to 12,000 student archers at the 2015 NASP® Nationals to be conducted the 2nd weekend in May at the same Louisville location. Between now and then about 3,000 of these national contestants are registering for the NASP® World Tournament to be held July 11-­‐13 at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison, WI. They will be joined by teams from several Canadian Provinces, South Africa, and possibly the United Kingdom which became NASP®’s 10th country on March 19, 2014.

Once the last tournament arrow was released and the competition flights concluded it was time for tie breakers, scholarship shoot-­‐off and the award ceremony. This year there were 9 bulls-­‐eye and 2, 3D ties to break to establish the final finishing order for both the NASP® Nationals and IBO 3D Challenge events. Tie breaker shooting took place in Freedom Hall at the awards ceremony. To break ties each archer shot 5 arrows for warm-­‐ up and then 5 for score at 15 meters. If the tie persisted each archer shot a single arrow at the same target. The arrow closest to the target’s center won the tie.

Shooting concluded with the highest profile event of the weekend, the “Scholarship Shoot-­‐Off”. During this 15-­‐ minute event the top 5 boys and top 5 girls from the just finished tournament shoot for $77,000 in cash scholarships. Like in the tie breaker each archer shoots 5 practice and 5 scoring arrows. The winners of these scholarships were:

All the scholarship shooters represented themselves and their schools with flying colors. The composure they exhibited while more than 2,500 family, friends, and strangers looked on was tremendous. All the scholarships were settled during the 5-­‐arrow scoring end… except one. Dustin Johnson and Sam White tied again after 5 scoring arrows and had to shoot a single arrow for $20,000 vs. $10,000. I think both were happy and relieved when Dustin’s arrow found the target’s center and Sam’s just below it. It seemed that parents of these college-­‐ bound archers cheered the loudest!

One of the most exciting presentations of the tournament is that of the All-­‐American Team, sponsored by the Army National Guard. The National Guard has been a bronze-­‐medal level sponsor of NASP® for several years. Their support helps us train more than 7,000 teachers each year and conduct the National Tournament. This All-­‐ American Team will represent the United States at the “All-­‐Nation All-­‐Star NASP® Championship in Madison, WI July 14-­‐16, 2014. All-­‐star teams from Africa, Canada, and possibly the United Kingdom will be competing as well.

Then it was time to recognize the winners and champions from the 2014 NASP® national tournament and the first ever NASP® IBO 3-­‐D Challenge. This year Academy Sports + Outdoors was the title sponsor of the NASP® national tournament award ceremony. They are the newest NASP® Bronze level sponsor and also a supporting sponsor of the NASP® World Tournament.

Listed below are the champions from each division. For a complete list of all results and information about the National Archery in the Schools Program®

NASP® National Tournament Individual Champions:

Elementary Girl: Skylar McFarlin, Liberty Elementary School, Georgia

Elementary Boy: Mitch Munion, Mahtomedi Public School, Minnesota

Middle School Girl: Ashley Hinkle, Henderson County South Middle School, Kentucky

Middle School Boy: Michael Killian, Foley Middle School, Alabama

High School Girl: Michelle Boyken, Meade County High School, Kentucky

High School Boy: Conner Patterson, Lincoln County High School, Kentucky

Over-­‐all top female archer: Michelle Boyken, Meade County High School, Kentucky

Over-­‐all top male archer: Dustin Johnson, Graves County High School, Kentucky

NASP® National Tournament Championship Teams:

Elementary School: Kentucky Christian Academy, Kentucky

Middle School: Trigg County Schools, Kentucky

High School: Trigg County Schools, Kentucky

NASP® IBO 3-­‐D Challenge Individual Champions:

Elementary School Girl: Raci Miranda, Pine Strawberry Elementary School, Arizona

Elementary School boy: Nathaniel Harper, Maysville Elementary School, Ohio

Middle School Girl: Olivia Bean, Athens Middle School, Ohio

Middle School Boy: Vance Lesatz, Arizona Home School, Arizona

High School Girl: Tymbrie Snobl, Alburnett Community School, Iowa

High School Boy: Cameron Peyton, Anderson County High School, Kentucky

Over-­‐All Girl: Olivia Bean, Athens County Middle School, Ohio

Over-­‐All Boy: Cameron Peyton, Anderson County High School, Kentucky

NASP® IBO 3-­‐D Challenge Team Champions:

Elementary School: Logan Hocking Elementary School, Ohio

Middle School: Fairfield Christian Academy, Ohio

High School: Stilwell High School, Oklahoma